News Valve: Steam is making us rich

As Hamish said that's not the problem, Empire: Total War - Steam price £39.99, play.com price £29.99. Why is there a £10 difference, it makes no sense

 

What are you talking about?

 

You can play singleplayer games offline, steam has an offline mode, or multiplayer games against bots if you have any.

Pull your internet cable out and see what steam does.

 

Oh. Thanks for the update.

 

Greetings!

FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage - 39,99€, not 10€.

Even more absurd in the Special Forces Edition of ETW. Steam wants more £€$ for less (no package bundle).

 

I'm a notorious hater of STEAM, and I never thought they'd lose money. their sales model really should rake the cash in, and apparently it has. How could it fail?

1) Monopolize game distribution, and make STEAM mandatory fro almost all new games.
2) Reduce usage rights for the end user, retaining those rights for STEAM exclusively.
3) Cater to gamers with expensive hardware and premium boadband connections, and screw over players with cheaper rigs and slow internet speeds - because rich players pay more.

Of course they're getting rich. Most crooked schemes like this will enrich the people responsible, at least in the short term. That's exactly the point. Meanwhile STEAM is putting itself in the position to eventually own and control all non-current games - because they control the permission to play them.

My problem with STEAM is that they're ripping me off, and pushing me out of my hobby. Why should their financial success make me happier about it?