Whether the Steam Machines were successful or not is besides the point with regards to whether valve intended it to be successful (they clearly did because they

Whether the Steam Machines were successful or not is besides the point with regards to whether valve intended it to be successful (they clearly did because they pushed very hard for it at the time) and the Steam Controller having been part of the pitch. Lots of things that arose from their steam machine project were more successful than the steam machine, including: - the steam deck - funding various Vulkan projects - funding Proton development - general Linux experience for gaming getting better (many many patches that were funded) So it’s not really meaningful to differentiate their intent just by the popularity of their product. The steam machine and the steam controllers were meant to be the every day console and valve certainly invested a ton into trying.