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STEAM 2013 Announcements & Updates VIII - Don't ask when the sales are starting.

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S

Sajjaja

Member
Dolor said:
Yeah, I doubt it had much to do with concerns over another's control of their product. They have no concerns with releasing on consoles after all.

They wanted 100% of the revenue which may have made sense based on their projections when they built it 3+ years ago, but then the following things happened:

  • Simcity flopped
  • Star Wars: TOR basically flopped even as a free-to-play title
  • Steam has grown massively
  • Steam has increased its lead in features rather than Origin closing the gap
All of the above lead to a potential miscalculation of both how many users they would have on Origin and how many users they would forego on Steam by being exclusive.

That is what keeps me hopeful that EA will wise up and release their games back onto Steam.
Click to expand...

None of those reasons seem to be a game changer in my opinion.
 
jediyoshi

jediyoshi

Member
Sajjaja said:
Depends on the game (sometimes it isn't, sometimes it's more expensive, but more often than not it isn't). $15 Early Access games often go down to $10 on release. The early access blue part will state whether or not it will get cheaper.
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Any examples? I'm straining to think of any instances of this
 
T

toddhunter

Member
jediyoshi said:
Any examples? I'm straining to think of any instances of this
Click to expand...

I can't think of one at base price, but games like Prison architect have been getting increasingly large discounts.

Which btw always struck me as kind of against the nature of it. Giving early adopter rewards seems like the only way to counter this.
 
M

mikeGFG

Banned
Dolor said:
Yeah, I doubt it had much to do with concerns over another's control of their product. They have no concerns with releasing on consoles after all.

They wanted 100% of the revenue which may have made sense based on their projections when they built it 3+ years ago, but then the following things happened:

  • Simcity flopped
  • Star Wars: TOR basically flopped even as a free-to-play title
  • Steam has grown massively
  • Steam has increased its lead in features rather than Origin closing the gap
All of the above lead to a potential miscalculation of both how many users they would have on Origin and how many users they would forego on Steam by being exclusive.

That is what keeps me hopeful that EA will wise up and release their games back onto Steam.
Click to expand...

All of those games (and also games like Battlefield 3, Dead Space 3 and Mass Effect 3) are loss leaders. Each title represents an opportunity to grow the Origin service, not break digital sales records.

EA and Origin is doing fine, I'm sure.
 
S

Sajjaja

Member
jediyoshi said:
Any examples? I'm straining to think of any instances of this
Click to expand...

I've seen it, now I just have to find it lol.

Price increase upon full release:
Kingdom Rise

Price decrease upon release:
Nuclear Throne

EDIT: I should correct myself. More often than not, prices will INCREASE upon full release lol. Atleast that's what I'm seeing now from my more detailed search. I think I just saw Nuclear Throne's early access message multiple times and it kind of set itself in that many will get cheaper upon release. But again, it depends on the game/devs.
 
C

Caerith

Member
toddhunter said:
I can't think of one at base price, but games like Prison architect have been getting increasingly large discounts.

Which btw always struck me as kind of against the nature of it. Giving early adopter rewards seems like the only way to counter this.
Click to expand...

I remember hearing that Prison Architect was going to be priced higher as a deterrent to the casual buyer, since they only wanted people who were serious about alpha testing it to get in while it was Early Access. Then they put it on sale several times, gave it trading cards, had it included in the summer sale cards, and put it in a bundle...
 
T

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Dolor said:
Yeah, I doubt it had much to do with concerns over another's control of their product. They have no concerns with releasing on consoles after all.

They wanted 100% of the revenue which may have made sense based on their projections when they built it 3+ years ago, but then the following things happened:
Simcity flopped
Star Wars: TOR basically flopped even as a free-to-play title
Steam has grown massively
Click to expand...

Neither of which impact Origin since those are games and Origin is a digital distribution service.

Steam has increased its lead in features rather than Origin closing the gap
All of the above lead to a potential miscalculation of both how many users they would have on Origin and how many users they would forego on Steam by being exclusive.

That is what keeps me hopeful that EA will wise up and release their games back onto Steam.
Click to expand...

