Steam is Killing the PC Market?

No, they're right. I buy so many games on Steam, so do many others, that the amount of money going into it is killing PC gaming because blah blah blah penis.
 
eh, lets talk about what the article is really about
1) retail has often totally ignored pc market, pushing consoles and games heavily since pc market is nothing but "pirates"
2) steam has made pc market very viable and thriving
3) console market is losing market share to pc market
4) oh noes! what to do?!!!
 
I say good riddance to the retail ripoffs and for them not to let the door hit em in the ass on the way out. As other folks have already mentioned, they reduced their PC section to a paltry amount years ago. I suppose they don't think having shitty prices and pushy salespeople shoving stupid magazines and preorders in our faces wouldn't contribute to their reduced market either.
 
I love Valve. I love Steam. It used to be that if a HDD crashed or I was building a new system, I would put it off for days because installing all the individual gamse and shepherding retarded CD/DVD switching, etc. Now, I "Set IT...and FORGET it!" :D

Seriously, it's genius. The friends system, the automated updates, the news and game sales...it really has to be one of the greatest things to ever happen to PC gaming.

As for the article itself...I have to say, I love Brit's swearing in the comments!

"You bitching, self-serving, cock-fisted hamshanks..."

Cock-fisted hamshanks...I fucking love it, I'm so using that!
 
I purchase all my games through Steam now. If it takes a day to download the game, it doesn't bother me especially if I pick it up on one of their big discount sales. Only thing I think they are lacking on is the upcoming releases. I usually have to go to gamestop's site or +++++++'s site to see the expected release date of upcoming games.

There are a ton of games that I have bought off Steam that I wouldn't have normally bought because of their huge discounts. Older games that I never got a chance to play, and newer Indy games that are fantastic and at very affordable pricing. I really hope Steam is helping the Indy community, because some of the best gameplay I've seen lately has been coming from the Indy sector.
 
Perhaps you should ban online shopping completely since you obviously don't want to compete with the trend.

Quit complaining, K? thx.
 
All I know for a fact is that I have spent ATLEAST 2x as much money on PC games as I usually would have since Steam came out.

Killing PC gaming market? Heeelllll no

Killing other PC gaming retailers? Maybe, but whose fault is that?
 
Nearly every Game retailer around me in the UK stocks only some second hand, a shelf and the top 10 PC games, the rest is all console. I don't think the give a crap about steam as they don't really sell for PC gamers.
 
If anything it's helping the PC market. It's like xbox live but for PC. You can get all your games and coordinate with your friends in one easy way. They're just pissed because Valve is getting profit from everyone else. The problem with PC is that everyone wants their own way to connect to games online. If everyone jumped on the same online platform then consoles would be SOL.
 
Retail's real problem with Steam is the fact of the digital distribution model over the physical copy model of doing business. Retail has to tie up their cash into inventory which means that only a limited number can be purchased for resell vs digital which isn't constrained by the same problem. Digital: larger catalog, less overhead. Retail: inventory which requires warehousing, physical shipping, showroom space and additional personnel for assisting customer at POS. Digital wins hands down.

Steam has one of the most effective systems for digital distribution which means more dollars in both Steam and the publisher's pockets. As a consumer, I prefer Steam as it's less hassle and I don't have to worry about keeping up with CD keys and other stuff physically for my games.

Retail has only themselves to blame as they historically didn't give PC games a chance to truly prove itself as a viable product in their stores. I speak from experience as I used to buy PC software for a retail chain of 110 stores and my best year they only gave me a budget for the year of 5 million total; 2/3 of which was expected to be reserved for buying for the 3 month period leading into Christmas leaving only 1/3 of my budget for the other 9 months spread across 110 stores. Can't buy too many copies of AA titles with that, much less the smaller Indie titles.
 
The future is digital distribution for more then just games. Valve gambled big and released the service ahead of it's time; now they are reaping the rewards exponentially.
It's silly to try and make Steam look bad, what is had achieved, and the scope of it's goal, is huge, but 8 years running it's made it. The first years were horrible, everyone hated it, but Steam's paid it's dues, and now is making dividends! GJ Steam!

Agreed.

Back when Steam was launched it was a huge gamble. Broadband was not as universal as it is today. They are reaping the rewards of being early and innovative right now. Others have and will join the fray of digital distribution of games, and there will be more competition, but this competition will likely not come from store front retailers, unless they completely reinvent themselves and digital distributors.

I mean, the only reason for retail game sellers to exist today is so that grandmothers who don't understand the internets can buy little johnny a PS3 game for christmas.
 
Blaming Steam for killing the PC Games retail market, is sort of like blaming Ford for killing the horse and buggy market.

It's time to move on.
 
eh, lets talk about what the article is really about
1) retail has often totally ignored pc market, pushing consoles and games heavily since pc market is nothing but "pirates"
2) steam has made pc market very viable and thriving
3) console market is losing market share to pc market
4) oh noes! what to do?!!!

