Steam Android Store

[-Blaze\]

Can we get a Steam Android app store please? I really don't like buying things on Google Play because they will just remove things from your purchase history all together if something ever gets de-listed. I'm not really a fan of the alternatives that we have either. I feel like Steam could actually have some disruption power here in particular, especially if they were to give publishers the ability to offer cross-buy between PC and Android Steam.

[Ben Lubar]

mobile gaming is a very different beast than PC gaming, or even console gaming.

most mobile games would not be allowed on Steam if ported 1:1 because Steam does not allow paywalls or monetization via ads.

[-Blaze\]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Ben Lubar:

mobile gaming is a very different beast than PC gaming, or even console gaming.

most mobile games would not be allowed on Steam if ported 1:1 because Steam does not allow paywalls or monetization via ads.

Exactly, so a much better App store with less slot machine garbage. Good ones do exist and in fact some are ports of games that are on Steam. I'm not seeing the issue.

[-Blaze\]

Portal Knights, Bok Investigator, FNAF, Hello Neighbor, and Dead Cells to name a few.

[Ben Lubar]

Steam's business model is to provide as many games as possible access to as many interested players as possible and vice versa. That doesn't work when the definition of "games" changes to mostly be things that Steam doesn't allow. They're not going to try to outdo Google on their own platform when they aren't going to get a return on their investment.

[-Blaze\]

The point is that games on mobile mostly suck because Google allows them to, so it would be very easy to compete with Google on their own platform because people want less malvertising mtx trash. I also don't know what you mean by Steam doesn't allow paywalls. Charging money for access to a game is in itself a paywall. Not all games on steam are f2p.

[Ben Lubar]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von SpringOtter:

The point is that games on mobile mostly suck because Google allows them to, so it would be very easy to compete with Google on their own platform because people want less malvertising mtx trash. I also don't know what you mean by Steam doesn't allow paywalls. Charging money for access to a game is in itself a paywall. Not all games on steam are f2p.

https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/pricing#7

Q: Does Steam pricing support "paywall" games?
A: No. Steam does not support models where a customer is blocked and needs to pay to continue playing. If you would like to have a free demo to show off your game, you're welcome to do so. Your demo and full game can share files as well to continue game play. To figure out if a demo is the right thing for your game, please check out the Demos Documentation.

[-Blaze\]

That's not what I think of as being a paywall but sure, whatever. Its not really relevant to the point I'm making. Super easy to disrupt the Android market right now when Google actively removes apps from your purchase history and allows malvertising and other scummy behavior. I think you're underestimating how starved mobile gamers are for a Steam of their own

[Mad Scientist]

This is a PC Gaming store, not a mobile store. Best you'll get is proton compatible which can be used for things like the Steam Deck.

[-Blaze\]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Mad Scientist:

This is a PC Gaming store, not a mobile store. Best you'll get is proton compatible which can be used for things like the Steam Deck.

The whole point of this thread is to suggest they dip into the android mobile market. Its not like they haven't tried other markets before. They use to sell movies, so why wouldn't this be a possibility they could consider? You do realize this is the suggestions and ideas section of this forum? No need to gatekeep.

[-Blaze\]

Stardew Valley, Poppy Playtime, Human Fall Flat, Terraria, Limbo, Little Nightmares, Rec Room, thought of a few more.

[d3str0y3r]

Do you really think Google will allow a direct competitor on their platform? The moment Steam started selling mobile games on Android the Steam app would get pulled by Google.

[-Blaze\]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von d3str0y3r:

Do you really think Google will allow a direct competitor on their platform? The moment Steam started selling mobile games on Android the Steam app would get pulled by Google.

They could just offer an apk version for sideloading like Fortnite does if Google did that. Though I think you're wrong since the Steam app itself can continue to exist as it is on Google Play and the Steam Store for Android could be offered for sideloading. This isn't new, Amazon offers an App store on Android and continues to have a regular shopping app on Google Play. Some phones even come with alternative app stores pre-installed *cough - Samsung - cough*

[-Blaze\]

Mentioning Steam Deck also brings up another good point, Valve clearly already has an interest in the mobile market. Handheld devices are only getting more and more powerful and are now competitive with PCs for being able to offer higher quality and more advanced gameplay. Have you tried CoD mobile? Once you close the 20 different mtx / casino popups, the actual gameplay is not far off from any other CoD on PC or console, especially if you play with a controller. So unless Valve has some bigger picture in mind like directly competing with Android with a SteamOS for phones, they're going to want to get into the mobile app store market eventually.

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

I suggest checkout Itch.io as they allow all things to be downloaded.

Steam wouldn't have a reason since they're PC focus, so pushing for Mobile could get all their apps delisted from the store, or have to advertise pretty hard to get people to sideload the store on their mobile devices as they wouldn't come pre install on anyone devices beside Google / Apple store so yeah, see like a lot of effort, high risk if most people don't use their store for mobile gaming over store that already there out the box ready to install the same games.

[Tito Shivan]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von - Blaze:

The point is that games on mobile mostly suck because Google allows them to, so it would be very easy to compete with Google on their own platform because people want less malvertising mtx trash.

I'm afraid you would be bound for a nasty surprise in that end.