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HL2 Pulled From Shelves!!
- Thread starter Nightfall84
- Start date
bonkrowave said:
I think our friend is speaking from the "I am a business owner who has intimate, personal knowledge with the figures to which I am referring" aspect of the argument, rather than from the "I am a PC !!!!!!, I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about" viewpoint. The great part is, you don't even explain why you think Valve is in the right in this case. Do you think they are, charging that much money? Please justify your ridiculous assertion, I will enjoy it.
bonkrowave
2[H]4U
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- Oct 12, 2004
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finalgt said:
Well for starters the op fails to mention that when he signs up for the valve cybecafe program he does not only get access to Half-life 2, but all of these:
valve said:
The cybercafe program valve offers is not like other programs where you license per machine. In addition to all thoose products you get:
valve said:
Notice it says fully licensed software, so you do not have to buy individual copies, plus a free tournament license.
Notice it also provides this disclaimer:
It really is pretty simple. Valve is offering a service, you get more then a boxed copy that you are allowed to use at a cybercafe. But then again ... apparently I dont know what I am talking about
Yes, Valves program is better than Blizzards, but the never-ending fact still exists that I have to continue paying them month per month and cannot technically "purchase" a license. "Promotional materials" are given to me for free by other companies who wish to promote their product in my environment, and understand that they have a lot to gain by having a presence in my cafe, "tournament licenses" are not required for any dev with the exception of Blizzard and Valve, "Automatic updates" are offered to everyone on steam without having to pay a monthly membership, why should cyber cafe's? The "CAS" is a GREAT tool, but it should be the discretion of each business owner whether or not this tool is a business necessity. "Valve Product Support" whoopty doo (enough said) "account protection" cool, but not cool enough to outweigh their charges. I agree they are offering a service, but not all small business can afford it, and they charge whatever they want, b/c if you don't want to/can't afford to pay, then you don't have their software, and they gouge the price to whatever they want. Blizzard and Valve are the only 2 companies with this type of program, and EA Games has been the best by far in terms of commercial licensing. EA says "hey we are still making money by them purchasing our game, while Valve tries to squeeze every penny out of the new business market, which is forcing a lot of people out simply b/c they have the power to do it and are not content with retail sales, proving they are just as greedy as Vivendi.bonkrowave said:
bonkrowave
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Hazards said:
I see where you are comming from. Smaller cybercafes really lose out on this deal because big, sponsored corporate cafes are going to be the ones who can afford to pay high premiums. It does suck for the little guy, but all businesses are that way.
Vildayyan2003 said:
I see what you are saying. But....I don't want ONE universal service. I would much rather have each game company have their own. If that ONE service goes down...ALL your games go with it. If each game has its own...then if one goes down...you just start the other up.
There are downsides to both ways.
Also...how can my opinion have a major flaw? I was just saying what I wanted. Sheesh!
j/k I know what you mean.
bonkrowave said:
Remember, your CyberCafe's are choosing between pirated copies and legal ones. On certain locations (Unregistered backalley shops, backyard warehouse shop, internet cafe's with hidden rooms, etc.), enforcement of anti-piracy measures are nil. The amount of money they save, outweighs the risk of getting caught by a significant margin. Those are the publishers biggest headaches. To atleast put a dent in their population, publishers create special packages to convince the hidden ones to voluntarily come out and get licensed copies. This means all previous piracy records (atleast with their softwares) are wiped clean, and licensed packages are given dirt cheap. It's an annually paid license, but it's really really cheap and aimed at small businesses. Any CyberCafe's caught, rather than getting sued, are forced into the same deal. That's how it's done in my Country
This may have been what ticked off Valve. In their quest to combat piracy, Vivendi may have gone too far in their packaging. Valve games are very popular due largely to CounterStrike and considering the number of CyberCafe's in my country (No matter where you are, there's atleast <ONE> CyberCafe within a kilometer), their huge number made up for the low income. Valve would have gotten much more money out of the CyberCafe's if it weren't for Vivendies competitive pricing (competitive against pirates).
If Valve were to give them the standard packages, like what Hazard described, the cybercafe's would go back to pirating.
And to give you an idea of the situation in my area. Small CyberCafe businesses rent at around 30% (Maybe less) the cost of their bigger brothers. If the sponsored one rents at a dollar an hour, the small ones rent at 30 cents max. Sure the hardware sucks, but it's good enough to play most popular games. The small CyberCafe's are aimed at school students paying out of their lunch money, so even though they charge cheap, their customer base is insanely huge. The sponsored ones can afford the standard packages, but since the small ones outnumber them 500 to 1, special deals were made for them.
That would be great, except in this country it's "Take the standard package or go to court" They won't make special packages for us in the US. Now granted Valve's plan is based on the amount of machines you have, and every price is differant, but they have a cap set at a minimum purchase of 10 licenses, and it's still not cheap