The article was really about how retail stores are trying to create digital distribution platforms to compete with Steam and how they are going to refuse to sell games (in retail and on their DD platforms) that come bundled with Steam. Or at least, that's what I got out of it.
 
There is a legitimate point in the article, though.

Steam right now, and since launch basically, has been the 'good guy' for us PC gamers. Great prices, saved games, auto patching, indie distribution, etc.

However, if Steam ever turned into the 'bad guy', raising prices, charging too much for the use of the service, hell even monthly fees to use the service. Or maybe ISPs seeing the potential for a money grab from gamers downloading large amounts of data.

There are a lot of things that could turn very wrong if Steam became the sole distributor of PC games. I do feel that there should be a Steam and non-Steam installation option for games.
 
The console companies,chiefly Microsoft,are killing the PC market,period. Valve remained loyal to PC gaming while other publishers sold out to them,and worked hard to make Steam what it is,they earned the top spot in the download market. If retailers offered the kind of deals Steam does,maybe people would buy from them.
 
This doesn't surprise me in the slightest. I went to a midnight launch at BestBuy with 2 friends (main reason was because one of our friends had a gift card he wanted to use). So we stand in line for about 30 mins and when we get to the registers, we asked to buy 3 PC versions of the game... Their response, "Sorry, we only had 4 copies, 2 for retail sale and 2 for "dot com" sales, so they only had 1 copy left at the store to sell us. WTF is that... they have like 200 copies of XBox and PS3 versions and 4 for PC.

That left me a little irritated. So at the end of the night I go home and just buy it off of steam.
 
I'm to the point where I wont buy a game unless it is on steam.
 
It is impossible to argue the benifits of Steam.

But damn it, I still can't for some stupid reason give up the box.
 
I'm to the point where I wont buy a game unless it is on steam.

Ditto.

I haven't been in a store that sells retail video games in years... In fact, in reviewing my history below, the last boxed retail game I had was bought in 1998 for me as a gift by someone else :p

I've never used direct2drive.

I used THQ once, because they had a really good deal going for Metro 2033 that I found out about in the [H] deals thread, but then I immediately went and associated the key with Steam.

I've also used Ubisofts download page, just because a game came free with a video card...

I'm by no means a big video game buyer though.

My last few game purchases are as follows:

Code:
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky (ROW) (Steam, 11-2010)

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. CoP + SoC  (Steam 08-2010)

Just Cause 2 (Nvidia Coupon with GTX470, Associated w. Steam 07-2010, never played)

Resident Evil 5 (Nvidia Coupon with GTX470, Key doesnt work with steam 07-2010, never played)

Metro 2033 Retail (THQ deal, Associated w. Steam  07-2010)

Civilization V - Deluxe Edition (Preorder Steam 06-2010)

The Deus Ex Collection (Steam 06-2010)

Half-Life 2: Episode Pack (Steam 05-2010)

Sid Meier's Civilization IV: The Complete Edition (Steam 05 2010, replaced my lost Civ4 disk)

Half-Life 2 Bronze (Preordered on Steam in 2004 some time)

Half Life Platinum Pack (The last retail game I bought, some time in 1998)

During my "golden years of gaming" when I was in college, from 1999 to 2003 pretty much everything revolved around Counter-Strike. getting the best framerates at high resolutions was what my AMD Thunderbird core and Geforce 2 GTS overclocks were all about :p
 
Retail's real problem with Steam is the fact of the digital distribution model over the physical copy model of doing business. Retail has to tie up their cash into inventory which means that only a limited number can be purchased for resell vs digital which isn't constrained by the same problem. Digital: larger catalog, less overhead. Retail: inventory which requires warehousing, physical shipping, showroom space and additional personnel for assisting customer at POS. Digital wins hands down.

Steam has one of the most effective systems for digital distribution which means more dollars in both Steam and the publisher's pockets. As a consumer, I prefer Steam as it's less hassle and I don't have to worry about keeping up with CD keys and other stuff physically for my games.

Retail has only themselves to blame as they historically didn't give PC games a chance to truly prove itself as a viable product in their stores. I speak from experience as I used to buy PC software for a retail chain of 110 stores and my best year they only gave me a budget for the year of 5 million total; 2/3 of which was expected to be reserved for buying for the 3 month period leading into Christmas leaving only 1/3 of my budget for the other 9 months spread across 110 stores. Can't buy too many copies of AA titles with that, much less the smaller Indie titles.

This is a great analysis, and very telling that this chain considered PC games as toys for children No wonder their model is failing!! I'm 47 and buy games throughout the year. Steam gives me better pricing, immediate gratification, and care free patches Although I cherish my boxed versions I am purchasing significantly less boxed versions than before
 
Keep in mind, Steam has more digital distribution competition now than it ever has, even as they increase their revenues and user base.
 
A boycott is pointless, as there are already virtually no PC games in mall stores; it is all console.

Digital distribution IS the future; only the consoles haven't caught up yet.
 
If anyone is HELPING PC gaming, it is Steam. The ease of buying through has stopped many from resorting to piracy.