Neither of which impact Origin. If people are buying titles from Origin digitally, that's a success as far as EA is concerned. They can't care about fostering a community like Steam. That's not their goal. Their goal is to get you to buy EA titles (and publishers that support Origin as an option) titles from them.

If this means locking Battlefield behind an Origin wall, that's what they'll do. And so far most people that aren't Steam die-hards don't care. They'll go where the game goes if that's a game they want to play. And that's the market EA wants.
 
T

toddhunter

Member
Caerith said:
I remember hearing that Prison Architect was going to be priced higher as a deterrent to the casual buyer, since they only wanted people who were serious about alpha testing it to get in while it was Early Access. Then they put it on sale several times, gave it trading cards, had it included in the summer sale cards, and put it in a bundle...
Click to expand...

Yeah it is kind of hard to reconcile.
 
T

TheRealTalker

Banned
Seen already?
http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/25/commercial-steambox-prototype/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=feedly
prototype design
That game console headlining this text? It isn't a white PS4: it's a commercial Steam Machines box, or at least a prototype of one. iBuyPower tells us that it's building the box for a 2014 launch, but says it's still early. The company says the prototypes are running an early build of Steam OS, but it's not quite a finished product. That rings true of our impressions of Valve's own reference model, which hosted a version of that same OS devoid of media playback and streaming options and had a very limited selection of games.

iBuyPower tells us that it actually has two models, codenamed Gordon and Freeman, in the works. The two consoles are identical, save for the light bar round the middle -- one model's is clear, while the other's is black when not illuminated. And, while the company wouldn't tell us about the boxes' internals, it did confirm that the hardware will run all Steam titles in 1080p resolution at 60fps. Not as much info as we'd like to know, but still, it's good to see hints of what we'll see from Steam Machines when they hit the market -- though we'll likely have to wait until CES to see them in action.
Click to expand...
steammachines837ibuypower.jpg
 
T

Tellaerin

Member
TheSeks said:
Neither of which impact Origin since those are games and Origin is a digital distribution service.



Neither of which impact Origin. If people are buying titles from Origin digitally, that's a success as far as EA is concerned. They can't care about fostering a community like Steam. That's not their goal. Their goal is to get you to buy EA titles (and publishers that support Origin as an option) titles from them.

If this means locking Battlefield behind an Origin wall, that's what they'll do. And so far most people that aren't Steam die-hards don't care. They'll go where the game goes if that's a game they want to play. And that's the market EA wants.
Click to expand...

I'm just a little surprised that this is more profitable for them. I'd've thought that they'd be bringing in more by using Steam for distribution, even after paying their 30% cut to Gaben, than they do now. Getting to keep 100% of the revenue per title sold is great, but if you're spending more than 30% of your profits to run a distribution service of your own, you're better off just selling your games through Steam, IMO. That's why I thought there might be some other motivation behind it. Maybe there's less overhead involved in running a service like Origin than I imagined?
 
S

Sajjaja

Member
Tellaerin said:
I'm just a little surprised that this is more profitable for them. I'd've thought that they'd be bringing in more by using Steam for distribution, even after paying their 30% cut to Gaben, than they do now. Getting to keep 100% of the revenue per title sold is great, but if you're spending more than 30% of your profits to run a distribution service of your own, you're better off just selling your games through Steam, IMO. That's why I thought there might be some other motivation behind it. Maybe there's less overhead involved in running a service like Origin than I imagined?
Click to expand...

Are you just pulling that out of the air or is there some source behind that?
 
T

Tellaerin

Member
Sajjaja said:
Are you just pulling that out of the air or is there some source behind that?
Click to expand...

I was saying "if that's the case". : ) I have no idea how much EA spends on operating costs for Origin. I've been assuming that running your own digital distribution service is a pretty expensive proposition, though. That's why I'm a little surprised by the idea that they might actually be bringing in more by selling through Origin than they would if they just scrapped the service and did everything through Steam. But like I said, it may well be that it costs a lot less to run something like Steam/Origin/Uplay than I thought.

