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Valve, "Steam continues to grow because we put customers at the forefront of every decision" (Steam Year in Review 2024)
- Thread starter ArtHands
- Start date
MSduderino
Member
Haters out in full force... for steam. Platform wars never die.
A.Romero
Member
I love Steam and it's my favorite way to play games on PC. It's above and beyond any other platform.
My collection is of about 700 games (Haven't even installed most of them, of course). They don't release features that often any more and their UI hasn't seen a major change since forever (I still remember the mockups of the new UI with MGS Phantom Pain as a cover) but they don't really need to add a lot because they have so many features already.
I'm glad they are doing well and I hope they continue to grow.
My collection is of about 700 games (Haven't even installed most of them, of course). They don't release features that often any more and their UI hasn't seen a major change since forever (I still remember the mockups of the new UI with MGS Phantom Pain as a cover) but they don't really need to add a lot because they have so many features already.
I'm glad they are doing well and I hope they continue to grow.
Fess
Member
I just want Steam to support it all and add the art and info automatically like an emulator scraper. Same library for everything, not this non-Steam section. And I want playtime and achievements logged too!
poppabk
Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
As soon as they did it, other storefronts would immediately change something to break it. It kinda has to be a 3rd party doing it.
Fess
Member
Then they need to speak to each other and make sure something doesn’t break.
The big picture mode in Steam makes everything else feel like a hack job. It’s so good.
poppabk
Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
No I mean they would do it deliberately so that people would be forced to access their store.
Fess
Member
Makes no sense for another store to deliberately break things. By making sure games are easily and correctly added to Steam they would ensure that people give their store a shot.
dcx4610
Member
I worry what happens to Steam when Gabe goes but it's been the most reliable and consistent digital service possibly in existence. I love how even delisted games are still available to be redownloaded. That's how it should be.
I've even bought keys for delisted games (Tron Legacy) and they still work which feels like magic.
I've even bought keys for delisted games (Tron Legacy) and they still work which feels like magic.
StereoVsn
Gold Member
Steam is NOT DRM. Steamworks has DRM as an option but it’s not a requirement. And there are DRM free games on Steam.
This is very much up to the publishers and devs.
memoryman3
Neo Member
The PS, Xbox and even Nintendo stores are ahead on many fronts. Steam’s UI isn’t even properly functional at 4K for many games. Part of me wishes the Windows store took off as the main content distributor as Microsoft has control of the OS and DirectX, but clearly it’s too late now.
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Kataploom
Gold Member
They do, publishers and indie devs opt-in for the DRM version, but they can happily give you no DRM through Steam
Astray
Member
Only Japanese companies deserve to have competition, but if you're an American company you can monopolize to your heart's content.
poppabk
Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Yep with the exception of Epic games store, Amazon gaming, Humble store, EA store, gamepass, MS store, GoG, Ubisoft store, itch.io, green man gaming they have no competition and are a monopoly.
poodaddy
Member
Steam and GoG are the only platforms I feel safe owning tons of games on, over 2000 on Steam alone and quite a few on GoG, I just feel like my purchases will be respected. I have quite a library on Xbox as well for their great backwards compatibility focus, but I don't know what's gonna happen to that library soon, so I try to focus on Steam and GoG for most everything these days.
Denton
Member
I became a believer the moment I could just rightclick on my friend playing a game and join him by click "join". It was so ridiculously easy and convenient compared to everything else.
And then they just kept adding feature after feature, for decades, while their competition is unwilling to do even a fraction of that work. Even when they have the blueprint right in front of them in the form of Steam.
As a result, Epic is making less and less money from third party EGS sales while Steam keeps growing consistently. Serving your customer needs brings in customers, who knew?
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Astray
Member
Citing the Humble store and Green Man Gaming when the vast majority of their sales are Steam Keys is just erroneous. These stores are largely a Steam sales channel and not competition in the least.
Uplay, EA are 1-publisher storefronts (EA dabbled with 3rd party games but that died quickly).
GOG and Itch.io are super niche stores that largely go in their own lane and don't really attempt to compete with Steam.
MS and Epic are the only actual competitors, and MS largely cucked out and is posting their titles on Steam day 1 now.
So that leaves Epic as the only serious competition for Steam, and look at how people treat them for it.
So no, Steam is a monopoly that people weirdly root for.
newtypepilot
Member
steam puts customers first by turning their games into full blown casinos.
gotta gamble those csgo skins
gotta gamble those csgo skins
pudel
Member
Epic fuckd up with that "exclusive" bullshit and got treated accordingly. Running around with a bag of money and buying out devs, so they dont release anywhere else just doesnt look good. Gabe never did that....in over 20 years! And the store is miles behind steam. So what do you expect is happening?
Its just cosmetics. If you pay for it, its by yr own will....no one forces you and its not required.
We can talk about TakeTwo's NBA approach or EA's Football card game instead. 
newtypepilot
Member
steam has consistently turned a blind eye on the numerous 3rd party gambling sites on csgo skins. Kids see their streamers and influencer and goto these sites and get hooked. Brushing it off is "it's only cosmetics" is highly ignorant.Its just cosmetics. If you pay for it, its by yr own will....no one forces you and its not required.
pudel
Member
I am not sure if thats even steam's "job" to get after 3rd party gambling sites, streamers and influencers.
Ritsumei2020
Report me for console warring
Valve days at the top are numbered. MS new storefront will kill it!
bender
What time is it?
Financially it isn't in their best interest which is why they turn a blind eye and that's the most charitable take on the situation.
pudel
Member
I dont understand this "blind eye" thing. Steam is not the police and selling cosmetic mtx for a video game is not a crime....so whats the point here?
bender
What time is it?
