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Polygon: Valve is not your friend, and Steam is not healthy for gaming

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Well this thread sure turned... Marxist.
 
“It's impossible for artists to live on the workshop alone anymore, something which Valve used to repeatedly brag about,” explained one prominent Workshop artist to me in an interview for this piece. Valve has just recently slashed royalties for Dota 2 creators to almost nothing, right on the eve of the next massive International tournament. According to this artist’s estimate, their share has gone down from 25 percent to more like to five percent or seven percent, and communication from Valve has been unclear or flat-out non-existent.

Fucking hell and here I was thinking that the 25% that Valve gave them was already pretty small considering they're doing most of the work creating those items and Valve is just profiting on them. 5-7% is practically nothing considering how much all the hard workers on the Steam workshop add to their games.
 

Durante

Member
I think the main point is that Valve has established an emotional connection because they were the only game in town for the longest time
Maybe this happened for some people, I don't know.

What I do know is that a very central and crucial point is continuously ignored in this thread: that Steam is easily the most feature-rich gaming platform in existence, and that it offers all these features for free to consumers.

Any sort of competition seems to be treated with hostility, good or not.
Now you're making things up. I haven't ever seen anyone treat GoG with hostility around here.

The truth of the matter is, the other alternatives offered up as competition suck.
 
Maybe this happened for some people, I don't know.

What I do know is that a very central and crucial point is continuously ignored in this thread: that Steam is easily the most feature-rich gaming platform in existence, and that it offers all these features for free to consumers.

Now you're making things up. I haven't ever seen anyone treat GoG with hostility around here.

The truth of the matter is, the other alternatives offered up as competition suck.



The real problem isnt that the alternatives sucks. The problem is they're clamored as good competition with shitty lame moves. When someone claims "Yay ! Exclusive game to a store ! Great for competition" I just read "Yay ! It's offered in only one place with no mean to get better prices".

I dont have a particular attachement for Steam itself save for my library. But I have an attachement for all these features that benefits me as a user. When I'm pissed off to lose my steam controller configuration for my 360 pad, this isnt a not sane, fanboy reaction. It's a sane, consumer reaction. When I cant use BPM, Workshop, Family Sharing or adding games that arent sold on the service, it's a logical reaction to be pissed off.

I wouldnt care about these exclusivity if other publishers made their service up to the game, which wouldnt make me feel going back to 2010 when I want to launch their game.
 
The real problem isnt that the alternatives sucks. The problem is they're clamored as good competition with shitty lame moves. When someone claims "Yay ! Exclusive game to a store ! Great for competition" I just read "Yay ! It's offered in only one place with no mean to get better prices".

I dont have a particular attachement for Steam itself save for my library. But I have an attachement for all these features that benefits me as a user. When I'm pissed off to lose my steam controller configuration for my 360 pad, this isnt a not sane, fanboy reaction. It's a sane, consumer reaction. When I cant use BPM, Workshop, Family Sharing or adding games that arent sold on the service, it's a logical reaction to be pissed off.

I wouldnt care about these exclusivity if other publishers made their service up to the game, which wouldnt make me feel going back to 2010 when I want to launch their game.

This I agree with. The only one I feel is really trying to compete with Steam is GOG Galaxy with their client adding community features.

It's nice to see when one of these ticks to "in progress"

https://www.gog.com/wishlist/galaxy

The other alternatives are not trying to compete as a storefront. Origin, Uplay, and Blizzard launcher are there for their games with Blizzard launcher now seeming to start incorporating Activision games. Yet for Origin, Blizzard, and Windows Store their method of competing with Steam is not improving their services, but to just make their games exclusive to their store. It's console-izing the PC software market. It's nice to have alternatives but it isn't an incentive for Steam to improve its services because if they improve their services those games wouldn't show up on their store regardless. While I use those other clients, they to me come off not as a way for them to be an alternative store that's easily accessible to other game developers, but as a way to sidestep any store vendor fees and to promote their own game titles without having other titles competing for store advertisement space. I don't knock them for doing so, but I don't consider them to be putting much effort in trying to compete in the general game store space.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Yet for Origin, Blizzard, and Windows Store their method of competing with Steam is not improving their services, but to just make their games exclusive to their store. It's console-izing the PC software market.

Yup. I stay on PC to avoid this exclusivity nonsense.
 

prag16

Banned
Maybe this happened for some people, I don't know.

