Steam is Killing the PC Market?

I used to love having boxed games.. and I do miss having them a little but steam works so damn well for me I don't care anymore... yeah, my games collection shelves are static now but steam is pretty damn convenient..
 
All I got out of that article was BAWWWWW MY BUSINESS IS FAILING BECAUSE I MAKE AN INFERIOR PRODUCT BAWWWW
 
Basically they can QQ all they want. Give it 5-10 years and digital distribution will likely be the only way or at least have over 50% of all titles will be handled. Digital distribution is the future and I've been saying that, among many others for some time now.
 
Basically they can QQ all they want. Give it 5-10 years and digital distribution will likely be the only way or at least have over 50% of all titles will be handled. Digital distribution is the future and I've been saying that, among many others for some time now.

Exactly. Look at music and now movies. Video games (console/PC or otherwise) will migrate to mainly being sold as digital downloads as well.
 
Saying "Digital distribution is the future" does nothing to help the present situation. It's just cheer leading.
 
The guy in the article is a Retail Store owner, who is crying that sales are dropping due to digital distribution like Steam. Waa.

/eot
 
Pfft....
Let them do it. i've only bought like 2 PC games in the last 5 years at a retail store anyways. Everything else was online, even the retail boxed games.
 
Bunch of crybabies. I don't see retailers complaining they'll drop record labels if they don't stop selling on iTunes. Digital purchases are the future. Apple and Valve realized this before anyone else. I haven't bought a video game or music CD in years. Sayonara retailers.
 
Boxes are a waste of material, add clutter and have no point other than nostalgia of days when we received boxes with a bunch of propaganda written on them.
 
Looks like once again, PC gamers are on the cutting edge of gaming technology. Physical copies will be a thing of the past soon, probably with the next generation of consoles.

Everything will be digital download.
 
Retail is killing itself in the PC arena. I can't buy games if I can't find them in your store.
 
Steam is the best possible thing to happen to pc gaming in a long time. I've been using it since launch, and HATE getting my games any other way. No longer have to keep up with disc or anything else.
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If brick-and-mortar retailers just closed all their stores and liquidated their assets, they'd get a quick cash injection. Then they could use all that extra money to design, build, and advertise a rival system.

Seriously, they're wasting their money on loading up thousands of employees in stores, paying rent to malls, etc. Their overhead is way too high and they could make it all go away. They're just too scared of taking a risk to compete with Valve.
 
I really wonder how many of the Black Ops were pre-orders that got mailed to people through Gamestop. I've only pre-ordered physical copies over the last few years. All other games were bought through EA, D2D, or steam. Oh and world of goo I paid 2 bucks to the devs for trying the idea of buying setting the price.

I have to agree with the majority it is B&M own fault the stores don't have a PC section just an insult to gaming. I'd be willing to bet it might be Best Buy is one since they usually have two shelves instead of the one Gamestop does.

The only thing I will miss if they boycott is CE as I tend to buy them for the art books inside. So the devs are just going to have to sell the art books online.
 
many electronic/software b&m are probably scared to get into digital distribution b/c they make all their money off of the ignorant consumers who come into their stores wanting a console or tv (or watever) without understanding how to hook it up, what the specs mean, etc.

meanwhile you're right fatty, pc gamers are on the cutting edge...as a group. most enthusiasts see the way steam is being applied as a boon to our hobby. then there are the people who dont know what the fuck is going on but want to play games, case in point: ten million mac users crying about not understanding how to play valve games because they have to create a steam account and download/install the client to get the game. these sort of people are now being appealed to by b&m because they literally have to be instructed as to what to do, buy, etc.

valve patches the hell out of their stuff, distributes indy games, has awesome sales, and got to where they are now ("monopolizing the market oh noes") by giving pc gamers pretty much whatever they want...and im supposed to listen to some ivory tower asshole whose profits have been eaten into, telling me that valves the bad guy? *snort*
 
I don't get this. Retailers are planning to ban Steam games. So their plan is to push what few customers they have to the online distribution platform that they dislike.

Personally, it irks me is having all these different online services. I login to Steam, start up Mass Effect 2, then have to login to their Cerberus network. How Red Faction, which has Steam first, then Games for Windows Live. Can we just make a single damn service already? Maybe all these developers need to just get together, create a consortium, then put out a single service.
 
I was a HUGE steam hater at first, just did not like the idea of giving away control by not having a physical copy, etc.

But in the end, it was just too hard not to like steam. It's a great product, works well, brings me games I wouldn't otherwise buy at good prices and brings me the games I'd by anyway without having to leave my house. I haven't even installed DVD drives in my main computer for 5+ years now.
 
