PC Gaming isn't locked in to one store, so why is the hate for Steam competitors?

Gowans

Member
I've been meaning to make this thread for a while to get some understanding in discussion where but reading the comments on Titianfall being available through Orgin on PC has jogged my memory and also baffled, I remember tissular posts about Half-Life 2 on steam years ago.

In that time Steam has built up trust and became a fantastic platform for your games and updates.

One of the biggest advantages to PC gaming has been it's open market & range of competitors to purchase games from.

- Steam
- Orgin
- Battle.net
- uPlay
- GoG
- Windows Store
- Games from Windows
- Stand alone clients (League of Legends etc.)
- Webstores like Amazon, GMG, Humble Bundle etc.​

Some have failed some are getting better but it's kept prices down and allowed choice.

So why the whole Steam or nothing approach from some?
 

Cheeky

Member
All games in a centralized location.

Most of those providers actually allow their games to appear on Steam(Or sell keys to unlock on steam). Origin is the only one that doesn't.

Edit. And Battle.net, but i hardly consider that as a competitor.
 

Skeff

Member
I would say that a lot of people find it intrusive to have so many programs, some of which are truly terrible. People like the user experience of Steam and are often disappointed that they would have to install Origin or uPlay as they see it as only bloatware.
 

Shmuppers

Member
I would say that a lot of people find it intrusive to have so many programs, some of which are truly terrible. People like the user experience of Steam and are often disappointed that they would have to install Origin or uPlay as they see it as only bloatware.

This.
 

Ashariel

Banned
I want all of my games in one location while keeping the competition aspect from various Steam key resellers and physical games that can be redeemed on Steam. There is no need for Origin and uPlay as they simple get in the way.

In short all we need are Steam and GOG for games that are not on Steam or will never come to Steam. End of story.
 
Because people like to rage about something. They have become very loyal and chummy with Valve and Steam over the last 10 years, and people don't like change.
 

Ryuuga

Banned
People don't like leaving their comfort zone. Like you said Steam has built trust and others have built their library around that trust. There may be a few things competitors are offering, but it's nothing that couldn't or isn't already implemented into Steam. More than anything many don't like segmentation.


If my family doctor became a dentist on the side, then I'd give up the one I go to all for the sake of familiarity and convenience.
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
For the most part it's because other clients have little to nothing advantageous to offer when compared to Steam, and since Steam is the oldest of the bunch it's where many have most of their games so naturally there's a desire for consolidation, plus Valve is largely consumer-orientated. Furthermore, there's no practical reason as to why a game backed by a publisher should not be on Steam -- it's just petulant politics.
 

Dr. Buni

Member
Well, Steam competitors don't have Gaben. But seriously, I'd rather have my games centralized in only one platform and that platform's name is Steam.
 

komplanen

Member
I'd rather have all my eggs in one basket that I trust then spread them around based on a publisher's greed. Also I want the market to drive sales on a single platform with same rules for all instead of EA charging 60€ for their digital games on their shitty service.
 

Gowans

Member
All games in a centralized location.

Most of those providers actually allow their games to appear on Steam(Or sell keys to unlock on steam). Origin is the only one that doesn't.

Edit. And Battle.net, but i hardly consider that as a competitor.

I don't get that, you can add any non steam game to the steam launcher library.

Or do you mean to update too? would you give up all competition on the PC platform so the all update on the one service?
 

EvB

Member
Since when was convienience a factor do PC gamers?
That is not something I expect from PC gaming
 

Morokh

Member
Sick of having to create/maintain/remember fucking accounts for every damn developer and publisher.

plus some of these programs are way too intrusive (in the game), and overall serve no purpose but to be annoying.
 

Anteater

Member
the origin and uplay store kind of suck for my region, so I stopped bothering to check for discounts and decided not to buy from them. uplay still shows euros on their page and I don't even live there.

plus, it's more convenient to buy from the same store and use the same client and have all my games in one place. I don't see why games aren't on all digital platforms, I'm still paying them money and buying their games, not sure why it matters where I buy them from.
 

Cheeky

Member
I don't get that, you can add any non steam game to the steam launcher library.

Or do you mean to update too? would you give up all competition on the PC platform so the all update on the one service?

I would rather have that all platforms had the exact same library and they would compete over functionality instead.
 
