Are cracks appearing in the Steam Empire ?

[Gallifrey - CSSC Gaming Founder]

I'm not predicting an imminent demise. Indeed Steam probably feels stronger than ever at the moment. I'm fairly sure it's richer than ever. So why the pessimism ?

1) Most gamers don't care about Valve as a producer of new games anymore. For the first time in a very, very long time the most played game on Steam isn't made by Valve. Half Life 2 was released in 2004. Half life 3 isn't even a joke any more, it's an irrelevance. And now five years after DOTA 2 what are Valve releasing - a card game ? Will it be free to play, pay to win, with lots of microtransactions ? That's what I thought before I thought was it any good ? What I fear was that was what the developers asked first. As a producer of games Valve seems far keener on (over) exploiting past glories rather than bringing anything new to the table. Card games are the natural domain of small noob developers. They're easy to program. For a studio that had produced some of the greatest PC games of all time to release a card game after five years of squat is effectively flicking the bird at its fans and supporters. Okay, Valve can't be arsed to make major games anymore. Then stop dropping oblique false hints in the Winter and Summer sales merchandising. Seriously Valve's been out of the producing AAA PC games business so long I wonder whether Valve still has it in them to produce a state of the art game.

2) Valve's producers aren't producing. Look at Steam's sales figures. Then take away everything that wasn't made by Rockstar or Bethesda. Bet they don't look anywhere near as rosy anymore. Yet where is Elder Scrolls 6 ? Where is GTA VI or a decent single person expansion for GTA V ? No Red Dead Redemption 1 or 2 so far from Rockstar. And I regard that Red Dead Redemption was never released on PC as a personal failure by Valve. The only reason that makes any kind of sense for Red Dead Redemption not to have had a PC release was that either Microsoft or Sony or both have a contract with Rockstar making RDR a console exclusive. But Red Dead Redemption is now seven years old. The value to Microsoft and Sony of keeping RDR a console exclusive must now be far less than the value to Rockstar and Steam of a PC release. So any Steam executive with a decent degree of business sense would have bought out the restrictive covenant on the basis that Steam would make far more in sales. But the key issue is that in relation to one of the leading markets of Steam's retail business the major producers aren't making the games at all.

3) Market shifts. Steam has gone from being one of the cheapest places to acquire PC games to being one of the more expensive. Personally I never thought I'd ever stop shopping at Game but now I have. If Steam is constantly undercut in the market by other suppliers eventually its customer base will migrate there.

4) Adverse publicity over gambling, loot boxes etc. The entire gaming industry has gone dolllar sign eyes crazy over these money gougers. Start Running is convinced that the storm will blow over. I'm not so sure. There's enough borderline paedophile material on Steam to bring down a tabloid firestorm if any paedophile rings are found operating on Steam.

5) Inadequate protection of customers. There's a particular cheat site for TF 2 that is brazen enough to send its scumbag cheats into games to advertise it. It's been running for years. Any competent corporation would have wiped it off the face of the internet by now but still TF 2 players get plagued by cheats purchased from this site. Early Access Games remain an unpoliced bad lands where genuine competent creatives mix with the incompetent and the corrupt and Steam does very little except put a huge, and probably invalid, disclaimer on the games.

6) Customer service is rated as lousy. At the very least each game should have a contact link for help with problems running it.

7) Hubris. Steam conducts itself as an entity too up in its cloud wreathed ivory tower to be bothered by the concerns of its customers. It has no corporate presence on its own site. The award categories this year seemed like something a couple of staffers came up with over a boozy lunch rather than anything given a proper degree of thought for a major promotion. You also were seriously considering hiving off the game downloading service from the store which personally I thought was the dumbest move since King Lear split his kingdom between his three daughters. At the moment money just floods into Steam like a river of gold even when Steam gets it wrong so there's no longer any pressure to get it right.


Looking at the reasons why people loved Valve/ Steam -

1) You made utterly brilliant games.
2) You had a better range of games cheaper than anywhere else.

Now - neither is true.

It's not the end. It's not even the beginning of tthe end. But the flaws that brought down the Roman empire were evident a good couple of centuries before the eventual collapse.

S.X.

[Tito Shivan]

Lamont původně napsal:

That's highly inaccurate Tito, and that's me being generous to you there by saying 'inaccurate', the balls against the Gambling Rackets are ever rolling and growing and reach far further than you realise or might care to admit. But, I'll leave you to do your own research on that, you obviously don't get the BBC news in your country. :comic: :accat:

Burden on proof is on you buddy. You make the claim, you back it.
Sure i don't need you to point on the definition on how burden of proof works.

