If Valve decides to make a standard ‘game console’ - miniature gaming PC with a PlayStation-like form factor, standard hardware for game devs to target, SteamOS - then add gaming consoles to that list.
There was an interview recently with someone in Valves steam deck team who mentioned that it’s on their radar but they don’t have the manpower yet to consider it. It does seem like an obvious next step, especially if Steam Controller 2 is released.
I honestly don't see the point. The Deck is like the Switch: easy to use in both docked and handheld mode. All Valve has to do is to bundle a dock and some new controllers and they have a full fledged game console.
I'm aware. This time, SteamOS is much more mature and consumers are primed for such a move. Especially if it's more tightly controlled by Valve instead of allowing 3rd parties more leeway.
Those were capable of nothing but streaming games(didn't even have a native web browser). Why would it be comparable at all to a machine that runs games locally?
You are mistaking the Steam Link hardware with Steam Machines which were real computers made by several 3rd party vendors (Alienware, Asus, Gigabyte etc.)
Note that a defining feature of a game console is its locked-down nature, where even normal things like modding single-player games (very common on PC) are verboten. The Steam hardware is quite the opposite.
There was an interview recently with someone in Valves steam deck team who mentioned that it’s on their radar but they don’t have the manpower yet to consider it. It does seem like an obvious next step, especially if Steam Controller 2 is released.