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The Age of Steam
Morris also challenges another established idea about Steam – that it radically alters the sales lifespan of a game, creating the fabled long tail. “I’d estimate you still get 50 or 60 per cent of your sales in launch month, and then maybe 20 in month two, and then the rest of them selling over an incredible length of time.”
“A game does well on Steam when they’re pushing it, and the pop-ups occur. But Valve can’t deliver that in perpetuity. In the old days, simply being on Steam was enough to ensure being bought. But now, and I don’t know about anyone else, there’s a massive correlation between when we’re on a pop-up and sales are good, and when we’re not, and sales aren’t so good.”
“Valve are great people to work with, but as time goes on, the bigger publishers will start to negotiate promotions more, and it will become harder to be noticed as the platform gets more crowded. And Valve releases games, too. If we were launching at the same time as Left 4 Dead, we’d obviously expect far less marketing support. They’re good guys, but Left 4 Dead’s their baby.”
As massive as its effects on game design and the marketplace may turn out to be, Steam has lead to real changes within Valve itself – not least in blurring the line between development and publishing. “We’ve felt around the office most people have lost the ability to have tags that describe what they do here, and I think the company in a similar way has lost the ability to be shoehorned,” muses Lombardi.
“Studio-wise we still do a lot of creative stuff. Are we distributing games electronically and providing middleware tools? Yes. What do you call a company that does all that stuff? And having a delivery platform in the digital space, given what’s happened to the PC market in the retail space, is crucial to us.”
It’s certainly made the developer more confident about its own publishing, as seen with Left 4 Dead, where it partnered with EA, but only for distribution of boxed iterations.
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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.