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UK Games Retailers Threaten Boycott of Steam Games
RogueyWon writes "Games industry trade site MCV is reporting that two major UK video games retailers are threatening to ban Steam-enabled PC games from their stores. The as-yet-unnamed retailers are apparently concerned that by selling Steam games, they are pointing their customers towards a competitor and will by trying to bring pressure upon publishers to strip Steam functionality from their games. This could prove an interesting test of where the real power lies at the retail end of PC gaming."
More sales for Steam then?
Publishers are creating a monster – we are telling suppliers to stop using Steam in their games.
No, publishers are finding new innovative revenue streams that cater to the customer. The only reason it's a 'monster' is because you perceive it to be a threat to your business model and, surprise surprise, you're not a part of that revenue stream so it's the devil. And you don't understand it, that is painfully evident by the 'stop using Steam in their games' part of your statement. They don't use Steam in their games anymore than they use Wal-Mart in their games.
... you aren't going to get very far in my book. I mean, Steam has DRM but it saves me gas and money and puts me a little closer to that little developer that spends countless nights slaving away over code. That's where I want the bulk of my money to go when I purchase a game -- to that guy.
If you understood that this is increasing revenue and profits to the publishers, you might also start to see that it increases the number of copies sold. Now, if more people are buying the game it is possible that Steam will expand this market and leave some of the sales to the brick and mortar stores. It is, however, a possibility that you are correct in that your model will become obsolete -- such is the nature of business. You can either respond by being a jerk about it (although you're holding aces backed with eights as a large middle man), you can attempt to become part of that distribution model (have you thought about selling steam gift cards?) or you can do nothing. If you lose your business, well that's just some good old structural unemployment where the hostile market of capitalism violently guides you to better serve the consumer in a new and -- here's the scary word -- innovative ways. Seriously though, when is the last time you did something new and interesting aside from unboxing the latest game and paying some high school student minimum wage to set up the Halo display and cardboard cutouts?
Hey man, if you want to make me pick between you, the distributor, and the publishers that actually make the games I cherish
My work here is dung.
I haven't bought anything in a real store for ages, PC-games-wise. Why bother? All they stock is the expensive shit and anything older than 3 months is in the "Pre-owned", scratched-to-death pile and still costs 2/3rds of its original price. Plus a lot of PC gear can't be played second-hand anyway (and not because of Steam but because of other DRM) so there is no "cheap" game available in those shops.
I just order a retail box online (rare anyway) or I just buy from Steam or GOG. Stop charging me £60+ for a game that'll last a couple of hours and start stocking things that sell. Steam make a killing by selling things like PopCap games, World of Goo, Altitude, etc. - I never, ever see those in the shops and if I do, it's on a shelf in a big department store, not in the "games" store. You aren't complaining about XBox Live or PSN, so you can't really complain about Steam either. The fact is, though, that anything you do stock in my price range I'm more likely to be buying it online - quicker, cheaper, easier.
Give it up - either charge sensible prices, increase your stock range to appeal to customers or damn well concentrate on games console where you make an absolute FORTUNE.
I don't like Steam, so I've never bought any Steam delivered games.
I rarely, if ever, buy products from companies I dislike.
A couple months ago we heard how game stores were using used games to cut the publishers out of the revenue stream for a game. They were buying back games for $10 and reselling them for $45 and pocketing 100% of the $35.
There was a great brouhaha.
Now the return shot. Game publishers intent to cut game stores out of the first sale AND not publish any physical copies to resale.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
GameStation was bought by GAME a while ago, it's just a sub-brand of the same company now.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
Why do I get the feeling they'll still find a way to somehow blame this on piracy?
Although they are doing it for all the wrong reasons, I applaud any effort to stop this Steam juggernaut from becoming the de facto DRM monopoly and the single point-of-failure for entire game collections. It's just not healthy.
One day Steam will go dark, and then you won't be able to reinstall any of those games.
Footnote: "blah, blah, blah,...but they said they'd release a patch....blah, blah, blah". Please show me the legally binding clause in the Steam TOS that guarantees that.
I have never seen a PC game (outside of Collector's / Special Editions) which costs anywhere near £60. £35 is the current top-end PC game price. You'll pay £45 for a AAA console title at launch, but even CoD:Black Ops is retailing at £34.99 in Game stores on the PC.