Options are good, if they each offer compelling features that might make a valid case for using their service in lieu of Steam. But when they accomplish that by locking away full games so that they can only be used on their service, it's trying to force people's hands, not wooing them. For example, Origin did a clever thing by improving their Refund system, which Steam is still struggling with. But then EA just predictably locks away their games so they can't be played on anything but Origin, to try to boost their service, that's a different matter.
 

Ashariel

Banned
I don't get that, you can add any non steam game to the steam launcher library.

Or do you mean to update too? would you give up all competition on the PC platform so the all update on the one service?

Going with just Steam is not giving up competition, don't be so naive. You have Steam itself, and dozens if not hundreds of reseller sites with tight competition that keeps prices low across the board.
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
I don't get that, you can add any non steam game to the steam launcher library.

Or do you mean to update too? would you give up all competition on the PC platform so the all update on the one service?

Non-Steam games don't follow you between devices, which is particularly important now that Valve is making a push into hardware with Steam Machines and has plans to expand Steam to mobile devices. Plus what good is a shortcut if you lose the data and the service you downloaded it from no longer exists? Even if Steam were to shut down, downloading wouldn't be a problem as there are a ton of third-party content servers and Steam Support has stated that "measures are in place to ensure that all users will continue to have access to their Steam games".
 
I don't get that, you can add any non steam game to the steam launcher library.

Or do you mean to update too? would you give up all competition on the PC platform so the all update on the one service?
But you don't own them on Steam, and EA is not known for their support of older titles and services.
 
Origin is an inconvenience, but Uplay is legitimately crap. Cloud saves don't always work and the way the client handles patches is nonsensical. I once found 18 gigabytes of temporary install files from uplay on my drive in spite of the fact the game had already been downloaded and installed.
 

RSTEIN

Comics, serious business!
Let's say you drive a Ferrari to work four days a week.

One day a week you have to drive a Honda.

The Honda is reliable and practical. It's not a bad car. But every time you're driving it you're thinking about the Ferrari and after a while you grow to resent it, not because it's bad but because it's not a Ferrari.
 

Gowans

Member
Going with just Steam is not giving up competition, don't be so naive. You have Steam itself, and dozens if not hundreds of reseller sites with tight competition that keeps prices low across the board.

Having a steam only platform for game distribution would be terrible.

Steams community features increased greatly with the growth of xbox live and third party PC software and now game sharing after the xbox planned system.

Origin also now has 24 hour refunds which is fab.

If it was down to one service i can't see that be a good thing for investment in development of the platform.
 
I guess some people see running more than one DRM gaming launcher is like running internet explorer with multiple toolbars.
*insert image of IE with so many toolbars you can't see the web page*

I think it is usually the competitors don't bring anything worthwhile with them. For instance EA might feel less need to put things on sale if they're not directly competing for the Gabeworld front page.

Maybe eventually we'll get a good kind of competition like Bing vs Google. Both have benefited from the existence of each other.
 
I can buy from different stores, but I don't want my purchased games be locked to several different server depenencies and credentials.

That we have accepted it once, for Steam, doesn't mean that we want to do it again and again and again.

If the stores are just stores with a free download without any additional depencies, then they're welcome.

But if they're trying to do the same thing as Steam, they have to either be better or different and appealing enough. Uplay and Origin are nothing of those.

Games for Windows was hated because it was a lousy system, not supported and full of errors, that existed only for the sake of it from Microsofts side. GfWL is proof that not all competition is good for us customers.
 

Nymerio

Member
I've been meaning to make this thread for a while to get some understanding in discussion where but reading the comments on Titianfall being available through Orgin on PC has jogged my memory and also baffled, I remember tissular posts about Half-Life 2 on steam years ago.

In that time Steam has built up trust and became a fantastic platform for your games and updates.

One of the biggest advantages to PC gaming has been it's open market & range of competitors to purchase games from.

- Steam
- Orgin
- Battle.net
- uPlay
- Windows Store
- Games from Windows
- Stand alone clients (League of Legends etc.)
- Webstores like Amazon, GMG, Humble Bundle etc.​

Some have failed some are getting better but it's kept prices down and allowed choice.

So why the whole Steam or nothing approach from some?

You kinda answered your own question there. Steam is an amazing platform and the amount of features it brings is unmatched, so why settle for less? Also, I and a lot of others prefer to have all games in a central location. The less clients I have to juggle the better.
 

jpax

Member
Trust is the biggest one for me. I do not trust ea or ubi. Without steam the landscape for PC gaming would be different. They made sales even without competition. remember the last time ea did something for the consumer? Yeah me nether...
 

