ProjecT TimeZ

Read on...

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ProjecT TimeZ

Damn, I posted this in the wrong section. Requesting a mod to move it to Video Game News, will be reporting my post as well to get it moved.

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wierdo124

Oh, the humanity! God forbid they try to get as much life out of PC gaming as possible, because that's what their games play best on! How dare them!

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mechtech

What he says is if Valve really cares about digital distribution, they would spin off Steam into a neutral 3rd party company, which I agree with.

TestECull

wat


I love Steam, and I can't see why a dev wouldn't like it. It simplifies distribution, generates more profits than retail(As Steam prices fall much more slowly than retail ones), negates the need for intrusive DRM and can simplify anti-cheat and multiplayer functions(As in VAC and Steam server browser). NEvermind how it costs less to distribute, you burn one copy to a DVD and mail that to Valve, they rip it, convert it to .GCF or .NCF, then pop it on their download servers. MUCH cheaper than releasing via printed DVD, even factoring in the fees Valve undoubtedly charges.

Also, I have yet to see Valve discriminate against non-Valve devs on their service. It seems pretty easy to get your game sold over Steam.

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ProjecT TimeZ

Agreed, it is pretty ridiculous, and so much more cost-effective to have it distributed through Steam.

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carl25

does it say how much more cost effective it is ? or are you just guessing

Afrodisiac

Take Audiosurf. I'm sure Steam helped the makers of Audiosurf make a lot more profit than the game without Steam. Besides, look at all the tiny-budget indie games on Steam. I really doubt there would be millions of them (like there currently are) if Valve was as evil as this guy makes them out to be.

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ProjecT TimeZ

Agreed with Audiosurf, and all the Indie games like it, but Steam even helps larger companies distribute their games, the companies don't have to spend money making the discs, packaging, shipping, etc, they make one copy and send it to Steam, and everything is digital from there. They still do have to make retail copies, but less are made as more sales are going digital.

It doesn't/nothing I could find said how much more cost effective using Steam/other digital distribution methods is, but I would say 100% more effective as opposed to retail distribution. One day (and this day will come) when everything is digital it will literally be 100% more cost effective than distributing actual DVDs and packaging. So for now, I could hazard a guess as to how much more the company makes per sale on Steam as compared to a retail sale, and I'm sure you could too

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Firestorm252

personally the comments of the devs on the article are spot on to what i think of Valve and Steam.

do they have to outreach and add independently made games onto Steam? no.
do they have to make it easy for possible competitors to put games onto Steam? no.

the article seems to give the picture that indie game devs benefit greatly, and the dev's comment that they hadn't had one issue with a digital release on Steam only seems to reinforce that it's a well-run and well-overseen system there to effectively assist whatever dev groups choose to use it.


my 2 cents. i'm not much of a digital distribution person. after Steam's initial release and after i found out my legitimate copy and CD key of CS was already registered... add in a "little" snafu I had with the EA store (which i will NEVER buy from again)...
but the system Valve uses seems to have stabilized well enough.

will I buy a Steam copy of a hardcopy is available? hell no. but that's just how I am. i'm sure there's differing points of view.

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