Steam members up 205% for 2009

Sikkyu said:
why i like it
no dvds/cds to get scratched, instant access, extremely fast downloads (i get up to 3.0bm/s) and an excellet chat/friend program, great deals and a large assortment of games.
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I can honestly agree with everything there.

The ONLY downside I have with it, is losing the ability to re-sell games. I only buy budget games through it though, so I don't really deal with that issue much.
 
The only downside is not having a physical disk copy as well as any related media (manuals, art books, cloth maps, etc.) associated with a physical copy, which is quite a big downside, but fine for the vast majority of games. For games that I really care about though, I'll likely want it to integrate with Steam, but have a retail copy.
 
Sikkyu [H]Lite, 9 Days

Steam members up 205% for 2009
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Wrong - active members are 25% higher year to year (over 25 million active user at the end of 2009 - total number of accounts is little over 30 million

205% is jump in year over year unit sales

Steams record from 2009 is 2.5 million concurrent users - that record was broken in early january - current record is little over 2.7 million concurrent users.

 
I like Steam very much as well. My only gripe (mine, not Steam's) is my very slow download speed. I have all these games purchased and it will take me forever to download them. :p
 
nerdydesi said:
I like Steam very much as well. My only gripe (mine, not Steam's) is my very slow download speed. I have all these games purchased and it will take me forever to download them. :p
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Just keep you PC on 24/7 and keep downloading - it wont take very long to have it all :)

 
Rebel44 said:
Just keep you PC on 24/7 and keep downloading - it wont take very long to have it all :)

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Yeah just turn that shit on and leave it alone all night. It taking all night for a few games is better than having to baby sit DVD installations.
 
Rebel44 said:
Wrong - active members are 25% higher year to year (over 25 million active user at the end of 2009 - total number of accounts is little over 30 million

205% is jump in year over year unit sales

Steams record from 2009 is 2.5 million concurrent users - that record was broken in early january - current record is little over 2.7 million concurrent users.

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er sorry the amount of unit sales went up 205%

im lazy at typing of the words
 
at first i didn't particularly like the concept of steam but over the years it has grown on me and as of 2009 i'm completely sold on it. there's no going back now...if a game is offered on steam that's where i'm buying it. having said that, i think something like MW2, FEAR2, etc. is the best option. offer physical media but have it tied to steamworks. best of both worlds.
 
I love it, no more books or extra crap I have to throw away. I went through a box of my old games and threw out a garbage bag full of crap that came bundled with games. There are very few games that really require a manual to learn how to play.
 
the thing is you're forced to become a "member" when you buy a game with them, it's not like you have a choice, it's a reflection of their sales numbers.
 
I really like Steam (no CD is required, no restriction on games installation).
I also bought many games there at very good price.
The only inconvenient is that games bought on Steam cannot be sold back or transferred.

Digital download is clearly the future of gaming (PC and consoles).
 
I remember when Steam first came out. Everyone on this forum hated it because they didn't get their beloved manuals and boxes. I never cared, I throw them out anyway. I love Steam. And unlike some of the replies, I do not feel compelled to have every game installed at all times. I install just the ones I play.
 
Staples said:
I remember when Steam first came out. Everyone on this forum hated it because they didn't get their beloved manuals and boxes. I never cared, I throw them out anyway. I love Steam. And unlike some of the replies, I do not feel compelled to have every game installed at all times. I install just the ones I play.
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Well, the boxes and additions are analogous to artwork. If you're the type that would throw out these kinds of things, then Steam is perfect for you, since it offers absolutely nothing, except for the ability to play your game.
 
I don't mind missing out on the box and artwork if I'm getting a killer deal. But if it's a even 50 bucks for either Steam vs Retail, i'll take retail to get the whole package.
 
the winter sale had to have been a huge part of that...I didnt use steam until then and refused to let it install with retail games that wanted to activate via steam. I like the no media aspect cause its easier than trying to get a working/mountable iso but I dont like the inability to transfer the games...

me and a guy at work have given each other several games we were done with and I dont like being stuck with a game that I purchased after I'm done with it...so, I'll use Steam for deals but get physical when its appropriate...
 
Staples said:
I remember when Steam first came out. Everyone on this forum hated it because they didn't get their beloved manuals and boxes. I never cared, I throw them out anyway. I love Steam. And unlike some of the replies, I do not feel compelled to have every game installed at all times. I install just the ones I play.
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No everyone hated it because it was a resource hog, slow, crashed a lot, only offered Valve games, fucked up all our mods, sometimes just wouldn't launch, and the friends network was down for, quite literally, YEARS. Steam is a completely different program from when it was first launched.
 
SixtyWattMan said:
No everyone hated it because it was a resource hog, slow, crashed a lot, only offered Valve games, fucked up all our mods, sometimes just wouldn't launch, and the friends network was down for, quite literally, YEARS. Steam is a completely different program from when it was first launched.
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True that. When steam was first released it was horrible, the best features were not working and it just plain sucked. Now it is the best. The friends system is great, being able to chat with and join friends is awesome, even more so now that steam sells such a large variety of games. If PC gaming is going to survive, its going to be on the back of steam.
 
