Another New Steam User Record

what was so special about last weekend that caused so many people to jump on Steam?
 
Amazing a game that was released roughly 16.5 years ago and just "re-vamped" has so many players still. What a cash cow!
 
Well.. Just had a friend of 20 years call me a 'PC Hipster'.. WTF is that all about?
 
Another factor may have been all of the people trying out their Steam hardware. We'll have to see what next weekend looks like. Could just be more people playing on PCs now. It seems to be getting more popular. I see a lot of articles on gaming PC building, PC hardware, etc. on basic gaming sites. At least more than I have in recent months / years.
 
How soon until Microsoft starts recommending Windows 10 Steam users use the Microsoft Store instead, as like they're doing with Microsoft Edge for competitors' browsers.
 
doz said:
Amazing a game that was released roughly 16.5 years ago and just "re-vamped" has so many players still. What a cash cow!
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Ugh? Monopoly? Why would anyone ever want to continue playing that old game? The printed graphics are SO dated.
 
^I'd still be playing Quake 1 if there were servers around. I still enjoy playing it SP sometimes. I miss the days of a 450 ping, complaining about LPB bastards in TF1. Now, my go-to replay SP game would have to be the original Deus Ex. Graphics are cool, good games are better.
 
ccman said:
How soon until Microsoft starts recommending Windows 10 Steam users use the Microsoft Store instead, as like they're doing with Microsoft Edge for competitors' browsers.
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They can recommend all they want. Until they put Halo 5 in the windows store, nobody's even going to dare going in there.
 
Betaboy1983 said:
^I'd still be playing Quake 1 if there were servers around. I still enjoy playing it SP sometimes. I miss the days of a 450 ping, complaining about LPB bastards in TF1. Now, my go-to replay SP game would have to be the original Deus Ex. Graphics are cool, good games are better.
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fortress forever.
 
DukenukemX said:
Consoles are going to start feeling the burn. Gentlemen I introduce to you the Potato Master. A PC built on $350 from parts available when the PS4/Xbone was launched. It beats the PS4 in Witcher 3. It beats the PS4 in Project Cars. And then we have GTAV, I just feel sorry for console owners.

Keep those Steam records going!
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They skipped the cost of an OS. Legally speaking, you'd be sinking at least another $80 there to complete the build. Still a better choice than a console, but they're flat out lying saying that machine is $350.
 
Protoform-X said:
They skipped the cost of an OS. Legally speaking, you'd be sinking at least another $80 there to complete the build. Still a better choice than a console, but they're flat out lying saying that machine is $350.
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Which is why SteamOS being free will be a big factor in being able to hit the console pricepoints that people expect - no Windows license removes about 17% of the cost. Sure, you may have to stream your Windows games to SteamOS for a couple years, but let's see in 3-5 years.
 
Protoform-X said:
They skipped the cost of an OS. Legally speaking, you'd be sinking at least another $80 there to complete the build. Still a better choice than a console, but they're flat out lying saying that machine is $350.
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Well, there are other ways to go about it.

piracy_o_466430.jpg
 
Well you can thank me for one of those. I only log into Steam once every 6 months or so and I did that weekend.

Didn't find anything I wanted though.
 
Good for them. I like having options available on all platforms. It is not either this or that but having both that makes gaming very special. Otherwise, we would all be driving around a Toyota Prius since they would not give us any other options. :D
 
Protoform-X said:
They skipped the cost of an OS. Legally speaking, you'd be sinking at least another $80 there to complete the build. Still a better choice than a console, but they're flat out lying saying that machine is $350.
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I paid €20 for Win7 Pro 64bit (now upgraded to Win 10 Pro 64bit).
 
ManofGod said:
Good for them. I like having options available on all platforms. It is not either this or that but having both that makes gaming very special. Otherwise, we would all be driving around a Toyota Prius since they would not give us any other options. :D
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I would gladly sacrifice choice of vehicle, if everyone got Model S P90D :D
 
I did the Grey Goo free weekend, went ahead and bought Starcraft 2 gold instead for same price lol
 
DukenukemX said:
Consoles are going to start feeling the burn. Gentlemen I introduce to you the Potato Master. A PC built on $350 from parts available when the PS4/Xbone was launched. It beats the PS4 in Witcher 3. It beats the PS4 in Project Cars. And then we have GTAV, I just feel sorry for console owners.

Keep those Steam records going!
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The Potato Masher is a little misleading....

It uses used or free donated parts, does not include an OS or mouse/keyboard/controller.

It is also a generation behind in MB,CPU and memory.

Yes, it works, but it's a little misleading.
 
DPI said:
Which is why SteamOS being free will be a big factor in being able to hit the console pricepoints that people expect - no Windows license removes about 17% of the cost. Sure, you may have to stream your Windows games to SteamOS for a couple years, but let's see in 3-5 years.
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For the two top configs from Alienware running Windows and Linux the price is only $50 different ($700 Windows vs $650 Steam OS and $800 Windows vs $750 Steam OS) and the base configs are exactly the same price. So that's way less than the 17% you claim.

And this whole streaming from a Windows machine to play games. So save $50, 6% or 7% of the price to tie up hundreds or thousands in additional hardware when you could have just spent $50 extra dollars and avoided that? Doesn't seem very console minded.