Blearth

Banned
Origin and UPlay actually make playing games worse. They're slow and bloated programs.

Origin is much snappier than Steam.

If I needed to buy all my games from a single vendor, I'd buy a console. Openness is what makes PC gaming great.
 

Qiot

Neo Member
Can't people just dislike something because it doesn't work well?

I have 3 games on uPlay and about 300 on Steam. Guess which one I have spent more total time trying to fix problems with?
GoG is perfect and Origin just stays out of my way so no complaints about either of those, but for very social gamers I can see why people like to have only 1 service.
 

danmaku

Member
People are lazy and Steam is a case of a lazy choice also being the better service. Personally, I don't care. Most of my games are on Steam, but not all of them. I have Deadly Premonition on GOG because it was cheaper and had no DRM. I have to use Uplay for AC games and even if the program is terrible and totally useless, it's not nearly enough to stop me from playing a game that I like.
 
I personally don't care and would use any of them.....except Origin. I just don't want to use it because of reasons. Is it petty of me to do so? Yes, but I'll live with it
 
This is more about EA hate than Origin.
I can't blame people that feel that way.
EA is a horrible company with terrible practices.

That said, if you wanna play Titanfall you need to go to Origin... simples as that.
 

Zushin

Member
I don't get that, you can add any non steam game to the steam launcher library.

Or do you mean to update too? would you give up all competition on the PC platform so the all update on the one service?

I dont think anybody is wishing for GMG/Gamersgate/Humble or GOG to go away. To me uPlay and Origin aren't competition to Steam, they are just a superfluous inconvenience that exist only to satiate EA and Ubisoft's greed. They offer nothing worthwhile that Steam doesn't to me. Sure, I'm all for competition and all that, but whoever the competition is has to actually make something worthwhile for me to switch over to them, instead of just being a shittier version of Steam.
 
because people want ALL games on a single library, just like Xbox Live or Playstation Network.

the want and need of that closed garden :D
 
I've been meaning to make this thread for a while to get some understanding in discussion where but reading the comments on Titianfall being available through Orgin on PC has jogged my memory and also baffled, I remember tissular posts about Half-Life 2 on steam years ago.

In that time Steam has built up trust and became a fantastic platform for your games and updates.

One of the biggest advantages to PC gaming has been it's open market & range of competitors to purchase games from.

- Steam
- Orgin
- Battle.net
- uPlay
- GoG
- Windows Store
- Games from Windows
- Stand alone clients (League of Legends etc.)
- Webstores like Amazon, GMG, Humble Bundle etc.​

Some have failed some are getting better but it's kept prices down and allowed choice.

So why the whole Steam or nothing approach from some?

I don't want to have so many programs to access different type of games, I don't like to fragment my pc game library through dozens of different programs. Steam is enough, and Origin for EA games.
 

Uthred

Member
I would say that a lot of people find it intrusive to have so many programs, some of which are truly terrible. People like the user experience of Steam and are often disappointed that they would have to install Origin or uPlay as they see it as only bloatware.

Considering how embarassingly basic the usability of the Steam client has been for years that seems like an odd objection. In terms of functionality and system drain theres next to no difference between Steam and Origin.

For the most part it's because other clients have little to nothing advantageous to offer when compared to Steam, and since Steam is the oldest of the bunch it's where many have most of their games so naturally there's a desire for consolidation, plus Valve is largely consumer-orientated. Furthermore, there's no practical reason as to why a game backed by a publisher should not be on Steam -- it's just petulant politics.

Some publishers probably see Valve's"cut" as a "practical reason". The bigger the publisher the more money theyre losing.
 
That said, if you wanna play Titanfall you need to go to Origin... simples as that.

Don't see any problem with online only games like that being locked specific credentials/server depencies. Your at the developers mercy no matter what. But I don't want my singleplayer games to be locked an EA controlled enviroment. I don't like them and I don't trust them.
 

Dolor

Member
For the most part it's because other clients have little to nothing advantageous to offer when compared to Steam, and since Steam is the oldest of the bunch it's where many have most of their games so naturally there's a desire for consolidation, plus Valve is largely consumer-orientated. Furthermore, there's no practical reason as to why a game backed by a publisher should not be on Steam -- it's just petulant politics.

Boom. Thread done.
 

Usobuko

Banned
Maybe because collecting steam games is akin to collecting trophies and achievements. Well, except you have to pay for them at a cheap price.
 
Top Bottom