I don’t see how it will have any effect beyond what the Steam store already has on the indie market. Indies already flourish thanks to Steam’s use of discovery algorithms instead of human curation.

The Steam Machine isn’t going to compete with consoles. It’s not a replacement for a console and the target market for this machine is PC users not console users. Console gamers who don’t know what Steam is will not buy this machine like they didn’t buy Steam Decks instead of Nintendo Switches. The goal of Valve’s hardware push is to show that an alternative for Windows is possible. Valve wants to break Microsoft’s monopoly on the PC market. Since Microsoft is the biggest threat for Valve. The more anti-consumer Windows becomes the more it puts Valve’s business in danger, since a shitty Windows experience can push PC gamers towards consoles.