What I do know is that a very central and crucial point is continuously ignored in this thread: that Steam is easily the most feature-rich gaming platform in existence, and that it offers all these features for free to consumers.

Now you're making things up. I haven't ever seen anyone treat GoG with hostility around here.

The truth of the matter is, the other alternatives offered up as competition suck.
Well what's your response to this, from the other thread. This seems perfectly legitimate. There's more to it than "steam is great, everybody else sucks."

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DAI1nknXkAAfX3p.jpg:large
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
This I agree with. The only one I feel is really trying to compete with Steam is GOG Galaxy with their client adding community features.

It's nice to see when one of these ticks to "in progress"

https://www.gog.com/wishlist/galaxy

The other alternatives are not trying to compete as a storefront. Origin, Uplay, and Blizzard launcher are there for their games with Blizzard launcher now seeming to start incorporating Activision games. Yet for Origin, Blizzard, and Windows Store their method of competing with Steam is not improving their services, but to just make their games exclusive to their store. It's console-izing the PC software market. It's nice to have alternatives but it isn't an incentive for Steam to improve its services because if they improve their services those games wouldn't show up on their store regardless. While I use those other clients, they to me come off not as a way for them to be an alternative store that's easily accessible to other game developers, but as a way to sidestep any store vendor fees and to promote their own game titles without having other titles competing for store advertisement space. I don't knock them for doing so, but I don't consider them to be putting much effort in trying to compete in the general game store space.
EA was the first to offer refunds though. Valve just had to be dragged along, until they just decided automated refunds was better than having two guys at Valve manually approve every request.
 

Durante

Member
Well what's your response to this, from the other thread. This seems perfectly legitimate. There's more to it than "steam is great, everybody else sucks."

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DAI1nknXkAAfX3p.jpg:large
Erm, nothing there (not that I agree with most of it, but even if we were to take it as fact) tells me why as a consumer I should prefer some other, inferior, system over Steam.

If you re-read my posts you will note that they are about Steam's feature set for me as a gamer.
Which is unmatched on any other platform. And free.
 
Well what's your response to this, from the other thread. This seems perfectly legitimate. There's more to it than "steam is great, everybody else sucks."

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DAI1nknXkAAfX3p.jpg:large

Point 3 is dubious, especially compared to Xbox Live and PSN. The only real major omission from Steam's social toolkit is the ability to create parties for matchmaking purposes (which means that any parties has to be made in-game). That said, the number of games that effects is fairly small.

That said, there is a very good reason why the 30% cut is listed twice: it's by far the largest reason why companies such as EA, Ubisoft, Bethesda and Activision Blizzard make games exclusive to their own platforms: they then no longer have to pay any cut to any store.
 
The amount of upfront Valve/Steam defense going on without even reading the piece is making the point clear already, Christ.

.

Without Valve, I wouldn't sell. At all. But Valve is just a company, like any other. I know a lot of great people at Valve. But a company is just a building, just a concept. A company is an object.

lol
If Valve was a public company, they will hire people and then sack them off later to give the illusions of growth. Public companies cheats all the fucking time and the investors can act like a cartel that holds the company at gunpoint to prioritize their own money at the cost of everything.

A cartel.

A fucking cartel.

Guys. Come on.

Valve has offered nothing to the PC community except maybe?

Steam controller
Vr integration
Big picture mode
Broadcasting/streaming
Friend and family libary sharing
Uncensored customer reviews
Heavy discounts
Japanese games
Customisable controller (ps4,Xbox,switch pro)
Cards that can be redeemed for money
Game gifting
Automatic patching
Huge libary of amazing games


All they do is take take and take.

1) Okay, but that's just a controller. It's not unique.
2) Not unique.
3) Given.
4) Twitch and YouTube existed before Valve did this.
5) A good idea but incredibly broken.
6) Which cause more harm than good to a developers sales.
7) So does Amazon. Valve does not set discounts. Developers do.
8) You've heard of imports, right?
9) I don't see how that's unique.
10) Soon to be negated unless you "sell well".
11) Given.
12) Given.
13) Valve did not invent video games.

It really, really pains me that some people actually think Valve invented half the shit you just mentioned.

They don't have shareholders to please which makes it way worse. Valve are just awful for no reason.

Valve's tragic flaw seems to be their lack of structure when it comes to resource management.