And cutting multiple middlemen out of taking your game to market is helping developers, too.

The bad guys are the companies who say US OR THEM, trying to grab the devs by the balls.
 
Stop thinking about your closed world only (where it seems only Steam deals are great) and think about the big picture.

Steam prices outside of the US are all bad or definitely not as good as in the US, so that's not "overall" but rather only in the US...

Ya... I'm in Canada. I just bought DoD:S for $2.50USD, $0.00 Tax, $0.00 Shipping, $0.00 Gas. No packaging wasting space. It downloaded in about 2 minutes. I'm happy :)

Maybe you should stop thinking about your closed world where you're... Nah, I'll leave it :p

As for "outside of the US are all bad" Maybe you should stop thinking about your closed world where you're... Oops! There I go... AGAIN :p
 
Digital distribution IS the future; only the consoles haven't caught up yet.

This is pretty accurate IMO. I've cruised through places like Target, Walmart etc.. but their prices are always too high. Especially on titles i've been waiting to come down. There's no reason IMO to see a title that's 3 years old still selling for 49.99 or $60. Steam usually has a very competitive price or i catch it on sale.

So IMO. screw retailers then.

-Dill
 
What ?

Is this guy QQing there is no competition, or is he QQing Steam is "too" big ?
 
This is really no different than any retailer crying because of competition from online stores.
It is more of the fact they fail to innovate and reach customers. In this digital age savvy buyers are looking for bargains and to save time. Many retailers ship FREE, and you don't pay local sales tax. (Love ya Amazon).
Besides, why go to Best Buy and pay 39.99 for a 2 year old game when you can "steam-it" for half that usually. Is that box and disc really worth it??
 
If something else was just as good or better than STEAM, that's what people would use. Dur dur pretty fucking obvious. Myspace sucked, so when there was an alternative (facebook) people jumped ship pretty quickly.
 
Ya... I'm in Canada. I just bought DoD:S for $2.50USD, $0.00 Tax, $0.00 Shipping, $0.00 Gas. No packaging wasting space. It downloaded in about 2 minutes. I'm happy :)
It's 'greener' too, if that's your thing.

I love big boxes and nice manuals and goodies and shit as much as the next guy, but a purely digital distribution method has so many advantages that I find it hard to genuinely miss the days of boxed games. The pros so dramatically outweigh the cons. Publishers are no doubt liking the arrangement as well.
 
The analog is the music industry.

Retailers: We don't want to innovate! Stop conforming to the market and what the customers want!
Steam: QQ
 
Ya... I'm in Canada. I just bought DoD:S for $2.50USD, $0.00 Tax, $0.00 Shipping, $0.00 Gas. No packaging wasting space. It downloaded in about 2 minutes. I'm happy :)

Maybe you should stop thinking about your closed world where you're... Nah, I'll leave it :p

As for "outside of the US are all bad" Maybe you should stop thinking about your closed world where you're... Oops! There I go... AGAIN :p

?
Are you seriously using a game as old as the dinosaurs as a good example of how good Steam prices are ?...

Also, funny that you excluded the "or at least not as good as the US" portion of my post, just to make your point, but I wasn't expecting you to be fair about it anyway :)
 
What they are chiding at the moment isn't Steam itself, it's the integration of the service into retail versions of the game.

Exactly. It is a bit cheeky for a game to require you to use an online service which is ultimately a games store, when you bought the game from a competing retailer.

But, like a lot of people here, I rarely buy games except through Steam now (the exceptions generally being collectors editions etc). And of course anyone's free to create a competing, superior service, but good luck with that.
 
?
Are you seriously using a game as old as the dinosaurs as a good example of how good Steam prices are ?...

Also, funny that you excluded the "or at least not as good as the US" portion of my post, just to make your point, but I wasn't expecting you to be fair about it anyway :)

Just like leaving out the point that Europe's taxes are why Steam prices are high over there so you can go "StEAm SUcKS!! pRIcES tOO HigH!! PeOPLe fROm tEh StATES jUst DonT geT IT!!"
 
QQ Retailers, QQ. Eventually, a majority of console game sales will be all digital distribution too.
 
Steam is to game stores what Netflix is to video stores.

They can just subsist on backwater console games.

I would prefer another online retailer rising up for PC games though, otherwise prices will go up.
 
Exactly. It is a bit cheeky for a game to require you to use an online service which is ultimately a games store, when you bought the game from a competing retailer.


THe problem here is that part of the benefit - from a developers standpoint - of developing a steam game is that you get all the multiplayer integration for free, and you can focus more on th erest of the game, rather than reinventing the wheel.

It's going to be difficult to get rid of that incentive.
 
Zarathustra[H];1036417297 said:
THe problem here is that part of the benefit - from a developers standpoint - of developing a steam game is that you get all the multiplayer integration for free, and you can focus more on th erest of the game, rather than reinventing the wheel.

It's going to be difficult to get rid of that incentive.

What I meant to say, and missed was that the games in many cases would not be functional without the STEAM code in them, without significant extra coding time from the developers...
 
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