I was a HUGE steam hater at first, just did not like the idea of giving away control by not having a physical copy, etc.

But in the end, it was just too hard not to like steam. It's a great product, works well, brings me games I wouldn't otherwise buy at good prices and brings me the games I'd by anyway without having to leave my house. I haven't even installed DVD drives in my main computer for 5+ years now.

some of us aint there yet & will die before ever going there - STEAM is like shopping at WalMart: either ya do or ya don't

anyway, STEAM is not the cause of the death of PC gaming - it is but a symptom

the cuases are GREED & SLOTH

whatever floats your boat
 
Dear Retailers:Your days are numbered. You have been rendered obsolete.

Dear Arcygenical: you have been rendered short-sighted. :p

And when your precious interwebz go down? Then what genius? :eek::confused:
Only those of us who actually have a physical copy (that doesn't require online activation) will be playing! :D

Choice is always good (as stated before). The thing is, how does retail stay in the game on the B&M front? Lower their margins and be competitive, or offer a superior product *or* service. The whole reason for e-tail existing IS to open a new and (at that point) untouched frontier to compete against brick & mortar. We definitely need both -for balance and integrity if nothing else.

Don't get me wrong...Steam's awesome for what it is, but keep in mind the article source (location), and the point of view. Things can be quite different across the pond. And they need all the support we can give. Our markets can always continue to learn & grow from one another. And similar to their plight, Our retail venues for PC gaming are almost in the same boat. Near extinction. I miss the days you could walk into EB Games, then Gamestop, then Walmart, then...and have an entire row of options. Now we (pc gamers) are almost an afterthought.

The key is, to shift the focus at each and every level, and get back to the way it used to be, while maintaining/including the options for convenience sake!

The ideal fix in my book is, have an online option (like Steam's 'cloud' idea) while being able to still have physical media w/keys that do not need online activation, but will work in conjunction with services like Steam's if desired.

Offline security with online convenience = Win/Win

I would even pay for steam's convenience if I could have *every* game I own available at a moment's notice. But I don't want to be limited to any one avenue.
 
Oh, I'm sorry. You don't like to put your game on steam? Well my steam backlog is pretty large already, so I guess I don't need you buy your game.
 
consoles wrecked pc gaming, it has nothing to do with steam

valve capitalized on a dying market and breathed new life into it.

the retailers kills pc gaming by pushing consoles, just like the developers did.

A ton of truth in this as well.

Valve definitely helped to try and keep things "more alive". But I definitely cite publishers, developers, and consoles for sucking the life out of pc gaming. Sad when you continue to cater to the lowest common denominator first.

It was one thing when it was cheaper to have a console then a computer, but now the tides have turned, and there's computers in as many households as consoles I'd bet.
Why continue to develop for the bottom of the barrel as a priority? Port from the pc to console if need be. Not the other way around.
 
If brick-and-mortar retailers just closed all their stores and liquidated their assets, they'd get a quick cash injection. Then they could use all that extra money to design, build, and advertise a rival system.

Seriously, they're wasting their money on loading up thousands of employees in stores, paying rent to malls, etc. Their overhead is way too high and they could make it all go away. They're just too scared of taking a risk to compete with Valve.

While I will not claim that there is no way toeasily compete with steam now that it is entrenched, it does pose a significant hurdle.

Besides that, as far as BB, GS/EB, and most other B&M retailers are concerned, only console games matter anyway. Which sort of makes me scratch my head at the crying.
 
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 other part that added to the "retail hurt" was that retail got stuck holding the inventory once gamers found out that a particular title "sucked" or had major playability issues thus creating the slump and overstock of a title that was once expected to "skyrocket" (sounds alot like CoD Black Ops doesn't it) ...hmm...again, back to the developers and publishers. :mad:

Looks more like *both* retail and the consumer are being shafted by the content sources.
Great point RW2112. Thank you very much for your contribution. A healthy reminder (and new information to some) I'm sure.
 
Steam is helping the PC digital distribution market immensely, the competition is just butt hurt they are having a hard time trying to catch up.
 
You never truly own the retail games you purchase....

Similarly, the term "ownership" doesn't apply to either. So what exactly is the difference?

Zarathustra[H];1036418109 said:
If you were under the impression that this was ever any different with non-steam games, then you really don't understand how software sales work...

Oh yes...at one time (late 90's for instance, and even into the 2000's), this most definitely *was* different. As you pointed out yourself!

Zarathustra[H];1036418074 said:
The fact that in a non-steam title you can resell it when you are done with it if you please. You can also lend it to a friend or a family member without having them logged on to your steam account.