Edit: And I should've said, "profits per unit sold on Origin". I didn't mean to imply that Origin eats 30+% of EA's overall profits. I was talking about the revenue from games sold through Origin minus the cost of operating the service itself.
 
T

toddhunter

Member
In theory Origin is a great idea. Fundamentally it is the same thing as steam, so why shouldn't EA try to make it their own and have control of the PC distribution market?

They have made a complete half-assed mess of it of course, just like Microsoft. But that is kind of a different issue and I don't blame them for trying.

Like Uplay, they either need to get serious or get rid of it.
 
X

xelios

Universal Access can be found under System Preferences
Gez said:
When a amazon link ends with /ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385436255 does that mean it's a referral link?
Click to expand...

No. It'll say tag= when it's a referral link, and the tag=viglink you often see when clicking from GAF is built into GAF, but it's possible to opt out if desired.
 
A

Anustart

Member
Tomorrow night is the night. The girl will be working so I'm going to plop on my headphones, turn all the lights off and play Dead Space. Hopefully it's as good as they all say!
 
S

Sajjaja

Member
toddhunter said:
In theory Origin is a great idea. Fundamentally it is the same thing as steam, so why shouldn't EA try to make it their own and have control of the PC distribution market?

They have made a complete half-assed mess of it of course, just like Microsoft. But that is kind of a different issue and I don't blame them for trying.

Like Uplay, they either need to get serious or get rid of it.
Click to expand...

Little bit of a stretch don't you think? Origin isn't deleting games or having a shitty interface. It's actually quite sleek.
 
M

morningbus

Serious Sam is a wicked gahbidge series for chowdaheads.
I know you dudes have a bee in your collective bonnets about Uplay, but at least Ubisoft has the decency to sell me games where I want to buy them. Now, if only I wanted Ubisoft games...

xelios said:
No. It'll say tag= when it's a referral link.
Click to expand...

While I was checking around, I've found that Amazon has a few ways to do it now. I saw some cheapassgamer referral links that use the tag code, but then I've also seen ones structured like this: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00CMQTU74/ref=SomeDudesBullshit (Not an actual referral code)
 
D

denx

Member
toddhunter said:
In theory Origin is a great idea. Fundamentally it is the same thing as steam, so why shouldn't EA try to make it their own and have control of the PC distribution market?

They have made a complete half-assed mess of it of course, just like Microsoft. But that is kind of a different issue and I don't blame them for trying.

Like Uplay, they either need to get serious or get rid of it.
Click to expand...

oh c'mon, let's not be hyperbolic. Origin is functional and does well its job of booting up games and keeping them updated (although I've read that the situation with the Battlefield games is rather messy). It isn't any better than Steam, but is definitely nowhere near as bad as GFWL and uPlay.
 
Boss Doggie

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
At the very least, I could play Sims 3 without Origin despite being able to register them.

Grief.exe said:
Plenty are great, its a way for the developers to get their proof of concept out there and help fund development while they finish the game.

Battlefield 4 is the most 'beta' game I have ever played and worst launch I have ever seen. And that is a full priced release with no 'early access' caveat.
Click to expand...

True, at least these ones are honest.

Syphon Filter said:
Dont you get the full game once its out?
Click to expand...

Yep, though the game itself becomes cheaper.

toddhunter said:
Don't starve was amazing... Which also turned me right off the concept. If the game is good, I want to wait until it is as "done" as possible.

For example I've been sitting on prison architect for a long time and it just keeps getting cheaper.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's the only thing that bugs me really.
 
T

toddhunter

Member
Sajjaja said:
Little bit of a stretch don't you think? Origin isn't deleting games or having a shitty interface. It's actually quite sleek.
Click to expand...

You both misunderstand.

I'm not talking about the client, they all let you play games. I'm talking about getting games on there, chasing indies and making sure every PC game is on Origin at a better price.

Otherwise it is just a barrier to playing EA's games. Both Microsoft and EA could have made it happen.
 
T

TouchMyBox

Member
toddhunter said:
In theory Origin is a great idea. Fundamentally it is the same thing as steam, so why shouldn't EA try to make it their own and have control of the PC distribution market?

