Steam - The Future of PC Gaming ?

[Gallifrey - CSSC Gaming Founder]

I live in the U.K so I'm not sure if my experience is replicated elsewhere in the world.

There were several events that lead to the hypothesis above.

1) The loss on the high street of several retailers who used to sell PC games - Woolworths, Virgin, Blockbuster
2) That even if they still exist many stores who used to sell PC games don't any more - HMV do not, WH Smiths do not, Sainsburys almost never do, my local giant Tescos has now stopped stocking PC games, Morrisons have very few (although they occasionally have some very good value Ubisoft compilations)
3) PC Gamer, still retailing for an eyewatering £8.00, now gives Steam codes instead of discs.

If I were Steam I would be worried. People want what they see. No high street and particular no supermarket games retailing means there is no shop window for the non converted.

Should we then give the kiss of death to PC gaming ? There are actually strong arguments against doing so.

At this point I must confess that I am an ideologically committed computer/ PC gamer. I have never owned a games console. The reason is that I was never prepared to pay between £30.00 and £80.00 for a single computer game.

So from my biased perspective I would argue that the consoles are moribund. Firstly, and cynically, there is no backwards compatability. Anyone updating their system loses their entire back catalogue which usually happens once every four to five years. And whilst space terms may make it feasible to have two or three laptops in use the chances are that there is only ever likely to be one console plugged into your television. Secondly they seem imaginatively dead. Most games released on current console platforms are versions of long running franchises and there's the problem that own brand games never cross to competitor platforms. If you can only afford one console buying a Playstation means you won't get the chance to play Mario or Pokemon. Thirdly in a world where wage pressure on Western employees is ever downward the more people won't be prepared to pay console prices for games.

Mobile phones ? I'm sorry but amateur time. The wonder of touch screen technology cannot match the precision and speed of mice and game pads. The result is games for the thick of thumb and the thick of head. A world where mobile phones were the only gaming platform would be a world where "Angry Birds" and "Candy Crush Saga" would represent the zenith of gaming. I know. Leave your lights on when you go to sleep.

Steam's advantage is hardware free from licence fees and a catalogue of games extending into the thousands, many of which can be purchased for less than £5.00.

Also most of the innovation in gaming comes from the PC. The Sims, Mass Effect, World of Warcraft, Minecraft, Terraria. All started as PC games.

However I can't remember the film which said "Commercial death is an explanding share of a declining market". It had Danny Devito in it. I know - Google, IMDB - do it if you want.

I have a vested interest in Steam's continuing survival because I've probably got already about £50 worth of software that will stop working if Steam's servers are switched off.

The key issue is likely to be the Steam console and how it is marketed. Part of the issue is going to be that a significant number of console users lack any technical ability beyond put in the disc and play so any new products are going to have to be lowest denominator compatible - in accessibility if not game complexity.

Also a Steam that exists entirely in cyberspace won't sell consoles. They'll need to get the hardware into the computer shops, electrical goods retailers, and critically the supermarkets.

Furthermore hardware does not sell consoles, software sells consoles. To be a success Steam should have accessible at launch more titles than are available on both the current Playstation and Nintendo consoles combined.

This doesn't have to be new software. A variety of price points could attract large consumer interest. Software retailing at £40 - £60+ is usually going to be for Christmases and birthdays alone. Software selling at £5.00 is discretionary purchase zone and much more amenable to pester power. I think such a move by Steam could cause Microsoft, Nintendo, and Playstation to have so many cows they could supply McDonalds for a year.

However playing in the console market means playing with the big boys. Consumers used to the big players' professional sheen won't be happy with buggy, shoddy games sold as works in progess.

For its commercial credibility Steam will have to tighten up its consumer protection. Having to explain to the CEO of Walmart (ASDA in UK) why their customers returned thousands of games isn't going to be pleasant or commercially sound. Any game sold by Steam will have to match its description and be of merchantable quality. If it isn't the consumers need to get their money back.

