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News Valve: Steam is making us rich

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by CardJoe, 20 Feb 2009.

  1. Phil Rhodes

    Phil Rhodes Hypernobber

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    I'm almost getting bored saying it.

    The only upside is the rich, fulfilling chortle I'll be able to have when Steam vanishes one day and hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of software stops working. At that point, forums like this will be wall to wall with Angry German Kids thrashing their keyboards and hyperventilating with impotent rage.

    Until that time we have to put up with this "reich will last for a thousand years" drivel.
     
  2. cyrilthefish

    cyrilthefish What's a Dremel?

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    And watch steam games get unlocked by crackers minutes later :rolleyes:

    the only thing people would lose by steam vanishing is the ability to re-download games...
     
  3. kylew

    kylew What's a Dremel?

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    I'm pretty sure that will never happen. All that would happen is that some one would come out with a cracked steam client which negated any online authentication.

    There are, or at least have been many different cracked steam clients, though they're hardly worth it. Steam is great for online gaming, especially with friends.

    I fall in to the category that I don't mind spending the RRP in steam on a new game, or slightly more due to its lack of in your face DRM.

    In fact, I'd go as far as to say that the DRM included in steam is actually positive and beneficial. I have a few computers which I have steam installed on so I can play my steam games where ever I am. All I 'want' from steam now is to be able to have your saves/profiles stored online too so that I can continue a game from where I left off on what ever PC I am on.
     
  4. naokaji

    naokaji whatever

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    Of course there is a risk that Valve goes bankrupt and all steam purchases are lost, but lets face it, it is the best option we have.

    Why?

    Look at the retail purchased games.

    First, avalaibility is going down, simply put, walk into a games selling store and look at the size of the pc game shelfs, they barely have enough room for the high profile games, imagine what effort it would take for smaller developers to get shelf space, with digital distribution there is no such thing as limited shelf space, there is no such thing as games that are only ordered on request, there is no such thing as sold out....

    Second:
    You don't actually own the games you buy in retail either, just like with digital distribution. Face it, with limited number of installs, forced sign up to multiple online services, rootkits and anti resale measures in place you are no better off with a retail box. Yes, steam is evil, but so are the "anti piracy" and anti resale crap they have in retail products, with steam you get the evil as well, but atleast it's hassle free.

    so that is retail market covered, what other options are there? EA store?:naughty::naughty::naughty:
     
  5. Kúsař

    Kúsař regular bit-tech reader

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    I hope someone at EA reads that part about price reduction. That's where EA fails...
     
  6. The Growler

    The Growler What's a Dremel?

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    Personally, I think Steam is hard to beat. They update your games automatically, you don't have to have your disk in the drive etc. etc. One of the disks for one of my HL games was damaged but no problem reinstalling, I just click on the link in Steam and it downloads and installs the whole (updated) game.
    The only downside I've experienced is you need to be sure you install Steam on a large partition because there's no option to install new games on a different drive. Once you know about it though it's easily managed.
     
  7. Phil Rhodes

    Phil Rhodes Hypernobber

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    Oh well, as long as you think so, that's fine, I guess...
     
  8. thEcat

    thEcat What's a Dremel?

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    Steam?

    Hated it, a long while back. More recently started to appreciate the advantages it brings and now using it is a natural and all to convenient process. I'm not a fan of the regional pricing nor the regional censorship but as others have mentioned these 'features' are not necessarily 100% at Valves discretion. I'll remain happy so long as they continue to play fair.

    Very interesting figures especially for the return on discounts.

    iirc the eventuality of Steam going bust is already accounted for by some inbuilt mechanism that allows the existing drm to killed. Besides, I have a feeling that if Steam hit problems it would not be short of buyers, in the near future at least.
     
    Last edited: 20 Feb 2009
  9. badders

    badders Neuken in de Keuken

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    Well until that date, we'll keep using it, and you can carry on not using it.

    Sounds good to me.
     
  10. Evildead666

    Evildead666 What's a Dremel?