The beauty of Steam is that they give game publishers and developers the ability to generate keys, so you don't need to buy expensive games from the Steam Store itself. There are cheaper ways.

I love that I always have a digital download copy of a game no matter where I buy it from, even if it's retail. I wish it was like that on consoles as well.

This screws over the developer, actually. Valve can't shut down these sites, but they can de-centivize the fuck out of developers using them, such as dropping reviews from these sites from the algortihm when searching for well reviewed games.
 
Steam is easily the most feature-rich gaming platform in existence, and that it offers all these features for free to consumers.

You can certainly create a free account on Steam but let's not pretend that it's all a nonprofit charitable organization.

Or that they are beyond criticism.
 
EA was the first to offer refunds though. Valve just had to be dragged along, until they just decided automated refunds was better than having two guys at Valve manually approve every request.

It's great that EA offered refunds. That is their plus over Valve. They have significantly better customer service. The refunds on Steam though were not in reaction to Origin, they were dragged to improve their services by courts. Origin getting a better feature is poor incentive to Valve and Steam because Steam isn't competing for Battlefield, Battlefront, or Mass Effect sales. Those are EA Origin or no where. If you want to play those games you have one store to buy from. Blizzard and Activision already are stringent in lowering prices of their games years after release. Exclusive to their store won't improve that even if they're saving 30% in vendor fees. Since the refunds the only notable changes I remember for Origin was an updated interface and I think it got some easy to use stream to Twitch integration though I don't it anymore so maybe it was removed.

Blizzard, EA, Activision, Ubisoft, and Microsoft have nickle and dimed for years and even in presence of superior competition in Steam have made little progress in being more competitive in features or in courting other developers. I don't have hopes or expectations that they will do so especially when Blizzard and Origin have proved that they can have good to great sales without competing with Valve in features and services. As a consumer I want the best experience and others are proving they're not interested in providing it as long as their games sell well enough so I'll continue to prefer Steam or GOG when possible.
 

Durante

Member
1) Okay, but that's just a controller. It's not unique.
That's bullshit, frankly. It's a controller which makes it viable to comfortably play games like Civilization or Baldur's Gate. It's very unique.

10) I don't see how that's unique.
The configurability Valve implemented for the Steam controller and subsequently extended to arbitrary controllers is completely unprecedented, doubly so for an official platform feature. But even comparing to third-party solutions it goes an extra mile.

And like many Steam features, it's about adding value and options to your existing library of games and to your existing hardware. Which, to me, is something fundamentally missing on other platforms. (And sometimes even actively worked against, see e.g. Sony preventing people from using their old wheels)

You can certainly create a free account on Steam but let's not pretend that it's all a nonprofit charitable organization.

Or that they are beyond criticism.
Good thing I did neither of those then!
 
It's more on eating the cake you bought. If you plan on boycotting a company for x actions which other companies do anyway, you should boycott them all. Basically proving your moral high ground being an actual high ground.

If your goal is to have a company refrain from doing some practice, there is no law forcing you to boycott every company that does something wrong. Of course, if your goal is to have the higher moral ground, then in my book you lose by default.

I think the sensible posters here know the nuances and grey area.

With "every company is out to screw you as much as possible" posted in this thread, I feel justified in calling into question some people' grasp of grey areas.

Boycotting Valve because they didn't want to offer refunds (for example), but still investing in platforms that don't offer refunds such as the PS4 is indeed hypocritical.

Absolutely no argument there. I was referring to stuff like boycotting Valve for allegedly mistreating their employees, without performing exhaustive research into whether other companies that make products you use mistreat their employees or not.
 

aliengmr

Member
Thank goodness Polygon is here to tell me Valve is not my friend but a for-profit corporation. Whew.

Not like I haven't been reminded of that fact from literally day one.
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
Honestly, I'm definitely fine with Steam because I give them money and they give me games that I want to buy (I love Ys:Origin), no need to get in detail about it.

However, what I despise is the corporate fanboyism that promotes Steam is God and will save the future of gaming and how every games should come to Steam (way too many port begging for PC).

So I guess my problem is not Steam but rather the hardcore fans?
 

Anno

Member
Honestly, I'm definitely fine with Steam because I give them money and they give me games that I want to buy (I love Ys:Origin), no need to get in detail about it.

However, what I despise is the corporate fanboyism that promotes Steam is God and will save the future of gaming and how every games should come to Steam (way too many port begging for PC).