A solution might be in library delving. It might take a relatively short time and little expenditure to produce versions of classic games compatible with modern games systems. I know versions are available on the internet but they usually come with enough malware to down a server. A game that made only £100,000 might be very cost effective if it only took one tech guy one week to convert it.

Success breeds success. The more successful Steam became the more people would want to write games for it.

The future is yet unwritten. But I think that Steam may be the best hope for an innovative and imaginative games industry. And if it doesn't - I think we can kiss goodbye to any significant innovation until the first full immersion equipment becomes commercially available.

S.x.

[Gallifrey - CSSC Gaming Founder]

引用自 Fork_Q2：

Clearly online sales are doing well, otherwise there would be almost no games on the PC!

You overstate the improtance of the "Steam console", it's just a small factor PC made with off-the shelf components, it never pretended to be anything more then just that. There is nothing stopping you from building or buying your own today!

Disagree, I'm afraid.

1) I can guaranteee you I couldn't build it myself
2) A console unequivocally places it in competition with the Playstation, Xbox, and Nintendo Wii.


If I was an executive of one of these companies I'd be worried. Steam has more visitors in a day than they retail consoles in a year.

S.x.

[TheAnonymousGoat]

引用自 gallifrey：

引用自 Fork_Q2：

Clearly online sales are doing well, otherwise there would be almost no games on the PC!

You overstate the improtance of the "Steam console", it's just a small factor PC made with off-the shelf components, it never pretended to be anything more then just that. There is nothing stopping you from building or buying your own today!

Disagree, I'm afraid.

1) I can guaranteee you I couldn't build it myself
2) A console unequivocally places it in competition with the Playstation, Xbox, and Nintendo Wii.


If I was an executive of one of these companies I'd be worried. Steam has more visitors in a day than they retail consoles in a year.

S.x.

If you can plug a cord into another cord and know how a screw driver functions I reckon that you could at least attempt to build one.

[Fork_Q2]

引用自 gallifrey：

引用自 Fork_Q2：

Clearly online sales are doing well, otherwise there would be almost no games on the PC!

You overstate the improtance of the "Steam console", it's just a small factor PC made with off-the shelf components, it never pretended to be anything more then just that. There is nothing stopping you from building or buying your own today!

Disagree, I'm afraid.

1) I can guaranteee you I couldn't build it myself
2) A console unequivocally places it in competition with the Playstation, Xbox, and Nintendo Wii.


If I was an executive of one of these companies I'd be worried. Steam has more visitors in a day than they retail consoles in a year.

S.x.

You can still buy or have someone build one for you. Heck, an laptop connected to the TV with a HDMI cable is pretty much my "Steam machine" whenever I want to play local co-op games.

I doubt Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo will care at all, the "Steam machine" and "Steam streaming" only exists to provide useful options and tools for existing Steam users to play their games away from the desktop.

[Himitsu]

引用自 Keyes：

I'm sure the last PC game I saw in a shop was something along the lines of "Larrys Leisure Suit"

Oh god it exists on steam...

http://store.steampowered.com/app/231910/

I happen to hear that is a very fine game.

*shifty looks*

[Black Blade]

引用自 gallifrey：

I'm not sure I'd describe my post as a "rant" (a verbal onslaught, diatribe). It was more of a discussion of the hypothesis that Steam was the future of PC gaming, if it had a future.

Black Blade's query as to whether a physical world presence was necessary was valid. My children are both obsessed with "YogsCast", as are many others, and that hasn't penetrated the consciousness of the mainstream media at all. We certainly live in a fractured society culturally where geographic borders are breaking down in relation to people's cultural experiences. In the UK the top TV programme (a soap called "Coronation Street") reaches now barely one sixth of the population when it used to reach a quarter. Ways of accessing television programmes mean also that people don't watch even the same programmes at the same time.

