Steam's success in 2009

[rasczak]

i could never understand the gripes people had with steam in the beginning. i loved the platform. i loved being able to have my games bought and paid for in minutes and loaded within five to ten (no more driving to and from store anxiously waiting to get home). steam has been a huge success imo and well deserved.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Very rarely do I buy boxed games now...the only PS3 console game I have in mind is FF13...otherwise everything is PC/STEAM bought.

I've loved them since day one...I have had an account with them since 2004, the DAY they started and took over in place of WON.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

agree, well-deserved

i also very much like the fact that they are showing some creativity and trendsetting in pricing. someone finally realized that not all games need to retail for 40+. and that 1 million units at $5 is still more profit than 100,000 at $40. ALL media sales would benefit from this approach. theres a ton of crap i would buy if it were priced appropriately. IMO this can 'fix' piracy. ('fix' because some people will always steal, even if the games are $1)

 

[Maximilian]

empire total war was the last game i bought off of steam at full price. after that crapfest, now i'll spend about $15 a game, tops.

I think the lesson is dont buy crap games. Steam forces people to think about what they buy rather than just lap up the same old garbage because it has the c&c logo on it or their friends moms aunts babysitters friend who isnt all that interested in games implied it was quite good so you bought it etc.

 

[you2]

I don't see any numbers indicating financial results.

 

[Lazlo Panaflex]

<golf clap>

Now where the hell is Episode 3, Valve?????

 

[jacc1234]

I saw this coming. I have had a steam account basically since it opened but until this year I only used it for source games. The new weekend deals have really drawn me in especially the holiday sale this year.

The pricing is low enough to get me to try games that are older or replay games I have long lost. I also admit that I ahem..."download" a ton of content and have done so for many many years but steam makes it easier to just buy the damn thing. It also makes me feel warm and fuzzy that im actually supporting the creators finally.

Flame away but im the perfect example of how correct pricing and distribution can strongly reduce piracy.

 

[tviceman]

Hahaha if you look at the steam hardware survey, Win7 has now surpassed win vista. That didn't take long at all. At the rate of adoption, Win7 will overtake XP by the July-September time frame.

This is all good, lets roll out DX11 games asap.

 

[gramboh]

agree, well-deserved

i also very much like the fact that they are showing some creativity and trendsetting in pricing. someone finally realized that not all games need to retail for 40+. and that 1 million units at $5 is still more profit than 100,000 at $40. ALL media sales would benefit from this approach. theres a ton of crap i would buy if it were priced appropriately. IMO this can 'fix' piracy. ('fix' because some people will always steal, even if the games are $1)

Adding on this point, it's great for developers to be able to put games on sale and catch consumers attention, without the cost of shelf space at retailers (this is a HUGE plus to Steam). Publishers/devs can now profit from older games which they could not distribute physically, and it allows gamers to support older (even 1 year is old) titles.

I usually only buy games I know I'll be playing lots at full price (anything from Valve, Mass Effect etc) other than that I wait a few months and buy it at a discount. This past year I think only Borderlands and ME2 I paid full for (no time for Dragon Age yet, and it's already on sale).

 

[Zargon]

i could never understand the gripes people had with steam in the beginning. i loved the platform. i loved being able to have my games bought and paid for in minutes and loaded within five to ten (no more driving to and from store anxiously waiting to get home). steam has been a huge success imo and well deserved.

it would be nice to get a slight discount with the whole no box/media deal

 

[crownjules]

Hahaha if you look at the steam hardware survey, Win7 has now surpassed win vista. That didn't take long at all. At the rate of adoption, Win7 will overtake XP by the July-September time frame.

This is all good, lets roll out DX11 games asap.

Since Steam is a gaming platform, it's not an unreasonable assumption to make that few outside of the gaming segment of the PC market would have it installed. Therefore the Steam survey data do not reflect the PC market at large. Gamers are far more likely to adopt new technologies at earlier stages than Joe Average PC user.