Staples said:
I remember when Steam first came out. Everyone on this forum hated it because they didn't get their beloved manuals and boxes. I never cared, I throw them out anyway. I love Steam. And unlike some of the replies, I do not feel compelled to have every game installed at all times. I install just the ones I play.
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The boxes and manuals today are pure shit anyways. Manuals are what....maybe 10 pages, 4 of which are credits or blank pages. The other 6 pages are system requirements.

The days of 100 page manuals with color artwork are LONG gone. Very rarely does a company do this anymore.

Remember Dragon Warrior coming with a huge color book and map with all of the monsters?
 
One of the only negatives I feel about Steam is the lack of tying physical copies to your Steam account. It seems to be hit or miss.

Example #1, I bought Prey and was able to input the S/N and now I have it with Steam.
Example #2, I bought Oblivion, Borderlands, and Quake IV and I cannot link them.

All it would have taken is a little insert with a code you could use to activate it with Steam.

Regards
~Versius
 
Cyrilix said:
The only downside is not having a physical disk copy as well as any related media (manuals, art books, cloth maps, etc.) associated with a physical copy, which is quite a big downside, but fine for the vast majority of games. For games that I really care about though, I'll likely want it to integrate with Steam, but have a retail copy.
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I see that as a complete non issue.

only thing I care about is the game itself, I never resell games anyway. As long as I can install the game whenever I want, within reason, I am perfectly contented. And it is nice not having to dig through boxes of old disks. More reasons not to be a packrat is a good thing.
 
I'm guessing this had a lot to do with the weekend and Christmas sales. Maybe it will make the publishers realize that price, not piracy, is what is killing game sales.
 
Staples said:
I remember when Steam first came out. Everyone on this forum hated it because they didn't get their beloved manuals and boxes. I never cared, I throw them out anyway. I love Steam. And unlike some of the replies, I do not feel compelled to have every game installed at all times. I install just the ones I play.
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I remember that as well. Steam had issues but I saw its potential right from the start. Bugs can be fixed, but the idea and potential of Steam had me very excited and I backed it right from the beginning even when people hated the idea and its implementation back then.

People can be so resistant to change. I dunno, not needing physical media to run a game, no CD keys to keep track of, autopatching (MY GOD autopatching, it makes patch nightmares like Company Of Heroes or Battlefield 2 tolerable), friends system, its all really excellent.
 
As long as Steam doesn't fold, I'll continue to be happy with my many, many, many games purchased from Steam.
 
I wish if I shared the account, both could be logged on at the same time, and even play games at the same time, just not the same game, as I know that is against the EULA.

However, no reason 2 diff games at once shouldn't be ok.
 
The main reason I like Steam is that they sometimes have some killer deals and they offer a decent back catalog on games there is no way you'd find at a store.

nerdydesi said:
I like Steam very much as well. My only gripe (mine, not Steam's) is my very slow download speed. I have all these games purchased and it will take me forever to download them. :p
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Yea, it can take me a day or so to download a full sized game. Torchlight only took a couple hours though. I always prefer a physical copy, even if I have to swap discs it gets me playing the game faster than waiting a day while it downloads.
 
snaggletooth said:
As long as Steam doesn't fold, I'll continue to be happy with my many, many, many games purchased from Steam.
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I don't trust any company to stay around forever. And I don't like to buy non-resellable games.

That said I'll do Steam or any DRM'd digital download if it's cheap. I consider it a rental, because if you have to call home online to play it, you don't really own it.

I picked up Mass Effect for $5 over the weekend via EA's download service. It's a fair price for a DRM'd game. Like a rental. Because that's really what it is ;)
 
chinesepiratefood said:
I wish if I shared the account, both could be logged on at the same time, and even play games at the same time, just not the same game, as I know that is against the EULA.

However, no reason 2 diff games at once shouldn't be ok.
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I agree with this for family use. Steam could verify that the logins are on the same external IP and allow the users to play different games that in the account.

I won't buy full-priced games on Steam because my wife won't be able to play a Steam game on her PC if I want to play a different Steam game on my PC. I could have her set it to offline mode but that's annoying.
 
I've never purchased a game off of Steam...until today. When I get home I'm buying Titan Quest while it's on sale. The fact that they can put games on sale for a limited time like that (at a drastically reduced price) greatly entices me.

I bought HL2 retail, that's the only other Steam game I have.
 
I am somewhat neutral with regards to Steam.

I only buy things on Steam if they are cheaper than the retail copy. Seems that a lot of retail games require activation now, and I see logging into Steam as being no better or worse.
 
Bankie said:
I agree with this for family use. Steam could verify that the logins are on the same external IP and allow the users to play different games that in the account.

I won't buy full-priced games on Steam because my wife won't be able to play a Steam game on her PC if I want to play a different Steam game on my PC. I could have her set it to offline mode but that's annoying.
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well you can do this, just one account has to be in offline mode...

but it works great for single player games

edit.... yeah i didn't read your whole post lulz
 
ive been overall pretty impressed with Steam as of late, and the limited offer deals they have on games are usually pretty good
 
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