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Valve Inks Deal With Lionsgate Adding Over 100 Movie Titles To Steam Platform (hothardware.com)
MojoKid quotes a report from HotHardware: Valve took a major step in growing its Steam digital distribution platform today by adding movie rentals to the mix. The addition of movies to Steam's catalog is a first, and it was made possible through a deal with Lionsgate Entertainment that immediately fleshes out the service with more than 100 flicks. Steam is currently the biggest digital distribution platform for games, and while it has a long way to go before it can claim the same for movies, there's little doubt Valve wants to take it there. In a press release announcing the deal, Valve said Lionsgate was "one of the first major studios to license films" for streaming on Steam, which hints that it's attempting to lure other studios as well. You can view the entire catalog here.
That's something i'll sell my sparkly csgo knife for!
Why would I pay $5 for a rental?
If they publish movies, they are now a threat to Comcast and other ISPs television operations. Bandwidth will suddenly be restricted.
but this is a respectfully calculated move by Steam to move where the market is headed.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
So does the 2 hour refund limit still apply? ;)
The catalog includes Pi, the 1st full-length movie of Darren Aronofsky which I would like to recommend to the /. crowd. I still love this movie, even after I watched Tsukamoto's "Tetsuo, the iron man" which inspired Aranofsky a lot.
I wish Valve would ink a fucking deal to make Half-Life 3. I don't need their movies.
You are welcome on my lawn.
It used to be said that all applications expand until they contain an email client...
It seems these days that all applications expand until they form video licensing arrangements with some facet of Hollywood.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I looked and there are 11 movies, all B-movie crap. Have they not launched all 100 titles yet, or is this because I am based outside the US?
I added 1 new movie to my personal library, it is Heidi for my young son. Big news Everyone needs to know!
as in wake me when there is some news.
It seems like a smart move. They've displaced bricks and mortar stores (GameStop, etc.) for game distribution and largely own that space -- this is a way to grow. I'm not sure that I see the same value proposition to go to them for movies, but I'm interested to see what they can bring to the table.
Unless they're planning on renting movies for 50 cents a pop on here, I don't really see what they can bring to the table. You can already stream movies elsewhere for flat subscription fees and they have an integrated UI that works with most smart TVs and playback devices. From the screenshot of this I saw earlier today they want to charge you $4 to rent Kill Bill 2 for 48 hours and you'll have to watch it on a computer unless you've already got a Steam Box, Steam Link, or other PC with Steam installed already hooked to your TV. That's not value for money. The reason Steam is so liked with PC gamers is because of 2 things:
1. Easy game and save management where it didn't exist before, with excellent social/community integration
2. Steam SALES where you get games that are a couple of years old at rock bottom prices.
Neither of these things will apply to movies on Steam from what I see so far, so there's just no benefit to renting one there.
And before you say "Money" let's talk about brand. There was a time that this could have been a thing, like a decade ago, but now there are a zillion services that do it well, have the content, and work everywhere. I get it, the SteamBox didn't pan out, the Vive is a guaranteed dud at $800, and you're desperate to have a service work, but this seems kinda pathetic given how much you COULD be doing with the platform. How about resurrecting the OnLive concept? How about streaming to devices? How about something truly innovative? It just seems like you have...run out of steam.
I only see 10 films (none of which I would watch even if they were free) when I look at the list of Lionsgate stuff on Steam.
No doubt Lionsgate is being its usual stupid self and denying Australians access to most of the films they have added to Steam (if people cant buy the films they want, they will pirate which hurts studio)
The trouble is that Redbox has new releases for $1.50 but has nothing but new releases. Unlike before, the price to rent a movie goes up after it's been out on DVD for a year.
How about resurrecting the OnLive concept?
Sony bought the patents for its PlayStation Now service, and PlayStation competes with Steam.
Not trolling. Honest opinion intended to save hapless Slashdot readers who might otherwise waste time and effort watching Pi, time that could be better spent by, for example, jerking off, sleeping, picking your nose, scratching your ass, or even watching paint dry, all better and more interesting activities than watching Pi.
It is a stupid fucking movie about how the constant Pi (~= 3.14) is magical somehow, and not just the sum of an infinite series, which is what it is.
