Valve has quashed rumors that it is developing a console-like "Steam Box" hardware standard for its Steam service. Valve's Doug Lombardi told Kotaku that the company is "building boxes" to test its "Big Picture" initiative, which will make Steam play nice with PC setups that use a television set as a display. Lombardi also noted that Valve is experimenting with things like biometric feedback, which was another aspect of the console rumor, but that such experimentation is "a long way from Valve shipping any sort of hardware."

That said, Lombardi did not dismiss the possibility of Valve-developed hardware in the future.