 

[Tristicus]

I love Steam, but I do not like other programs like Impulse. They are just sub-par in comparison.

 

[Elcs]

Personally one of my biggest "likes" of Steam is the fact that they promote so many smaller games.

We've all heard of Bioshock 2, Mass Effect 2, AvP etc and we have in the past went out to buy these blockbuster type games in the shops.... but something like Gratuitous Space Battles would have sat on a PC Gaming shelf for several years until it was binned or sold for $2.

Steam offers up an extensive catalogue of these smaller games which have made a supreme hit with older games for their length and complexity, disillusioned gamers who find their simple addictiveness alluring and even the newer generation of gamers with cute graphics or concepts to spark the imagination.

Steam could be helping/hindering these companies into an EA-type buyout or to become more fully fledged studios producing the legendary titles of the future. Without Steam, these games may have ended up unmade, unsold or treat as a free web browser game.

 

[Genx87]

The only boxed games I have bought in years is COD4 and the WOW expansions. I wont buy games on DVD anymore. Steam is so much better. I never lose my games and dont have to worry about losing discs either!

 

[Fingolfin269]

I bought a few games from Steam this year and all were old games or spin-offs... like the revised Monkey Island games, the graphical updated original, etc. I don't think I did much to help the 'pc gaming is alive' argument though since I bought into old ips from the golden age.

 

[crownjules]

Steam offers up an extensive catalogue of these smaller games which have made a supreme hit with older games for their length and complexity, disillusioned gamers who find their simple addictiveness alluring and even the newer generation of gamers with cute graphics or concepts to spark the imagination.

You can easily counter that XBox Live and PSN could offer the exact same feaures. And they have - some of the more popular Steam-first releases like Trine and Braid have made their way over to those platforms now. But the console licensing fees those companies charge to publish games onto their systems is a barrier to entry. Most small indie developers can not afford that until they first experience success on the PC.

I bought a few games from Steam this year and all were old games or spin-offs... like the revised Monkey Island games, the graphical updated original, etc. I don't think I did much to help the 'pc gaming is alive' argument though since I bought into old ips from the golden age.

Every purchase, regardless of when the game was originally published, shows there is a thriving PC game market. Developers just need to stop shitting on it with crappy ports of overpriced titles if they want to take full advantage of the profits they can garner from it.

 

[cecco]

Psychonauts for $2.00. How could I have missed this game when it was released? Thank you, Steam.

I too orginally signed up for the orange box deal. Now i have a backlog of games. I don't mind though

 

[Inspector Jihad]

old games + indie games is where steam really shines. i don't need to play every new game so its good for me to spend 5 or 10 bucks every now and then for an awesome game thats a few years old. most of those games wouldn't be available in stores.

 

[zerocool84]

old games + indie games is where steam really shines. i don't need to play every new game so its good for me to spend 5 or 10 bucks every now and then for an awesome game thats a few years old. most of those games wouldn't be available in stores.

Yep or you'd have to pay a lot for them used on eBay. I've been with Steam since day one and while it was a rough start, just like any new medium, it's been great. There are still some hang-ups occasionally but it's still a great experience overall. I'm so used to Steam that I think it's a hassle to have to put a game in my drive to play it.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

Yep or you'd have to pay a lot for them used on eBay. I've been with Steam since day one and while it was a rough start, just like any new medium, it's been great. There are still some hang-ups occasionally but it's still a great experience overall. I'm so used to Steam that I think it's a hassle to have to put a game in my drive to play it.

yup...discs for games is annoying to me now

p.s. i think i actually have had a steam account since day 1: Sep. 12, 2003.

 

[jinsaotomex4]

Old games and normal editions = Buy on steam.
Collector's Edition = Buy retail. I just love my hardcover book and tin case!

 

[icyroy05]

Old games and normal editions = Buy on steam.
Collector's Edition = Buy retail. I just love my hardcover book and tin case!

lol I'm the exact same way.