Anton Nilsson, purchasing manager at Swedish PC-maker Webhallen added: "Our plans for Steam Machines will of course also be pushed to a later date... We also think that the controller could use some more work so we're happy to hear that Valve is spending even more time perfecting it 痛經."

Lost advantage
There are currently 474 Linux-compatible games available on the Steam platform, and there had been an expectation that Valve would announce further high-profile titles to coincide with the launch 裝修.

Mr Barton said the delay could make that tally seem less impressive 急救產品.

"If the Steam Machines were coming out at the end of 2014 you could argue they would have a significant advantage over the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Wii U in terms of the sheer number of games that would be available," he said.

"Coming out a year later not only means more of those consoles will have been sold, but also presumably that they will have more exclusives and cheaper games available to them.

"But Valve would argue that it needs to get its hardware right or it wouldn't be competitive anyway."

However, the news does appear to have frustrated some potential buyers.

"I agree that if they need more time to get a finished product, they should indeed take it, but going from early 2014 to mid 2014 to Q4 2014 and then to 2015?" wrote one gamer on Valve's Steam Universe forum.

"I've been a PC gamer for about nine years and I'm a fan of gaming in the living room, replaceable parts, high-end specs, so the notion of a PC console is exciting, but I literally would've bought a console for my entertainment area instead if I knew the timeline would just be constantly delayed."