Underlying concept of the film is complete bullshit. I'm waiting for the sequel, "e" about how God created a special magic number to be the base of the natural logarithm... I'm sure it'll be complete bullshit too.
All I'm saying is, I know opinions vary, but do yourself a GIANT favor, find "Pi" in a library, check it out along with 2 or 3 movies you KNOW are actually good and worth watching, so you won't feel like you wasted the whole trip, and watch it if you like shitty movies.
When you end up hating it passionately about 17 minutes in, (counting the warnings against illegally copying this turd of a film, and previews for better films like "Hot Tub Time Machine," "Poltergeist 3," and "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," (all better than Pi, and I fucking HATED those celluloid abortions,) you won't ALSO have wasted $5 that could go to something infinitely more worthwhile, such as wiping your ass with it, after taking a runny, flaming shit!
Do yourself one more favor, and resist the temptation to rip the DVD out of the player and set it on FIRE, because the library WILL charge you more than $5, and they won't believe your DVD player did it to protect you from watching that godawful film, sacrificing itself heroically, destroying itself AND the DVD of Pi in the process.
Good luck, and happy movieing!
There has never been a single movie on Steam I wanted to watch. Sometimes they pop up in my discovery queue, and they always look like shit. I didn't even realize they were only rentals until I read some of the comments, because I never considered paying for them under any arrangement.
So now as well as having to check for a 'visual novel' tag so I know to avoid it, I also have to check for a 'movie' tag.
I've failed to find the setting to have steam not show me these non-game things.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
Sorry. I couldn't stop myself.
Leprechauns are racists. I don't support racists.
and it works on linux....... oooooooookkkkayyyy good bye netflix & co.
Just browsing.
it shows me 70 Lionsgate films, including Crank and Crank 2!
The pricing is derpy to me.
According to steam, "Watch this 48-hour rental any time in the next 30 days"
For $3.99 I'd rather own the rights to stream it whenever, because no one watches Crank sober (or during daylight hours)
Lionsgate, I know you wanted a new audience, but you gotta admit--some of this stuff is cheesy-camp that people watch when tripping balls.
One of the bad things about Valve "no management" flat structure (there are many) is that projects live and die based on if enough people think they are interesting. There isn't any kind of project management saying "This is something our consumers want, so let's devote time and resources to make it happen," instead it is whatever toys a group of geeks feel like playing with for a time, until they are bored and move elsewhere.
You see it the most in customer service. They have no CS division, since the company doesn't really have divisions due to the "flat" nature so it is something "everyone just works on." Of course CS work sucks so it gets heavily neglected unless people make noise. They have no interesting in doing more or fixing it because it isn't an interesting problem so they play around with other shit instead.
The cost of maintaining a physical store and all the logistics thereof are pretty significant. I mean think of all the overhead: How much actual profit did you turn on that $3 rental? Most of it got eaten by operation costs.
Digital delivery is next to nothing, pennies or less to stream a movie to you. As such it should be cheaper. Same deal why people get mad about e-books costing as much or more than physical books.
Guess Valve is going the way newegg did. Inundated with crap, offering too much to focus and be really good at just one area.
*plays a funeral dirge*
Leprechauns are racists. I don't support racists.
Actually, if they paid you $7.99 to watch it, racists would support you.
How's the weather in Soviet Russia?
Install windows on my workstation? You crazy? Got any idea how much I paid for the damn thing?
Their video player is such crap. Will they replace it, so people will actually want to watch this stuff?
UK I get 11 movies, none of which I've ever heard of.
I really don't understand what's so hard with someone making a movie and then releasing it for sale worldwide, giving local partners the relevant cut as necessary rather than holding it to random in each jurisdiction.
Yea it's just too bad they are 24 hour rentals i.e completely pointless wastes of money.
It'll happen: if Valve can cram a micro transaction into something they will. Next stop: movies.
Want that deleted scene? Rent all the movies in the series and we'll drop a chest. Buy the key and - who knows! - you might just get what you want. Or you might only get a shiny badge to add to your profile.
Spend as much as you please 'cos, fuck knows, GabeN sure does like his pies!