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
I don't like Steam for the simple fact that I can never sell my copy of Civ V unless I want to get rid of my entire account. Right now it's not a big issue since Civ V is the only game I own that uses steam. I also don't appreciate the ads that pop up every time I start up a game. I paid $50-$60 for Civ V (way more than it's worth, IMO, not terribly impressed), stop trying to sell me other games on Steam.
Personally, I would like Steam for games that released over a year ago.. get them at a cheaper price and no physical media. Brand new games at full price requiring Steam, hate it. I'm paying for 3rd party to be involved that I want nothing to do with.
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
This is entirely the wrong approach, and an act that demonstrates unwillingness to change, much like what we've seen in certain other parts of the entertainment industry. But seriously, if you owned and operated a shop selling music, would you be scared of iTunes and the likes, your only real choices would be to evolve and give better service than them, or just close up shop, the choice of abolishing internet music isnt really up there on the list of sane choices, atleast it didnt use to be. What if you sold horses when cars first became available, would you try to abolish cars altogether, or perhaps change your business into something that fits the market thats coming? Or what if you suddenly found that you'd been selling fax machines well beyond their obsoletion? Would you rage out and try to abolish the internet, or perhaps just realize that you should try to save the scraps, and turn your shop into selling something that people actually buy? Trying to force the market to do something can be tricky...
They won't be able to buy back used games for $5 and resell them for $40. Good riddance.
At least with the retail box, you have a used-game market.
That no longer true when back list titles go to Steam or Gog.com for sale at $5 to $15.
The sensible thing for the retailer may be to demand added value.
The boxed set on DVD or BLu-Ray that would be a ridiculously expensive and time consuming download.
The Fallout game packaged in an steel ammo box and sold as an Amazon branded limited edition collectible at $129.95.
"In information technology, a backup or the process of backing up refers to making copies of data so that these additional copies may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. "
I don't like Steam because it depends on a central service. I still play dozens of 10+ year old games. Who knows if the Steam servers will still be online ten years from now? Or 15?
Also, it's annoying to have to create a new Steam account for each game, and having to login/logout if I ever want to resell it. And yes, sometimes I do want to resell them.
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they dont force onto you a restricting client, you never have any issues with modding the games or patches, and most of the games are drm free even.
Read radical news here
older games on steam are normally a fraction of the price of used games from a traditional retailer.... I see this weekend steam was having a day of defeat weekend for like $2.45 cents. I don't know how many games I have bought from steam simply because it was 1 am, I was drunk and wanted to shit stuff right then. well, have to stay awake for it to download and all but you see the point. no bullshit macrovision on my pc, no scratched disks, no having to use a disk, no idiot sales clerk who wants to tell me how to play civ! i'm too old and grumpy for that
So as a user, Steam offers some value:
1) You don't have to worry about losing your DVD. Once registered with Steam, the game is on your account and can always be redownloaded. If you lose the DVD, no problem, just download it again (Steam will also allow you to create a new backup DVD, if you wish).
2) For games with an online component that make use of Steam's services properly, Steam can handle aspects of match making, such as allowing you to join a server your friends are playing on. The game has to be designed to use it, of course, but the service is provided. Also in all games it provides IM communication with your friends, that functions as an overlay that does not interfere with the game.
3) Likewise Steam allows for small amounts of data to be saved to the Steam Cloud. Things like save games, keyboard mapping, and so on can be saved meaning that when you go to another computer, that all follows you.
4) Steam provides globally viewable achievements. Maybe you think that is silly, but people love achievements. It provides and easy interface so games can grant them, and people can see and share them. Achievements are a massively popular part of XBL, and Steam is a way to get that on PCs.
Now from the publisher's perspective, Steam provides two benefits:
1) Steam stops used game sales. Once a game is activated with a Steam account it may never be sold or transferred. So buying a game on Steam is forever. Once you enter the code for install, that game is yours now and you cannot sell it. Publishers dislike the used market, of course.
2) Steam, or rather Steamworks, is a free, fairly effective, DRM. Steam allows you to use their DRM at no charge, only requirement being your game must be available through Steam. You can sell it other ways too, you just have to allow them to sell it on Steam. For that you get no cost DRM (most DRM solutions are rather expensive) that does a good job of stopping casual game sharing. A normal user can't just copy a game for a friend, it won't work. The warez groups still crack it, as with any DRM, but it stops the casual stuff just like other DRM and doesn't cost anything to do it. Also because Steamworks is a transparent part of Steam many users do not find it objectionable, since they like Steam.