So I guess my problem is not Steam but rather the hardcore fans?

Hardcore fanboys of every platform are annoying, sure. That said Steam offers so many more features than their competition that it makes sense for people to want their games on that service. For all the "Valve needs competition in order to get better," that's said around here there's sure no one else doing what they do to offer me more features for my games.
 

prag16

Banned
Hardcore fanboys of every platform are annoying, sure. That said Steam offers so many more features than their competition that it makes sense for people to want their games on that service. For all the "Valve needs competition in order to get better," that's said around here there's sure no one else doing what they do to offer me more features for my games.

The advantages Steam has over say battle.net or Origin (respective libraries aside) are grossly overstated imo.
 
The advantages Steam has over say battle.net or Origin (respective libraries aside) are grossly overstated imo.



Universal controller support and customisation, adding non-steam games, Big Picture Mode, Family Sharing, refunds and Workshop are NOT overstated.



Honestly, I'm definitely fine with Steam because I give them money and they give me games that I want to buy (I love Ys:Origin), no need to get in detail about it.

However, what I despise is the corporate fanboyism that promotes Steam is God and will save the future of gaming and how every games should come to Steam (way too many port begging for PC).

So I guess my problem is not Steam but rather the hardcore fans?


Yeah, PC port beggars, I know I know. It only exists here. :")
Usually, that also comes from people who are insecure about the loss of "their" games.
 
Honestly, I'm definitely fine with Steam because I give them money and they give me games that I want to buy (I love Ys:Origin), no need to get in detail about it.

However, what I despise is the corporate fanboyism that promotes Steam is God and will save the future of gaming and how every games should come to Steam (way too many port begging for PC).

So I guess my problem is not Steam but rather the hardcore fans?

Yeah, this is my 'issue' with Steam. I really, really dislike the corporate fanboys that think Steam and Gabe are some god. It's honestly very disturbing seeing people parade a company so high.
 

patapuf

Member
EA was the first to offer refunds though. Valve just had to be dragged along, until they just decided automated refunds was better than having two guys at Valve manually approve every request.

And now it's the only platform where you can refund all games and DLC no questions asked.

You can only refund EA games on origin.

Like, refunds only seem important to people when it concerns Valve. It's really important for everyone to point out that they did it reluctantly - and yet no one has matched them yet.
 
Yeah, this is my 'issue' with Steam. I really, really dislike the corporate fanboys that think Steam and Gabe are some god. It's honestly very disturbing seeing people parade a company so high.



It's funny yet that we dont get articles about all these Kaz meme, Yoshida meme, Iwata/Kimishima meme or Spencer meme.

Truth is, corporate fanboyism definitely isnt exclusive to Steam or PC. It sucks, but it's not what defines that platform. But people just conveniently brush that away.
 

Spladam

Member
I love Steam and GOG, but I'm kind of pissed at Valve for killing Half Life 3, and I'm not that impressed by Gabe.

But like Durante says, Steam is feature rich, and free. I've made some good friends through that platform, and have shared some awesome gaming experiences with them. None of my inner circle of friends are PC gamers, and Steam has stepped in to fill that that discrepancy.

Plus Steam has given me access to way more games than I had access to back in the box store days.
 

deleted

Member
The only thing that is a REAL dent in Valve's crown for me is the Workshop margin for the item producers.

I see no valid reason to cut down the margins from 25 to 5%.
Especially not for a company that is more or less swimming in money and not publically listed. Why would they cut out their community like that? From TF2 to Dota and in parts CS, they are the biggest content producers they have atm and they go out of their way to make it harder for them to produce things for Valve? Not understandable for me. Not at all.
 

Bluth54

Member
The only thing that is a REAL dent in Valve's crown for me is the Workshop margin for the item producers.

I see no valid reason to cut down the margins from 25 to 5%.
Especially not for a company that is more or less swimming in money and not publically listed. Why would they cut out their community like that? From TF2 to Dota and in parts CS, they are the biggest content producers they have atm and they go out of their way to make it harder for them to produce things for Valve? Not understandable for me. Not at all.

Yeah I do find decreasing the revenue for item creators to be pretty troublesome and I would really like to see Valve address the issue.