Steam's beauty is that each game comes with its own community - generally a blessing for the gamer. Also E.A., its main competitor, received the accolade of worst service in a recent consumer award. By deliberately (or at least recklessly) stopping Sims 2 working recently (at least without disconnecting from the internet) E.A. have managed to alienate me too.

So, where are we so far ?

1) The high street support for PC games is dropping dramatically
2) Historically that has spelt the death knell for any platform so affected.
3) From the internet it appears that the new Xbox and Nintendo platforms are selling poorly although Playstations are selling well
4) Laptops and PCs outsell the entire console market by a high number of factors
5) Although tablets are becoming more popular than PCs

The query therefore is whether online marketing and sales alone can sustain the PC market - at least in relation to the high quality games beloved of Steam's audience.

If the Steam console becomes a reality, thus taking PC style games from the bedroom and the study to the living room, then this could be a game changer. Nintendo, Playstation, and Microsoft have all followed the same formula of the release of small numbers of high priced product to generate their sales. A Steam Console giving access to a sizeable chunk of their catalogue at current prices would potentially revolutionise the console market.

But as yet no console has dominated sales without dominating the high street. Online sales alone usually are not enough. The query is will Steam try to break into the high street with their consoles or rely on the internet to generate sales ?

S.x.

Just a small point, these is a discussion, i really do not see the point of you sighing your name in the end of the post (you can ignore these just saying)

ok first of all the so called "Steam Console" is in the end of the day a PC on a OS that fits for games more then any thing else
Its just abut like having BPM on all the time, its not much more then that..
like @Fork_Q2 said you can just as much buy some Laptop and connect it to the TV.. you can also install on it SteamOS when it come out (that i guess will be easy as hell when its ready) and you just abut did it
The ones there going to sale will be more i think of names then really be much for any thing new or amazing.. (like lights, and Steam Logo on it...)

Il be honest i do not think the SteamBox (so called now Steam Machines) are not going to be a big game changer, i work, and play on a LapTop i connect it to my TV when i want to play wayyyy before these SteamBox was first shown.. hell i even play on the TV before i had Steam at all

The consoles need the stores to sell there games as its there main way of selling games in the end, and you may notice there also trying to move into downloading games, and Streaming games and less to work with a disk on how its now, but they may got stuck in the end as there missing the part of really allowing you to add more Memory to the console, or things like that, that in the end make it some what limited then PC
I think over time Console may start really moving into been like Steam as downloads more then CD's, even that as a PS4 owner il say they have a long way to go with how its working at these time..

I think in a way the stores are starting to be less of the front of gaming, they do yet have there place for things like hardware and Game Cards as well as Cd's for who cant connect online
But i really do not think there that so much important to day as back in the time

You are giving something from history, that most of the time il take deep into what may happen, but less here, as the media has change and there are more channels now then back in the time, also to most the internet is faster, and its easyer to download things then it was in the past (for most)
Its the same one can say with the Games fall back in the past that any one was able to take out a game and the game market fall as of too many bad games, but its not the same, today for any info abut games you post something and get a replay
Also there are many that are more then willing to review any game that will come in to them, if for there YouTube channel blog or site, or just to help it grow..

I do think Steam will be part of the "Future of PC Gaming" but i also do not think it will stay the only one for long, and i do not mean only Uplay, Origin, or GOG, i think more will start coming over time and sell games as well, each with its own way
EA by the way il be honest i do not think is bad is it may seem on the Web any how, i mean they have there things but there not all that bad, and i do not think there the real rival of Steam, i think that will be more things like GOG, and that other one that i yet to hear abut.. that will really be the rival of Steam (at least up to the time Origin will sale in better prices as well as more games

[Mr. Tex]

If Steam is the future of gaming I'll gladly stick to GOG and the like...as well as my consoles.

On a side-note:

#1. Consoles are moving increasingly towards digital download - just like Steam.
The lack of physical discs won't damage the console industry in the long-run.