So there you go. Now please, please don't get all bitchy and whiny and point out that the publisher's stuff isn't a value to you. I know that. Like I said, what the value is depends on who you are talking about. I am showing you why they want Steam, why you might want Steam, and so on. I am not advocating it, I am just showing you the reasons that some players like it, and the reasons some publishers like it.
ok shoot stuff, shit stuff same difference...
I don't see how this is a problem. Neither I nor any of my friends who have ever used Steam have had to manually forward any ports, or do ANY networking work to get it to function. Besides, if you have very strict network configurations you shouldn't bother complaining that you have to manually add in applications because you yourself set it to be that way. Steam even gives you all the information you need to get it set up and working at home ... and if you're talking about a strict company network then why are you playing games at work? ^_^
And with 80% of the market of digital distributions (according to TFA), how are other digital deliverers gaining ground over Steam?
The idiocy in this statement is strong, for reasons that alot of non-UK gamers might not be aware of.
Backstory is that I bought the orange box in april this year (I'm not much of a gamer), so I could give portal a whirl as I'd heard nothing but good news about it, in full knowledge that I'd have to begrudgingly install steam. Ended up loving the whole bundle, and finding that steam was alot less painless than all my other CD/DVD-based games had ever been *.
Most stuff sold via steam in the UK however, is often cheaper at retail, thanks to exchange rates, VAT, and some other things that I don't really understand - so if I'm going to pick up a game that needs steam, I'll almost always check retail before I buy it, as buying the DVD will often save me a few quid and mean I don't have to use bandwidth pulling down the initial 5GB of textures. So don't get me wrong - potentially I'm a strong contender for buying games as retail. But, as other posters have pointed out, the retail sector for games (especially PC games) have been doing plenty to actively keep me away from them.
It's next to impossible for me to pick up PC games at your stores (thanks to being relegated to a couple of shelves, one of which is the PC top 10 and the other one being a bunch of "edutainment" games marketed to parents for kids, or "100 classic card games on one DVD!" bullshit compilations), and despite being an affluent professional in his 30's you seem to train all your staff to think that all their customers are priapic teenagers that are prepared to put up with your short-back-and-smarm "well why don't you pre-order it?!?!?!?!?!?!" fucknozzle attitude if for some inexplicable reason I'm not interested in a wide range of used console beat 'em ups and footie games at the low low price of £5 below what a brand new copy costs. And even if you did have more than three interesting games in the building, how in fucking tardwarks am I meant to browse when I have one of your "can I interest you in our store-encompassing selection of shitty s/h games" mantras engaging in a futile impression to charm me every five minutes? If anything is keeping me away from your stores, it's you. The only place I've ever gotten a halfway decent selection is in the larger outlets of HMV, which are big enough to not give a crap about s/h sales anyway. 99% of the time I just buy the game from amazon, and that's cheaper still than steam or the high street.
So in the immortal words of the heavy: cry some more, little babies! Boycott steam games and you'll just make yourself more irrelevant to people who already detest the way you do business.
On top of that, steam makes a big thing about promoting all kinds of little known/indie games, both by selling them in dirt cheap bundles or by letting people play them for free for a weekend; 95% of my steam purchases so far have been these cool little indie titles, often with quirkily brilliant game mechanics. Something the high street stores do absolutely nothing to promote, therefore helping perpetuate the sausage machine of identikit FPS games. Most of the fun I've had gaming over the last year that wasn't TF2 or portal has been darwinia, defcon, braid and defence grid, none of which I'd have heard about if not for steam promoting them (inoffensively, I might add).
* Yes, I'm aware that it's "for as long as steam keeps working!". I don't pick steam games because they're the best solution, they're just the least worst for those of us that don't like to pick up gloriously non-DRM'd games off P2P. Steam is a system made by a business for gamers, GFWL is made by a business that maybe drove past the iD offices once.
Moderation Total: -1 Troll, +3 Goat
I don't think these retailers have really thought through just why people use steam. I don't use it because I can buy games through it, for me that's just one of the perks. I use it for everything else I can do with it.
- All of my games are in one place
- It keeps track of my stats
- In-game chat and voice that actually works and works well.
- Friends list, ability to see what friends are playing and join them, invite them, whatever.
- Keeps track of my stats and lets me look at others' stats.
- VAC. Anti cheat software that actually works.