Of Valve's 3 games I only play TF2 and I would like to see Valve do 3 things. First is increase the revenue that item creators make on event keys (from what I understand it's usually under 10%, increase it to at least 15-20%). Add a 1% item creator's fee for any community made items sold on the community market. Finally eventually put older items on the Mann Co store again (maybe 6 months to a year after the crate comes out).
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
Yeah, PC port beggars, I know I know. It only exists here. :")
Usually, that also comes from people who are insecure about the loss of "their" games.

Imagine if Undertale came to consoles.

Not gonna buy it though. I have it on Steam.

Yeah, this is my 'issue' with Steam. I really, really dislike the corporate fanboys that think Steam and Gabe are some god. It's honestly very disturbing seeing people parade a company so high.

Well truth be told, what he did (Steam) was very revolutionary so I definitely give him props to that. But worshiping him like Jesus like how others worship Sony or Nintendo is another thing.

Honestly, I can deal with game franchise fanboys rather than console fanboys.
 

deleted

Member
Yeah I do find decreasing the revenue for item creators to be pretty troublesome and I would really like to see Valve address the issue.

Of Valve's 3 games I only play TF2 and I would like to see Valve do 3 things. First is increase the revenue that item creators make on event keys (from what I understand it's usually under 10%, increase it to at least 15-20%). Add a 1% item creator's fee for any community made items sold on the community market. Finally eventually put older items on the Mann Co store again (maybe 6 months to a year after the crate comes out).

I would love if they addressed that, but I guess it's a way too obscure thing, that affects too few people. Valve always had trouble to communicate to the community - and to get them to release a statement or course correction on this issue will be legit work from the community.

Best bet will most likely be another Gabe AMA on reddit.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
That's because Marx is the best. The chapter in Das Kapital that deals with PC gaming was probably the highlight of that classic work.

I want Machiavelli's take on pc gaming. Is he gonna be super satirical or will he be playing tsundere?

If your goal is to have a company refrain from doing some practice, there is no law forcing you to boycott every company that does something wrong. Of course, if your goal is to have the higher moral ground, then in my book you lose by default.

The guy who initiated that claim of boycotting feels more like he is going for moral high ground than actually refraining practice, especially when he had a focused "error" (i.e. refunds).

With "every company is out to screw you as much as possible" posted in this thread, I feel justified in calling into question some people' grasp of grey areas.

I agree. Honestly most of the time people here know that business is business and it's more about the consumer being less screwed, but fanboys* will be fanboys.

*I tend to lump "anti-fanboys" as fanboys since most of the time they tend to be fanboys too whether they don't think so.
 
Imagine if Undertale came to consoles.

Not gonna buy it though. I have it on Steam.

Well truth be told, what he did (Steam) was very revolutionary so I definitely give him props to that. But worshiping him like Jesus like how others worship Sony or Nintendo is another thing.

Honestly, I can deal with game franchise fanboys rather than console fanboys.


What if Undertale came to consoles ? Maybe some idiots would be upset. I'd be happy as far as I'm concerned. More people to enjoy more good games. Heck, I don't see what's bad with people who want more games on their platforms. Port begging is bad when it's to derail a thread that has nothing to do with the subject. On the other hand, some people are annoyed by it because the very idea to lose an exclusive is hurting them.

The thing is, the "I cant stand that platform because of its fanboys" is fuckin ridiculous considering you have fanboys, in equal numbers, for every platforms.
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
The thing is, the "I cant stand that platform because of its fanboys" is fuckin ridiculous considering you have fanboys, in equal numbers, for every platforms.

It's only ridiculous if they shove their opinions to you or say something like "you suck and mine is better" kinda thing.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
What if Undertale came to consoles ?

I'd be pretty mad. I mean, I didn't build my $3000 PC and buy $500 worth of hats every year just to lose must-play exclusives like Undertale to consolites.
 
It's only ridiculous if they shove their opinions to you or say something like "you suck and mine is better" kinda thing.


So... like every platform fanboys ?
Or are you trying to make a narrative when it's only a PC/Steam thing ? Because, bad news for you, it's a 25 years old thing that goes back to Nintendo/SEGA.
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
So... like every platform fanboys ?
Or are you trying to make a narrative when it's only a PC/Steam thing ? Because, bad news for you, it's a 25 years old thing that goes back to Nintendo/SEGA.

It applies to all.

I don't why but why are you acting like a victim? :p
 
It applies to all.