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    I'm a great fan of Steam.
    Have a lot of games for it, more than 30 anyhoo, haven't counted....

    the prices are a tad high, especially considering there is no packaging and no physical product.....
    If the download price was consistently less than retail price (not counting special offers in stores etc...) then they would have even more people.

    i just love the special offers they have, and am sorely tempted at times... ;)
     
  11. DriftCarl

    DriftCarl Minimodder

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    Valve have been very lucky, They moved counter strike onto steam a long time ago, since CS was a free mod and 10000's of players played it, they complained a bit about steam but they put up with it as they didnt have to pay for CS, or any subscription fees.

    Valve ironed out alot of bugs and problems during that time, they fixed alot of issues and I am sure optimised the backend systems of steam. This ment that when they started selling games on steam, they had done most of the hard work already, and have increased their sales drastically. They are in a position now to bypass publishers all together if they want and just release games on Steam. I have an average collection of steam games now, even though i rarely login to it or even play the games anymore, its nice to know that I can get a new computer, install steam, loginto my account and download all the games I have ever bought on steam without having to mess about with CD keys, stupidly intrusive DRM or install anything extra(except for that stupid rockstar crap.
     
  12. Spaceraver

    Spaceraver Ultralurker

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    Phil.. Find me any clue that Steam goes under and i'll send you money for it.
    It just isn't going to happen any time soon. The platform in itself is so successful that there is no way Valve would kill it nevertheless let it die on it's own hand.
    I'm with Steam (and Valve) on this one. It will not die overnight.
    Only when i see bad figures from Valve prompting emminent closure I would demand a DRM patch from them.
     
  13. Sark.inc

    Sark.inc What's a Dremel?

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    When u consider how easy it is to loose CD keys and/or damage CDs it makes sense to get it on steam, hell yes you might loose it if they choose to, but that is more than likely going to be a very rare case.


    tbh, i would pay the retail price on steam for the simple fact i can backup games, take a copy over to a friends, install steam, log on and reinstall the game with no hassle. Hell if i loose the backup cd so what, i can make another.
     
  14. DXR_13KE

    DXR_13KE BananaModder

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    if i want to buy a game i will order it from game, free delivery and cheaper than steam....
     
  15. Hamish

    Hamish What's a Dremel?

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    thats not really the problem tho, its the difference between steam pricing and local retail pricing thats become a problem

    when the £ was strong and it was about $2 = £1 then steam prices converted into £ were about the same as buying from amazon or play or whatever
    but most games are £5-£10 more on steam than retail, the only advantage being you (maybe) get to play the game a few hours earlier

    personally im not worried about valve/steam going under and leaving everyone in the lurch
    firstly, i have faith that if something terrible did happen and valve/steam closed valve would release something to unlock all your games so that they dont require steam running to play
    or at the very least someone would create some similar tool

    its not that different from scratching/losing a dvd and being unable to install a game again anyway tbh
     
  16. [PUNK] crompers

    [PUNK] crompers Dremedial

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    i think gamers are gonna have to get over the idea that you "own" a game anyway, all you own is a licence and its been like that for a while. i have faith in valve enough to bee confident they wont go under.

    at the end of the day games are fairly transitory media anyway; i dont enjoy playing an old game as much as i do watching an old film although i know there are plenty would disagree but for me losing old games isnt a huge tragedy
     
  17. Timmy_the_tortoise

    Timmy_the_tortoise International Man of Awesome

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    Steam Wins @ Life.
     
  18. boggsi

    boggsi What's a Dremel?

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    Massive steam fan. However please please please support HTTP download and proxy servers.. I am stuck behind a ridiculous firewall at university and hence have trouble downloading. I don't mind paying the few quid a month for PingFu but the max d/l speed is 40 kbp/s.. Not fun when you want to get FEAR2 up and running!
     
  19. Er-El

    Er-El Minimodder

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    Steam still isn't perfect though and there's a lot of areas they need to go over and improve upon.
    For example, can I play my games when I lose my internet connection? No. It'd be nice if they could figure out a way around that one.
    Another thing, though nothing major the Steam client still feels a bit sluggish, particularly when compared to GFWL's in-game UI which is more snappy.
     
  20. Timmy_the_tortoise

    Timmy_the_tortoise International Man of Awesome

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    Er.... "Work Offline" much?
     
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