#2. If most PC gamers are only willing to pay £2-5 for triple-a games there will be no more triple-a games on the PC in the future.

#3. The console market is where the profit has been for triple-a developers because these people buy more games at release price. Piracy is also less of an issue with console games.

#4. You are erroneously assuming everyone wants to play every genre there is. Every gaming platform has limits, including Steam.

#5. Gaming for mobile platforms is growing much faster, and will only get larger.

#6. Steam is increasingly becoming a monolopoly; deciding which games people have access to and how much they pay for them, and therefore the pricing developers need to set.

#7. With Steam you only rent your games, you don't own anything.

Steam already has too much power and influence in the gaming industry.

There should be more competition, more gamer choice and proper consumer ownership.
Steam is the antithesis of all this.

[Naedmi]

引用自 Bootis：

#7. With Steam you only rent your games, you don't own anything.

You own the games. Renting means paying a daily/monthly fee. What you are saying is that Steam is all DRM, and if Steam ever manages to go out of business then everyone will be left without their games.

There aren't many DRM free clients out there at this time.

Steam is also doing farely well. Ranking as the top gaming client on PC. I don't see them going anywhere in the next 10 years.

[chibilibi]

引用自 Black Blade：

You keep saying that PC gaming will die, i think that is all the way wrong, PC gaming is growing i think not dieing out at all

Wait, people say PC is dying?

Haven't heard that one in a while.

[chibilibi]

引用自 TheDean：

引用自 Bootis：

#7. With Steam you only rent your games, you don't own anything.

You own the games. Renting means paying a daily/monthly fee. What you are saying is that Steam is all DRM, and if Steam ever manages to go out of business then everyone will be left without their games.

There aren't many DRM free clients out there at this time.

Actually Valve has said that if they go down, there will be a patch to allow all games to be played offline or without Steam.

[Naedmi]

引用自 FuG chibilibi：

引用自 TheDean：

You own the games. Renting means paying a daily/monthly fee. What you are saying is that Steam is all DRM, and if Steam ever manages to go out of business then everyone will be left without their games.

There aren't many DRM free clients out there at this time.

Actually Valve has said that if they go down, there will be a patch to allow all games to be played offline or without Steam.

So then that makes his above statement bs.

[chibilibi]

引用自 Bootis：

If Steam is the future of gaming I'll gladly stick to GOG and the like...as well as my consoles.

On a side-note:

#1. Consoles are moving increasingly towards digital download - just like Steam.
The lack of physical discs won't damage the console industry in the long-run.

#2. If most PC gamers are only willing to pay £2-5 for triple-a games there will be no more triple-a games on the PC in the future.

#3. The console market is where the profit has been for triple-a developers because these people buy more games at release price. Piracy is also less of an issue with console games.

#4. You are erroneously assuming everyone wants to play every genre there is. Every gaming platform has limits, including Steam.

#5. Gaming for mobile platforms is growing much faster, and will only get larger.

#6. Steam is increasingly becoming a monolopoly; deciding which games people have access to and how much they pay for them, and therefore the pricing developers need to set.

#7. With Steam you only rent your games, you don't own anything.

Steam already has too much power and influence in the gaming industry.

There should be more competition, more gamer choice and proper consumer ownership.
Steam is the antithesis of all this.

#1. True.

#2. I'm not so sure about that. In the realm of physical copies, developers do not get $60 per purchase of their game. The store gets $60. Game devs/publishers sell their games to say, GameStop, for $30-40 (possibly even less). GameStop then marks them up to $60 so that they can make a profit.

Let's also not forget how many console users will buy a game used, giving no money to the developer.

#3. True, I guess.

#4. True.

#5. Growing with more shovelware and micro-transaction-infested BS, yeah.

#6. "Deciding which games people have access to" what? If you buy a game, you have access to it. What are you trying to say? As for pricing, the developer of a game and Valve negotiate prices.