They have made a complete half-assed mess of it of course, just like Microsoft. But that is kind of a different issue and I don't blame them for trying.

Like Uplay, they either need to get serious or get rid of it.
Click to expand...

Well I don't think they're delusional enough to think they can control the majority of the PC market, Origin is the byproduct of:

Wanting a 100% cut of their game sales (minus CC fees and bandwidth costs)
Wanting a standardized system to track all of their games services across all platforms PC/Console/Mobile
Wanting to not have to rely on a third party for things like server stability if shit hit the fan and access to their games was outside of their control.

In which case, it sounds great on paper but so far in reality I can't imagine the costs sunk into the thing are smaller than the 20-30% valve takes on steam along with the opportunity cost associated with the lost potential sales of not having their games on steam.

They have to evaluate Origin as it is right now and decide whether they should give up the fight and go back to steam, or really double down on Origin and try turn it into a great service. If they leave it as-is for much longer, then it starts to look like GFWL 2.0.
 
T

Tellaerin

Member
toddhunter said:
In theory Origin is a great idea. Fundamentally it is the same thing as steam, so why shouldn't EA try to make it their own and have control of the PC distribution market?

They have made a complete half-assed mess of it of course, just like Microsoft. But that is kind of a different issue.
Click to expand...

There's nothing wrong with competition. I just think Steam's built so much momentum in the PC digital distribution space that these alternative services are never going to achieve the same kind of market penetration. Even with EA and Ubi leveraging their own properties to push their services, I can't imagine Origin or Uplay coming close to the reach of Steam anytime soon. If it actually costs them less to operate their own services than it would to sell games through Steam and pay the "Steam tax", then it makes sense. But if their goal is to wrest the digital distribution crown from Steam, it's a lost cause at this point.
 
synce

synce

Member
Is there any way to retrieve the actual steam keys from humble bundles? It's doing some auto activation thing
 
Jawmuncher

Jawmuncher

Member
Dusk Golem said:
Well, you already know my thoughts on Cold Fear, so I'll leave that out there.

As a horror, fan will also mention Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth.

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth has my recommendations. The best version of the game in my opinion, and if you have never played this but a fan of the horror genre I give it my whole recommendation. It's not perfect, there's some odd trial and error sections, and not everyone will enjoy it (the game has a slow beginning, like a Lovecraft story), but it has a wholly gripping narrative I think that progresses to get more and more interesting, gameplay scenarios that are varied and range from intense to creepy. A few good scares, both startle and psychological, and in my honest opinion, the best game based off of Lovecraft to have been made to date. If you like Lovecraft mythology, I honestly suggest you should pick this one up.

Also thought about mentioning Bully: Scholarship Edition and Max Payne 1 & 2.
Click to expand...

Cthulu sounds great. Have heard it mentioned before but have never looked into it until now. Also Bully is a good one to forgot that was on steam. Luckily I have MP1 & 2.

didamangi said:
Stranger's Wrath HD counts right? It's a good fun game, and Jade Empire also.
Click to expand...

I bought Jade Empire on the last sale.
Have to look into Stranger's Wrath HD.
 
J

JBourne

maybe tomorrow it rains
Anustart said:
Tomorrow night is the night. The girl will be working so I'm going to plop on my headphones, turn all the lights off and play Dead Space. Hopefully it's as good as they all say!
Click to expand...

It is. It's also not at all demanding, so no matter what you're playing on it should run very well.

If it works. I have to disable every single USB device to get the game to launch. When it does, it's gorgeous and amazing. YMMV, but I just can't get it to cooperate with my computer. Shame, as it's my favorite game. Ever.
 
K

KenOD

a kinder, gentler sort of Scrooge
Eryi's Action is not a fun game to play, and yet I can't seem to stop playing it due to my fascination with what "haha, that killed you, isn't it funny? Try again?" moment will come next.

I don't mind a platformer with absurdity or a lot of deaths, enjoying both Pole's Big Adventure on Wii and Super Meat Boy, but here it's just so strangely constructed and I'm not sure who the target for such a game is or how many people will actually make it to the end out of a sense of enjoyment.
 
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