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The Age of Steam
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Yet not all developers are rushing to take up the tools. “The problem with Steamworks is that it installs Steam for that particular customer,” argues Introversion’s Morris. “It effectively converts our customer to Valve’s. If we used it in a game and someone bought that from Introversion’s store, it sucks Steam down, which they might not have wanted.
“As great as Steam is, not everyone wants it. We felt that we were already happy with our relationship with Steam, it was attractive to have services like auto-patching and all the rest, but from a strategy point of view, we wanted to maintain our independence.”
While Steamworks is the most direct way that Valve is changing development, it’s not the only one. “The biggest difference is the wet nature of games on Steam,” argues John Cook, a Valve software developer. “Keeping them mouldable and changeable. When you release it, you know you’re going to be able to update it immediately. You’re able to see what players are doing in the game, where they’re dying, so you can go in and fix that. The release point becomes just one part of the schedule. Maybe not even the biggest point.”
Newell agrees. “Steam changes how you manage risk. If you’re going to ship every three years, you become very risk averse. Take multiplayer tuning as an example: you tend not to do things that might be really disruptive to balance, because customers are going to have to live with them for a long time. In Steam world, you can deliberately do something you don’t know the consequences of.
“Take adding invulnerability to the medic in Team Fortress 2: in Steam world, you end up saying: ‘We’re going to just try it. It’s interesting, it’s worth exploring, and if it breaks everything we can undo it’.
“We had some experiences recently with a developer who was using DRM that broke all of their customers. To find that Steam gave them this safety net and four hours later they could fix this problemwas an experience that resonates: ‘This direct connection with our customers is super-powerful. Maybe we should use it for something other than fixing DRM?’”
Valve may be comfortable taking such risks, but many other developers with less of a marketing reach still have to make sure their initial launch goes well. “You’ve still got this one-shot approach,” argues Morris.
“No one’s going to download your demo again, even if you totally change it. What Steam does enable is releasing new content later. We’ve launched in the past without a couple of features, and it was very easy to patch that in. I don’t think we’re going to see radical design attempts with someone then scrubbing it, though. Despite the fact that we can patch stuff, that’s not what we want to do.”
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Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court 30 Monmouth Street Bath, UK BA1 2BW
England and Wales company registration number 2008885
For *new* games in the US, Steam is usually the same price as brick-and-mortar retail but a few dollars more than Amazon. I keep it around just for the sales on older games.
My only issue with Steam is Steamworks. Dawn of War 2 requires you to be a Steam user to do anything. So you'll never see it on another distribution platform because of that.
If we should have learned anything from Microsoft, its that giving one person all the keys is a really bad idea. But other then that, its a good platform these days and its success is good for the industry.
One thing I have always liked about Steam: I have never, ever been unable to download my games onto any pc I wanted. That in and of itself makes it valuable for me...at least until they go out of business.
Brian
www.brianwoods.com
To Wall_E:
I agree with you, but, from what I've heard, it is the publisher who fixes the prices of their products on Steam, not Valve. And, even then, there are Steam discount sales which offering very generous savings - the 'Bioshock' Christmas sale being a notable example.
SwiftRanger:
Yeah, I've heard many people on the forums complaining about the Steam rollout of E:TW. Luckily, I wasn't one of them; although, I feel it's pretty tough on people who bought the game game for a premium price and end up getting a flat-out broken service.
Also, I agree with the worry of Valve establishing a monopoly over online distribution. As a gamer I like to have my games in one place, and I also have a lot of goodwill stored up in Valve. As a consumer I don't believe that any company with that kind of dominant position in a market won't exploit it, just to keep the fanbase happy. Competition keeps companies competitive and sparks innovation: it's almost like a physical law of nature.
If anybody isn't aware, Stardock provides a fairly good distribution service called 'Impulse'. Unfortunately, it lacks the features which make Steam's service seem more like a community than a business model. If other distribution platforms want to compete with Steam, I think they will have to step up their game somewhat.
Who the f**k in their right mind would pay £39.99 for Total War on Steam when the game can be bought for £30, or even order it from some places online for £25.
Madness!!
Madness, this is Sparta!
sorry couldn't resist. :)
"and the service’s opening months were marred by bottlenecks and a frustrating online registration experiment. "
Well, that's still the case even now, both the DoW II and Empire launches didn't go all that smooth to put it lightly.
I like Steam but it's essential it doesn't become a monopoly or that the gaming press doesn't exclusively highlight certain Steam pricedrops and special deals. PC gaming should never rely on one company pulling the strings, like it's the case on consoles.
As much as i like Steam and the content it provides, i can't help but get annoyed at the price tag of some games.
For example:
Fallout 3 £26.99 on Steam - £16.99 for retail version.
Bioshock £13.99 on Steam - £10 for retail version.
Dawn Of War II £34.99 on Steam - £22.99 for retail version.
Empire: Total War £39.99 on Steam - £29.99 for retail version.
This is just a small example (there are loads) when comparing retail and downloadable games.
Considering there are no distribution costs for downloadable games i.e. no disc, no printed manual, no box, and no shelf space fees, these games shouldn't be price so high.
Games just aren't worth £30/40 and asking such high prices for downladable games is laughable considering the no distribution costs.
I for one won't be moved on my maximum £25 per title, therefore i'll go to the place where i can get the title the cheapest.
The future isn't digital downloads if they are priced at these ridiculous numbers
Hrm. Maybe the experience is different in the UK. Here, I first installed Steam when I thought about buying the orange box on special at a local office supply store. When I checked steam, it was cheaper. I ended up buying the valve complete pack.
Similarly, I have picked up things when they've been deeply discounted... like bioshock for $4.95.
Now Steam for us Canadians is in American dollars --- so the actuall price has become more skewed of late, but I still find that releases are cheaper on Steam... even FEAR2 at $49.95 vs. $59.95 (although that's awfully close with the current exchange rate).
There 's a big debate over the price of games within Steam over at the Steam forums (see link below). Most of Europe are at War with Valve over pricing.
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=770231
Maybe the moaning idiots should have kept hold of their own currencies then?
//Sorry, double post.
Definitely agreeable.
And also--Gabe Newell really needs to lose weight.