There were games that didn't even have keys...then games that had keys that didn't need activation. Which meant that yes, you DID own it. In the most literal sense of the word. It was a physical product, and we had the right to do as we pleased with it.

That's what pissed off the greedy bastards more than anything. Reselling. Because it wasn't enough for them to get their piece of the pie the first time. They wanted the market that was created as an after-effect.

Hence the "digital distribution" creation solved two for one for them. More direct source of money with less overhead, and complete control. You can't resell what you don't own (if you don't have physical media, you don't own anything.)

Imagine if you never owned your vehicle/house/etc. There wouldn't be used car lots. Used houses for sale, etc. But somehow big business and their manipulation of our corporate government managed to twist protection of real IP into "content protection" at the expense of customers rights. Why? All in the name of money and control.

You made your money when you sold it. You're not entitled to anything extra after that.
Property is property. You either got paid for your intellect when you created it, or when your creation sells. It stops there.

So media outlets are continuing to solve that problem. tv, music, games....It blows my mind how short sighted our younger generations have become due to complacency, apathy, naivete, and lack of thinking (due to lack of proper education). Look at the bigger picture for fuck's sake.
 
I'm sort of surprised this thread has 10 pages stemming form article that appears to have zero verifiable facts. A bunch of nameless sources and a statistic probably pulled out of the air certainly draws page views, eh?
 
The only four retail games I have bought in the past 2 years is Fear 2, Dawn of War 2, Modern Warfare 2 and Starcraft 2. The only reason I bought the first three was because they are a steam game. If they weren't I would have bought them through Steam. It's no wonder Steam is doing well when their competitors are brain dead.
 
I would play in offline mode if my net connection was done. But since I mostly play online shooters I would have to find something else to play.
 
some of us aint there yet & will die before ever going there - STEAM is like shopping at WalMart: either ya do or ya don't

anyway, STEAM is not the cause of the death of PC gaming - it is but a symptom

the cuases are GREED & SLOTH

whatever floats your boat

How would you say Steam is killing the PC industry? Actually I think it's helping if anything with examples like this

As far as it causing greed and sloth, I would have to disagree. Sloth maybe but greed I doubt it. It seems every week Steam is having some sort of sale with game prices being cut in half, sometimes by 75%, and as someone else previously noted if it wasn't for this they, as well as I, would have never have bought the game in the first place. Sloth I can see because everything is done from your computer from viewing to purchasing to playing and if you want even to a backup disc for those who needs that physical touch. As you stated whatever floats your boat which is true its not for everyone but I can see it becoming more mainstream than it is, not that having over 2 million people online at almost any given time isn't mainstream, but gaining the respect from those individuals that have yet to see its pros over its cons.

Again this is just my opinion, the opinion of someone that used to hate Steam and has been a happy user since 2004 when Half-Life 2 came out.
 
some of us aint there yet & will die before ever going there - STEAM is like shopping at WalMart: either ya do or ya don't

anyway, STEAM is not the cause of the death of PC gaming - it is but a symptom

the cuases are GREED & SLOTH

whatever floats your boat

That doesn't even make much sense, when console games tend to cost more than PC games and most developers seem to not care about their games anymore. Be it console of PC games. Hence why trash like MW 1, MW2, Black Ops, etc have been released.

At least Valve still throws out some really good games and gives us free maps. Ppl like Blizzard games, although I disliked SC2 and WoW.
 
My local shops barely carry any pc games to begin with, so I have started using more and more digital stores. The sad part is I prefer to have a physical item. My only complaint about steam is the prices tend to stay higher for way longer than they should.
 
There were games that didn't even have keys...then games that had keys that didn't need activation. Which meant that yes, you DID own it. In the most literal sense of the word. It was a physical product, and we had the right to do as we pleased with it.
No, you had the right to do what the software license did not specifically forbid and what copyright allowed for. That hasn't changed. That is precisely how software distributed via Steam works as well: there's a EULA; you must abide by it; you must also abide by copyright. Fundamentally, there is no difference.

Look at the bigger picture for fuck's sake.
I suggest you follow your own advice.
 
No, you had the right to do what the software license did not specifically forbid and what copyright allowed for. That hasn't changed. That is precisely how software distributed via Steam works as well: there's a EULA; you must abide by it; you must also abide by copyright. Fundamentally, there is no difference.

Well, the difference is that in the past it was not controlled, now it is.

Also, in the past games could be resold and lent to friends. Now they can't. This is my only gripe with Steam.
 
And when your precious interwebz go down? Then what genius? :eek::confused:
Only those of us who actually have a physical copy (that doesn't require online activation) will be playing! :D

The likelihood of the internet going down completely is practically 0.

That being said, you should realize that most Steam games play in offline mode just fine.
 
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