Earlier this week, we were quick to notice that Valve had quietly removed the link to Steam Machines from the front page of the Steam Store. Now, Valve has spoken publicly about this decision, stating that it was part of a “routine cleanup” and admitting that while the Linux powered mini-PCs “aren't exactly flying off the shelves”, Valve still wants Linux to be at the forefront of gaming in the future.

While this move does seem to be a step back from Valve promoting Steam Machines, the company is still “striving towards a competitive and open gaming platform”. According to a post from Valve's Pierre-Loup, the company is “still working hard on making Linux operating systems a great place for gaming and applications”.

Valve currently has other Linux-based initiatives in the works, but they aren't ready to talk about it all openly just yet. In the meantime, Valve will continue to update SteamOS, and use it as a vehicle to deliver improvements that will “benefit the Linux ecosystem at large”.

So while hardware might be taking a backseat for now in terms of promotion, Valve still seems to be heavily involved on the software side with plans to keep pushing Linux in the future.

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KitGuru Says: Steam Machines are still available on the store, though you will need to dig them out now. For the time being, it looks like Valve's focus will be on software. Hopefully we'll learn more about Valve's future Linux plans sooner rather than later.

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