"Steam Machine basically turns Microsoft's worst nightmare into a shipping product," explains Joost van Dreunen, NYU Stern School of Business professor and games industry analyst. "It pushes Microsoft further down the path it's already walking, where Game Pass and cloud access matter more than plastic boxes." To its credit, Microsoft seems to know this. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer recently implied the importance of games over hardware while praising the Steam Machine, saying, "Expanding access across PC, console, and handheld devices reflects a future built on choice, core values that have guided Xbox's vision from the start." Valve's Steam Machine is "great news" for Microsoft because it means Xbox can just "make great games" and worry less about hardware, says former Blizzard exec: "All will go in the right direction" Former Xbox exec Major Nelson praises Valve's Steam Machine as "choice is always good," but doesn't think it should be dragged into a console war: "Not everything needs a winner or loser" Steam Machine is "a console that refuses to admit it's a console," analyst says, but "Valve isn't trying to beat Sony or Microsoft at their own game so much as rewrite the rules" "As one of the largest publishers on Steam," Spencer continued, "we welcome new options for players to access games everywhere." Former Blizzard president Mike Ybarra echoed the sentiment, saying in reaction to the Steam Machine, "Xbox should simply make great games. Cost model, focus, morale – all will go in the right direction." But van Dreunen suggests there's something more anxious under Microsoft's peace, love, and smiles. "The strategic risk," he says, "is that Valve becomes the preferred PC-console hybrid, meaning Xbox games strengthen Steam's ecosystem more than Microsoft's own." Steam Machine is "a console that refuses to admit it's a console," analyst says, but "Valve isn't trying to beat Sony or Microsoft at their own game so much as rewrite the rules."