I don't why but why are you acting like a victim? :p


I'm not acting like a victim, I'm answering to your points, which goes back to the "I cant stand Steam because of the fanboys which often are PC port beggars" to which I reply with the following point: "It's silly to base your thinking on a fanboy base because everything has fanboys". Whenever it is a platform or even a game serie, popular things have a fanboy base too.
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
I'm not acting like a victim, I'm answering to your points, which goes back to the "I cant stand Steam because of the fanboys which often are PC port beggars" to which I reply with the following point: "It's silly to base your thinking on a fanboy base because everything has fanboys". Whenever it is a platform or even a game serie, popular things have a fanboy base too.

Honestly, I'm sorry to go off topic, but why are you coming off as incredibly defensive? It sounds like "oh! console fanboys are also like that!" or something.

I don't like platform fanboys whenever they advocate and shove their opinions on you. Period. Is that hard to grasp?
 
Honestly, I'm sorry to go off topic, but why are you coming off as incredibly defensive? It sounds like "oh! console fanboys are also like that!" or something.

I don't like platform fanboys whenever they advocate and shove their opinions on you. Period. Is that hard to grasp?


Sorry if I sound defensive, that's not the point I'm trying to convey. But my point is that, then again, it's not something exclusive to a platform. Hence why I never accept the "I can't stand something BECAUSE of it's fans" argument. But then again, it's not a "oh! console fanboys are also like that!", it is, as a point cited in the article, that companies with a "face" and a userbase all suffer from the same stigma of a fanboy base which:
-Defend said company.
-Worship the CEO/face of the company.

Keep in mind it's not only an answer to you, but also on topic as a reaction to the article itself. For every Gabe Newell, you have Iwata, Kaz, Kimishima, Spencer heck, even Steve Jobs.

And also, the port begging point, which sounded like "way too many pc port begging" as in "port begging mainly comes off as a PC one".
 
The one thing I strongly dislike about Steam is that it does a terrible job at showing you information about the games you own. Sometimes I'd be browsing my library, I click on the button to see more details, and it takes me to a screen that tells me:
  • How long I've played it
  • Which of my friends own it
  • My achievements
  • Updates the game had
With the exception which of my friends own it, all the other info is utterly useless to me if I haven't played it yet. Nowhere on that page is a description of what that game is about, there are no screenshots, no genre listing or tags, no feature list, etc. Valve has all this information in their store page, but apparently you don't need to know this any more once you already own it. My library is full of games I've never heard of, or barely know anything about. I've bought plenty of bundles in the past, bought things on the recommendation of others, or got gifted. Basically games I know little about, and probably will know less about the more time passes. I'm going to be less likely to check 'em out if I can't see what they're like when I'm flipping through my catalogue.

I wish the interface would just show me this basic storefront information.
 

Bluth54

Member
The one thing I strongly dislike about Steam is that it does a terrible job at showing you information about the games you own. Sometimes I'd be browsing my library, I click on the button to see more details, and it takes me to a screen that tells me:
  • How long I've played it
  • Which of my friends own it
  • My achievements
  • Updates the game had
With the exception which of my friends own it, all the other info is utterly useless to me if I haven't played it yet. Nowhere on that page is a description of what that game is about, there are no screenshots, no genre listing or tags, no feature list, etc. Valve has all this information in their store page, but apparently you don't need to know this any more once you already own it. My library is full of games I've never heard of, or barely know anything about. I've bought plenty of bundles in the past, bought things on the recommendation of others, or got gifted. Basically games I know little about, and probably will know less about the more time passes. I'm going to be less likely to check 'em out if I can't see what they're like when I'm flipping through my catalogue.

I wish the interface would just show me this basic storefront information.

Every game has a link to the store page on the list of links on the right.
 

dsk1210

Member
Honestly, I'm sorry to go off topic, but why are you coming off as incredibly defensive? It sounds like "oh! console fanboys are also like that!" or something.

I don't like platform fanboys whenever they advocate and shove their opinions on you. Period. Is that hard to grasp?

He is not being defensive, he is making a perfectly valid point in response to your grievances.

There is people who defend a brand through nothing more than a misplaced loyalty, I remember people arguing over the Spectrum, Commodore and Amstrad, nothing has changed.

Steam for is awesome for PC in what it offers ME, I have every console and use them as well and believe I can offer a unbiased view as a user of all platforms.

I honestly could not give a shit about all these workshop purchases that the articles main point of grievance seems to be, I don't purchase any of that stuff, it's useless fluff to me.
 
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