The idea behind the Steam Link was neat enough to gain some interest—rather than playing your Steam games on a personal computer or a dedicated Steam Machine, the Steam Link was a bit of an in-between step, allowing Steam users to stream their games from their computer to their television. Valve confirmed that the last of their physical Steam Links are selling out.
Per the Steam website:
The supply of physical Steam Link hardware devices is sold out in Europe and almost sold out in the US.
Moving forward, Valve intends to continue supporting the existing Steam Link hardware as well as distribution of the software versions of Steam Link, available for many leading smart phones, tablets and televisions. Click here to find out more about the Steam Link App.
As this post mentions, an app with the same name allows Steam users to stream their games onto their mobile devices. Unfortunately for iOS users, final approval for the app hit a wall thanks to Apple’s terms and services.
It makes sense that Steam would focus on that application more, with that rectangular puck of a Steam Link never exactly taking off. I bought one myself during one of several sales and discounts, all which felt like desperate attempts to move units, but rarely have I actually used it. That could just be from my own nature as a console player, though I am still somewhat surprised that consumers haven’t found much utility from it.
Valve appears to be giving the hardware one last hoorah, with an absurd discount going down all the way to $2.50. At the very least, they could make for cool-looking paperweights.