They could institute controls to prevent this from happening since these casinos are using Steam's marketplace to facilitate the gambling and have been doing so for about a decade. Better yet, they could ditch predatory loot box practices. But neither of these is beneficial to them and their system is working as their on staff psychologists intend. You can say that the skins and cosmetics are optional, but the casinos pay popular streamers to promote them and those audience skew very young. In the end, it's indoctrinating children into gambling and Valve bears some responsibility.
Valve/Steam do a lot of very consumer friendly things and should be commended. Their success is well deserved and they are industry leaders for a reason. That said, I'm never a fan of tooting one's own horn and when you do, you open yourself to criticism and as far as the casino criticism is concerned, I don't think they are putting their customers at the forefront of their decisions.
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DeltaPolarBear
Member
What do you expect a company of 366+ people to do about it? That's the thing, you really believe Valve is some powerful juggernaut when in the end it is just a very successful medium size business. If the gambling is a problem you have governments to regulate that. Valve is not Disney, they don't have an army of lawyers.
bender
What time is it?
If they wanted to fix the issue, they wouldn't need a single lawyer nor the majority of their current employees. All they'd need to do is adjust their marketplace and/or loot box system.
DownLikeBCPowder
Member
I remember when Steam first came - a friend had bought Half Life 2 but his computer couldn't run it, so he wanted to play it on my machine. We had to sign up for some weird service called "Steam". Not being used to keys being assigned to accounts in particular we figured it was no big deal. I still have that game to this day (obviously).. lol.
Sentenza
Member
A lot of games on Steam already DO NOT strictly need the launcher to run.
They use it by default, but if you navigate the local files, many have a "Steam-less" executable in their folder.
But chances you would know this already if it was something you actually cared about...
Let me be more clear, then:
It'll be good when I will not need to install at all Steam as an application on my computer, like GOG.
Also what you said doesn't change anything, you can figure yourself all the implications that has.
A lot of games also don't. If there are some available numbers, feel free to share, I'm really curious.
I just played Let's school yesterday, it's just an example and it doesn't run without launcher. Imagine having to check game by game, instead of having a simple option to avoid it like GOG. What great service!
- It fucking updates the client even if I'm in offline mode, wasting more time (and patience)
- It fucking closes only after I close the game, so you can't even get rid of it while gaming.
So yeah, for me it fucking sucks and I actively avoid it every time a game is available anywhere else.
Drell
Member
Probably Microsoft's cultists who'd die to see them acquire Valve.
YeulEmeralda
Linux User
How often is Steam down? Exactly.
It just fucking works™
It just fucking works™
KungFucius
King Snowflake
More like Steam continues to grow because PC gaming continues to grow and we have a near monopoly share of the gaming market.
DaciaJC
Gold Member
Like every Tuesday evening lol.
Topher
Identifies as young
No "we" don't
HRK69
Gold Member
What an absolutely stellar take, right up there with complaining that your car requires gas to run
Imagine being upset that a platform you chose to use has a launcher
Topher
Identifies as young
Complain to the developer or publisher then. There is nothing forcing them to use the Steam launcher. Just like there is nothing keeping them off of GOG or "anywhere else". Fact of the matter is that there is a reason so many games are not on GOG and it is the lack of DRM. Would you rather have it that all these games were not on PC at all? That's really the alternative to having Steam running while you play the game.
pudel
Member
I dont know. The difference drm-wise is super slim between steam and GOG for a lot of games. Its basically just the "steamlauncher-call" (which even works offline) which separates them. I cannot see how this makes a huge difference for a developer, but still lots of devs decide to ignore GOG completely.
Topher
Identifies as young
I dont know. The difference drm-wise is super slim between steam and GOG for a lot of games. Its basically just the "steamlauncher-call" (which even works offline) which separates them. I cannot see how this makes a huge difference for a developer, but still lots of devs decide to ignore GOG completely.
Yeah, but there are still cached credentials even when playing offline, isn't there? You can't just copy a games to another computer and play it like you can a GOG game, right?
pudel
Member
I have never really tried it...but guess no...without an installer it might be difficult to copy an already installed game.
Topher
Identifies as young
Was curious so I uninstalled Steam and launched Rogue Trader directly from the game folder. Ran fine. Perhaps that is the equivalent of running in offline mode? Either way......seems the launcher is optional.
What the heck are you talking about? Are you seriously comparing Steam's system to something essential? LOL
Literally in my post I said that I avoid it every time I can. It's obvious that if a great game is available only there I still want to support the developers.
Imagine being a fanboy and unable to criticize something just because you use it.
I'm sorry but you are looking at the finger and not the moon. The launcher during gaming is just an example, like I said. Without the launcher, Steam wouldn't even let me install the games for example.
Yes, I wish all developers did not require it, sure. But once again, let's not pretend that Valve couldn't have put an option to disable the launcher and just use them as a store.
And your last point makes literally sense. Before Steam existed, PC games existed, you know...
DRM is a completely different topic - it could still exist in a game, even if the platform selling the game did not have its own DRM.
pudel
Member
Yep, this is awesome. Rogue Trader/Owlcat is pretty awesome as well.
But as you mentioned....just copying the game somewhere else and starting it might be more difficult.
Topher
Identifies as young
I just launched a Steam game without Steam being installed. But I'm not pretending a thing. I'm guessing Steam works with publishers to find a compromise that allows for more player freedom while addressing concerns about potential piracy. I don't really know.
Makes perfect sense when you look at the number of games on Steam vs GOG. You tell me why that is the case then.