Yes, we'll see in 3 to 5 years. Not really sure what's going to change in that time frame that hasn't changed in almost two decades when it comes to desktop Linux support. And yes, it's desktop Linux were talking about here regardless of the form factor. Beyond those that just don't like Microsoft or Windows what is the point of this platform for consumers if they need a Windows machine anyway to stream games they may want to play? This thing has an uphill battle. Not saying it's a bad or idea or can't be a good solution but I've yet to hear a reason for Steam OS that wasn't based on dubious cost savings or dislike of Windows.
 
Here's your non-dubious reason. It's another option. Plain and simple. Being another option, it will have more value to different people. For some, it's a reason to get away from Microsoft, and still play many PC games. For others $50 is actually a decent cost savings. (not to everyone of course) For some, maybe all Indie is their thing, and having a free/Open Source OS is just as cool as the Indie games they plan to play on it. It's definitely not going to be the same thing or have the same appeal to everyone. It's optional, and having more options is a good thing. If Valve continues to push, and keeps putting funding and energy behind it though, we'll see more and more games get SteamOS/Linux/Mac support. If it gets to the point where there is very little difference support-wise, (that is a big if I admit, but it's still technically possible) then the question becomes, why NOT run Steam OS on a gaming-oriented PC?

Windows is still currently the best way to play PC games, but at least we are starting to see viable options emerge. They're not all the way there yet, but one can use SteamOS and get a decent library of games. Especially if they're new to PC gaming and haven't played those games in Windows already. Niche group? Yes. But, it's still a potential group that would benefit fairly early on.

We'll just have to see how it all plays out. It's all very interesting though, and this is an interesting time to be someone who's into all of this.
 
Judging by this thread, I'm not sure one can put a finger on just why the numbers were so high. That's actually kind of cool, because it may just mean this is a trend, and PC gaming is picking up Steam. :p
 
J3RK said:
Here's your non-dubious reason. It's another option. Plain and simple. Being another option, it will have more value to different people. For some, it's a reason to get away from Microsoft, and still play many PC games. For others $50 is actually a decent cost savings. (not to everyone of course) For some, maybe all Indie is their thing, and having a free/Open Source OS is just as cool as the Indie games they plan to play on it.
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These things have been longstanding reasons that Linux folks have pointed out as a reason to use Linux and they've never made a difference in the general PC market. I think they have even less relevance in gaming. Options are great. But they need to be equivalent options.

J3RK said:
Windows is still currently the best way to play PC games, but at least we are starting to see viable options emerge. They're not all the way there yet, but one can use SteamOS and get a decent library of games. Especially if they're new to PC gaming and haven't played those games in Windows already. Niche group? Yes. But, it's still a potential group that would benefit fairly early on.

We'll just have to see how it all plays out. It's all very interesting though, and this is an interesting time to be someone who's into all of this.
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Bottom line, market share. I just don't see how devices that few know about that don't do anything that's not already available, indeed less when it comes to PC gaming, increases market share. Not the tremendous growth that Linux would need to get big developer attention.

The market share thing is just tough. It's why Windows Phone are nearly dead and they actually have more market share in phones that desktop Linux. And the billions that Microsoft has poured into phones hasn't budged the needle. So when I doubt desktop Linux and Linux gaming it's for exactly the same reason why I say Windows Phone doesn't stand a chance at doing much. So I don't think I'm being an unreasonable fanboy.
 
heatlesssun said:
These things have been longstanding reasons that Linux folks have pointed out as a reason to use Linux and they've never made a difference in the general PC market. I think they have even less relevance in gaming. Options are great. But they need to be equivalent options.



Bottom line, market share. I just don't see how devices that few know about that don't do anything that's not already available, indeed less when it comes to PC gaming, increases market share. Not the tremendous growth that Linux would need to get big developer attention.

The market share thing is just tough. It's why Windows Phone are nearly dead and they actually have more market share in phones that desktop Linux. And the billions that Microsoft has poured into phones hasn't budged the needle. So when I doubt desktop Linux and Linux gaming it's for exactly the same reason why I say Windows Phone doesn't stand a chance at doing much. So I don't think I'm being an unreasonable fanboy.
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Oh, I didn't say your were an unreasonable fanboy. You also make valid points. I think there's more in it than you do, but I recognize the challenges. I remain optimistic about the Steam Hardware, and OS. I don't think it's going to shift the entire world, but I do this it's going to fill some gaps. It may even be an affordable gateway to get someone their first gaming PC, which they will later even want to install Windows on. Still, it was inexpensive, it got them in the door, provided enough content to start out with, and now they can move on from there. I bet it'll be a decent option for kids that want to start on PC gaming, that have parents that don't really want to spend a ton of money. It took me years to get my parents to buy me an Amiga 500 when I was a kid. When there was a $300 option available finally (around 1990 I think) they finally bit, and I had my Amiga. There's gotta be some kids in that boat now too.

Once again, another niche, and won't make much of a dent in market share, but if you start adding up all these little groups of people in all these little niches, I think you start making some headway, even if it's only a gateway to a big Windows machine later on.
 
I guess I'm just weird. I didn't touch Steam at all last weekend.

But I sure did last night, with the release of Life is Strange episode 5. Still stuck on the never ending dorm hallway :(
 
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