It doesn’t really matter how much profit they’re making on it, it’s a bad deal because every other comparable low end pc is upgradable whereas the steam machine isn’t.
There’s just no reason for a locked-hardware low-end device like the steam machine to exist. Why would anyone want a non-upgradable PC, when the reason people play on PC is for the upgradability?
The hardware is bad. It’s a power throttled bottom of the barrel GPU and CPU. It’s a 1080p30fps machine for anything other than indies, and for most AAA gaming it will need the atrocious FSR to even get to that.
It’s not upgradable either, so it’s not like you can just swap out the GPU or CPU for a better one later.
For a machine that’s targeting the living room, where most people who might consider buying this would be wanting to use it on a big 4K TV, they’ve made the worst possible performing machine for that use case.
I’m not sure how much of a console gamer you are, or how much you keep an eye on game prices, but almost every sale on steam for games that are on consoles happens on Xbox and PlayStation too. I know because I often have to choose between buying on Xbox or Steam when there’s a sale, and the Xbox version with play anywhere is the same price as the steam one so I usually buy the Xbox one.
The steam machine from valve is just a small form factor junk box.
The funny thing is, I don’t believe it actually does lol