Slashdot Mirror
Is Valve's Steam Anti-Competitive?
Absolut187 writes "Gearbox Software CEO Randy Pitchford says Steam's domination of digital distribution is 'dangerous,' and exploits small developers. 'Steam helps us as customers, but it's also a money grab, and Valve is exploiting a lot of people in a way that's not totally fair. ... Valve is taking a larger share than it should for the service it's providing. ... There's so much conflict of interest there that it's horrid.' Pitchford's comments came as part of an interview with Maximum PC, and he thinks Valve should spin off Steam to its own company. Is he right? Is there a better answer?"
Update: 10/10 at 02:00 GMT by SS: Randy has clarified his remarks in a comment here at Slashdot. He makes it clear that he likes Steam a lot, and for several reasons, but thinks stronger competition would benefit the industry as a whole.
It's worth noting that for Valve's exclusive games, when you buy bundle packs containing copies you already have, you get more copies which can be given to friends.
Unfortunately, the same doesn't apply for third-party games.
I can understand the publisher's desire to lock a game to every customer. It ensures every sale gives you profit. I also understand that in the case of Steam, that's giving us much lower prices. Unlike most other platforms, Steam is flooded with quality games that go on sale for between $5 to $15.
When's the last time you got an XBox360 game brand new for $10? You can take your rights of sale and shove them... somewhere. I'll lose at least that much money trying to sell a game I picked up new, so resale doesn't really concern me much. Plus, after I sell it and lose $10+, I don't have it anymore.
One thing I would like to see is Valve not allowing non-Steam DRM in games. I hate it when games have double-protection(like Universe At War), and then it doesn't work because of the non-Steam DRM.
So Impulse (http://www.impulsedriven.com/) is like steam, but run by Stardock. Games you buy on impulse don't require it to be running ala games on steam. I don't know how their pricing is for game developers, but they sure seem nicer and friendlier than the big behemoth to me, and I'll always buy a given game on impulse over steam if they have it.
Yep, Steam isn't the only way to go. Not only is there Direct2Drive, but there's also other, smaller, online distributors like Gamer's Gate. There's plenty of room for developers and publishers to add their own distribution methods.
This does give me an interesting idea: image a program that is the digital distribution clone of Trillian or Pidgin. Instead of having to download tons of different distribution programs, visit 50 bajillion websites to download stuff, it would be nice to have them all merged into one program.
SSC
GOG want you to own your games and play whenever you want. Steam want you to rent your games, and play when you're connected to their servers and it's economically convenient.
What you do with your dollar is up to you.
There are other digital distribution systems which are still common names and the market is still developing. Off the top of my head I know of direct2drive and I use Stardock's Impulse system when I can to buy games. It's a lot better than steam, not always cheaper for big games but you can add physical copies of any games you own to it, have it manage updates, your keys, reinstallation when you want without using the physical media. Has a lot less DRM, doesn't need to be running for you to run it's games. Not that i'm hugely against steam, it does some things I don't like (automatically updates games - not an issue now that steam is unmetered with my isp but it used to be, restricts by country when certain publishers demand it).Though being Australian and having been ripped off by publishers through retail (90 to 110 $AUD for a new game, 1 AUD averages 0.8 USD but it varies a lot - 0.9 at the moment, dipped into the low 0.6's at one point), having $50-$60 games from most publishers is great, though there is one which kicked up a stink and made steam charge more to Australians so it wasn't cheaper than retail anymore).
Wow it looks like if a company is not MS or google then nobody should even question the conflict of interests they have here on slashdot!? The guy has some good points, agree/disagree but give me a break on all the "they have competitors"/"build your own nobody is stopping you!" posts, I mean most of those posts are just repeating previous ones, of 109 posts (most of them "they have competitors",etc) only 1 has any real analysis/content!
IranAir Flight 655 never forget!
I really don't understand where you're coming from when you say there need to be other viable options of digital distribution services. There are. Most notably Direct2Drive. Now maybe D2D doesn't offer a "community" portion like Steam does, but who's stopping them? Honestly, the most viable option for them would be to buy out or cooperate with X-Fire and integrate its buddy messaging services with a D2D storefront and then add on some unique features. I made my Steam account on Sept 12, 2003. I hated it in beta and I hated it then. But Valve made a huge amount of changes. Many of them coming from community suggestions. About a year after launch it took on a new face and _really_ caught on. So let's face it. Valve came up with something truly original and molded it into exactly what the consumer wanted. Anyone else is free to do the same. But the question remains, who has ever done better than Valve in Valve's field of operations? Good luck.
I'm curious if steam's distribution agreement would even allow you to put it on other digital platforms for less.
-The world would be a better place if everyone had a hoverboard
I don't see the "trust" issue. And I don't see first person shooters as "competing" with each other. If it's a good game people will buy it regardless of whether they have bought another game in that genre. The only games that really "compete" are the ones that have failed to significantly innovate. And how is this conflict of interest crap different from EA owning one development studio but also publishing and distributing games from other studios?
I actually think there is a benefit for everyone in keeping things the way they are. Valve's reputation is affected by both their service and their games. This gives them incentive to do both well. Also, if players like Microsoft stepped in as a competitor to Steam an independent company would have a hard time competing. Especially since Microsoft "competing" in that market would probably involve as many exclusivity deals as they can pull off.
I also disagree with your idea of "standardizing the landscape". Many people feel Steam's DRM system is reasonably fair. What if the competition doesn't agree? Should we standardize on one of the more obtrusive DRM systems? No, I say let these digital distribution systems implement their own methods and have the customers decide who does it right. We're still at a point where customer expectations are not set in stone.
What a crock.
Attacking Steam won't earn you points here...or in the gamer community. Steam is fact now.
To introduce these "trust" and "anti-competitive" perceptions regarding Steam then provide not a SINGLE, SOLITARY fact to support such absurd claims makes you a piece of FUD. Talking in vague terms like "perceptions" and "angles of industry". You should be ashamed of yourself. Your initial article and this half-baked follow-up are nothing but a third-rate attempt at passing off FUD as fact. Slashdot isn't fooled by it. Neither am I.
Competition is good. Others have tried game distribution. They have failed. Steam gets it right time and time again. Attacking them because you don't want to pay some percentage for distribution is both dishonest and sleazy.
In closing, I will not be purchasing your game.
That's a pretty weak argument for someone with a modern connection. It took me about 30 min to install the orange box (about 4.8gb) on my home connection.
As someone who moves around a lot, it would've taken me two months. I have a 3 Gb/month data cap.
It did kind of get annoying though for a while when it was all ads for L4D, and its like "I bought the game a month ago, stop showing me ads for it."
This is not the funny you're looking for.