Don't go trolling 101 on me, you know better.

[Gallifrey - CSSC Gaming Founder]

This was the recent BBC article on the topic: -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-42311533

The entire issue seems to be live and hot at the moment in tthe UK.

S.x.

[Spawn of Totoro]

gallifrey původně napsal:

This was the recent BBC article on the topic: -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-42311533

The entire issue seems to be live and hot at the moment in tthe UK.

S.x.

"Some students 'have £10,000 gambling debt'"

Not sure that is possible as, from my understanding, those sites don't give markers and it is all up front, though I guess they can still owe for the money to purchase skins, such as a credit or paypal debt, though you have to be 18+ for either.

In this case, the article is a bit misleading though as it jumps form 11-16 year-olds to someone in collage.

It also discusses skin betting, but then tacks on "Most commonly, children were using fruit machines, National Lottery scratch cards or placing private bets." so is a bit confusing as to what the main focus is.

Also, that is about skin betting, not loot boxes, as Tito and Lamont were discussing.

Unless it was not posted in reguards to that discussion, then ignore the previoud statement.

[Start_Running]

gallifrey původně napsal:

This was the recent BBC article on the topic: -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-42311533

The entire issue seems to be live and hot at the moment in tthe UK.

S.x.

Remove gambling ads that appeal to children? So what, word them like you would a depends commercial?

@Lamount
You're only proving that you really don't have any sources to cite. Tito, cited the cases and incidents he knew of, giving the specific counbtries and agencies within those countries. You've just made vague non-quantifiable statements. All you had to do with add a few more agencies and the countries they represent to Tito's list. Instead you're arguing that you don't have to.

The whole gambling thing in my eyes just always brings up one question. Where are the parents in all this?

[Tito Shivan]

gallifrey původně napsal:

This was the recent BBC article on the topic: -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-42311533

The entire issue seems to be live and hot at the moment in tthe UK.

S.x.

Thanks Gallifrey. At least someone is providing sources to back up points. Although I read a bit over the article and seems the gambling commission is focusing on gamble sites, not lootboxes.

[Start_Running]

Tito Shivan původně napsal:

gallifrey původně napsal:

This was the recent BBC article on the topic: -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-42311533

The entire issue seems to be live and hot at the moment in tthe UK.

S.x.

Thanks Gallifrey. At least someone is providing sources to back up points. Although I read a bit over the article and seems the gambling commission is focusing on gamble sites, not lootboxes.

Which is kinda a non-issue. You can't enforce your gambling laws on a site that is hosted outside your borders.

[J4MESOX4D]

Start_Running původně napsal:

Tito Shivan původně napsal:

Thanks Gallifrey. At least someone is providing sources to back up points. Although I read a bit over the article and seems the gambling commission is focusing on gamble sites, not lootboxes.

Which is kinda a non-issue. You can't enforce your gambling laws on a site that is hosted outside your borders.

You can ban an organisation or site from operating in your country though. If any sites are deemed 'gambling' oriented; they will require a licence to operate. If the Gambling Commission deems that a certain site or company runs a gambling business; if it doesn't have a licence to operate; it's ultimately curtains. Any body that investigates within Europe can also send their findings to the EU Commission who can enforce restrictions across the whole of Europe even if the investigation was ran by one body within a single country. As long as it has backing from others; it can be collectively banned.

[Kartoffelsuppe]

Zetikla původně napsal:

personally im inclined to think that even if something would happen to Gabe Newell/any other Valve excec, that the company ownership wouldbe passed along the company either way.

I didn't mean the company being bought but the CEO changing. Even though it is a flat company structure you never know if they actually keep it that way. I only really care because of some games I would look to play in the distant future aswell. There are plently of games that have an endless mode (aka replayability) or so much content you can't be done with it in the near future.

Ganger původně napsal:

I really don't understand how a massive company like MS could mess up soo much, did they not learn from the PS3 launch over a decade ago ?

You could say that about almost everything.

"We learn from history that we do not learn from history" is probably the most famous quote thrown around that I don't know who said it first.

Nintendo almost did a SEGA with their WiiU and maybe the Switch does fail, you never know. Then it will most likely become a SEGA situation where people no longer trust them, investors pull out and sales stagnate for a new console. Also Nintendo never learns from their underpowered machines that in the end hurt them.