All of these things seriously enhance the online play of any game, making it much more appealing to gamers. I think publishers recognize this and will also recognize that if players can't get it from a retail store, they'll just get it from steam. No skin off the publishers back. I prefer to have a hard copy of my games. I like having the case and the little booklet that comes with it and whatever else some like to include but if I walk into a store and they aren't selling steam games, I'll walk right back out and get it online. I think most other steam loving gamers will do the same.
Is it DRM? Sure it is but they aren't using it out of hand. The mod community is alive and well and valve software supports them. Until that stops, I'm not going to complain about their use of DRM. The games that don't allow modding are not actually published by valve and that has nothing to do with steam.
The only con that I can think of is what happens if valve goes belly up and takes steam with it? Suddenly I can't play any of my games that I paid for. I don't think it's likely to happen but it's a concern.
The only thing that might be considered a competitor to steam in these areas is xfire, but the simple fact that I can't click on a players name in the game and see that he's using xfire, add him, look at his stats etc. really hinders it's usability. I know very few people that actually use xfire.
They may indeed have a "special connection" to your ISP, in the form of a mirror within your ISP's (or their upstream provider in the case of smaller ones) own network.
Other distribution services do that too... akamai for example. (Steam may even contract such download services... I never checked who I have actually been downloading from.)
How much of a "used game market" has there EVER really been?
If it was there, I managed to miss it completely for years .... On many occasions, I've tried to resell my used game software I no longer wanted, only to find I couldn't get more than a buck or two per title out of it. When you're only fetching that on a site like eBay, then you're usually better off just keeping the thing than spending the gas money to take the thing to the post office plus the cost of the packing tape and time/effort to box it all up!
I've even tried the strategy of "holding onto a few classics until they're old enough, they might have some special collector value". (I have a copy of Wing Commander III that's all like-new in the original box, to this day.) Nope.... still no takers.
Last winter I was trying to buy the Super Mario Wii game for my nieces, but after waiting in line for like 15 minutes I found out it was sold out even though they had like 50 boxes on the shelf.
Just as I was expressing my frustration at having waited in line expecting them to sell me a game for the box I was holding in my hand a woman came in trying to sell her disc. It didn't have a cover because the dog had eaten it. Not only did Gamestop allow us to do the sale inside their store instead of outside in the icy cold, they also gave me one of their empty boxes off the shelf since they were unable to sell me the game even though I'd waited in line.
It was surely not the kind of thing that corporate would recommend them to do, I'm sure, but it was a great gesture on their part and definitely placated all of my complaint that they would advertise the availability of a game on their shelf when they actually had no copies in stock.
and that is take a risk and inovate they created this wonderfull distribution platform. It's DRM but very mild compared to the BS we have endured over the course of the last 10 years. Here are some facts. Other then the whole price argument which I tend to agree even though i'm not affected by it. One way to look at it is steam is providing a service of convenience so if it's the same price as retail I would say who gives a shit cause i'm a lazy ass and I dont want to drive to the store so what I would save in gas goes to the developer/publisher which I dont care. If the game isn't made by Valve and isn't locked down by the developer you can mod it. There is no way that steam stops you from using mods unless it's their own game which as far as I can recall has full mod support. All this don't support mod BS is from the developers who want to milk us via DLC releases. Why have the community create the mod when they can do it and charge. Steam works offline. You just need to ensure that you dont log out of steam when you exit so that when you log in the next time what happens is it times out and then prompts you to try again or go in offline mode which at that point you have full access to your library. Just need to ensure you have the game you want to play installed first. Re-sell. The fact is they no longer want games to be a product they want it to be a service and this is why it's harder and harder to sell off your copies as it's usualy attached to some account. If you blame steam for not owning your copy and not complaining about every other platform/developer/publisher then your nothign but a hypoctrit. Retail Copies of PC Games - We have all noticed the decline in availability of PC games in store way before steam or other distribution platforms have come out. The retailers are hypocrits. They are crying because all of a sudden there is a surge of quality games coming to the PC and they see $$$$ but they wont get shit cause they can't resell like they do for console but even with console you can see this is going away with consoles being connected to the internet and catching up to the PC in the distribution departed. The way I see it Consoles are 5 years behind in inovation at all times behind the PC. And for those complaining about the DRM and steam disapearing well good news on that front because like all DRM come and gone they have all been hacked/cracked and you can easly find those executables out in the wild. I mean if this is stopping you from accepting change then so be it but personaly no loss to me or the 20 million other steam users out there. Funny considering that blizzard is one of the bigges pc companies out there with steam and they dont complaing yet everyone else does.