#7. False.

引用自 TheDean：

引用自 FuG chibilibi：

Actually Valve has said that if they go down, there will be a patch to allow all games to be played offline or without Steam.

So then that makes his above statement bs.

Yes.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

You don't own the games legally. It's not like a cartridge that you can transfer to your friends. It is a non-transferrable license.

It's basically the same, except when it's under dispute -- Valve reserves the ability to terminate that license, unless your game is DRM-free. I am not sure under what conditions it has the right to do so, but it still reserves the ability.

Obviously, Valve would not want to exercise that ability in most circumstances, or it would be horribly damaging to their reputation. Still...

[crunchyfrog]

You make some good points, OP, but you also sweep over and make some poor assumptions on others.

Firstly, Steam is doing well for the reasons you point out, and is widely adopted even by people such as PC Gamer. The bottom line for entertainment of ANY kind is if you make it as easy as possible to shop for, you're onto a winner.

Which brings me onto one thing you've swept over - ONLINE retailing. There's plenty of online retailers which stock boxed PC games (and codes too): shopto.net, sendit, Zavvi to just name a couple. This is also the major reason Woolworths lost so much trade - they didn't adapt to the recent shopping habit changes.

But one thing I really take umbrage over is your claim that you've never played consoles because you don't want to play £60 for games - you don't have to. I play almost all popular platforms since the Atari 2600, computer and console. There has NEVER been any reason to suggest console games are markedly more expensive. Sure, they are a little, but they drop in price just the same as PC games.

In fact, I can get used or new old console games MUCH cheaper than digital games on Steam from places such as CEX, which I'm afraid is rather contrary to what you say.

I also keep a detailed spreadsheet of all my purchases (I have to for insurance purposes due to the size of my collection) and whilst I haven't spent much on each Steam game, as I usually only buy during sales and promotions, the prices across the other platforms are not much larger, if at all.

[crunchyfrog]

引用自 Quint S. Akemi：

You don't own the games legally. It's not like a cartridge that you can transfer to your friends. It is a non-transferrable license.

It's basically the same, except when it's under dispute -- Valve reserves the ability to terminate that license, unless your game is DRM-free. I am not sure under what conditions it has the right to do so, but it still reserves the ability.

Obviously, Valve would not want to exercise that ability in most circumstances, or it would be horribly damaging to their reputation. Still...

Wrong. You DO own the LICENCE legally. It means you cannot sell it or transfer it in any way, but it IS an indefinite right to use the game. There is no fundamental difference, apart from the lack of transfer.

Sure, it has the right to terminate but that's a caveat - only used under circumstances such as when fraud is used to purchase said licences. They can revoke them. It DOES NOT mean they can ever take away any legitimately purchased licence.

If they did such a thing, theft would be a clear case - and don't forget, no regional laws can EVER be overruled by any contract condition (your statutory rights are not affected).

[chibilibi]

引用自 crunchyfrog：

But one thing I really take umbrage over is your claim that you've never played consoles because you don't want to play £60 for games - you don't have to. I play almost all popular platforms since the Atari 2600, computer and console. There has NEVER been any reason to suggest console games are markedly more expensive. Sure, they are a little, but they drop in price just the same as PC games.

In fact, I can get used or new old console games MUCH cheaper than digital games on Steam from places such as CEX, which I'm afraid is rather contrary to what you say.

There's the thing, though. You can get OLD console games for cheaper. Well guess what? I get can OLD PC games on Steam for really cheap as well. Wolfenstein 3D, for example. $5 for a copy that will work on a modern system.

You can't deny Steam Sales are WAY cheaper than consoles. Prices for Tomb Raider 2013 on console right now are around $30-$40. It's $3.99 on Steam right now, with a standard price of $20. And the game is only a year old!

Sure, console games do eventually drop in price, but not quite to the extent that a PC version does.