Up until 2026 you could have built a much more powerful gaming PC for less. Now that component prices are high, what is the point of releasing this weaksauce console wanna-be? Anyone who has wanted to game has already had many, many choices for a better Console or PC to run games, including Steam games.
It'll probably sell, but probably will not sell enough to matter in a market of many millions.
Valve's console challenger costs significantly more than the PS5. Even so, a Steam Machine review confirms that the base PlayStation console produces higher frame rates in some games. Overall performance benchmarks are comparable, but the price difference may be too wide for many buyers.