pants
Member
Came here to post something like this.
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Polygon: Valve is not your friend, and Steam is not healthy for gaming
- Thread starter Guess Who
- Start date
Came here to post something like this.
You do realize that Valve lets developers and publishers make unlimited Steam keys for sale off of Steam for free right? If Valve really wanted to stop off Steam sales of games they would either stop allowing key generation or start charging for it.
Refunds isn't a way to stop stores like Humble from selling Steam keys.
mindatlarge
Member
Steam isn't perfect but it's hard to argue it isn't a good platform for PC gamers in general with things like Steam sales saving people tons of money quite regularly.
I can't speak to the content creator side though, if they are getting a raw deal, that does suck.
I can't speak to the content creator side though, if they are getting a raw deal, that does suck.
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
Ubisoft and EA are not failing. Microsoft at this point is doing their own thing. Hell, all these companies are doing their own thing. The PC market is too big for anyone to bow out.
Katcrawler
Banned
This article is pure trash. No shit Steam is not my friend nor do i want Steam to be my friend. Steam is their to make it easy as can be to purchase most of my games in one place, have easy access to them among other things. I will say this, i would consider Steam my friend if compared to EA and Origin. Steam is not perfect, nor is Valve but Valve more or less is the reason PC gaming has had a renaissance and unless Gabe comes out as the next Hitler or some such i will show some loyalty.
michaelius
Banned
Sounds like Polygon
It only lacks mention how Windows store will save us from this tyrany but I guess it's not Gies article.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
I'm just waiting for someone saying here that SteamGAF are fanboys etc. even though like we share stuff outside of Steam.
Ehh have you heard of this little OS called Windows?
I'm sure they will be trumped by a small upstart any day now.
SenjutsuSage
Banned
Think article makes some pretty valid points. Still think it's good for PC gaming, without a doubt, but they definitely make some valid arguments, especially pertaining to the attitude towards other storefronts doing things that aren't much different from what Steam has done in its own way for years, but when another does it it's because they're greedy and trying to nickle and dime gamers.
The fact people truly think ea, Ubisoft, or Microsoft are actually worse for pc gaming completely missed the boat. Valve has arguably been operating with completely illegal user agreements fighting governments over the profiteering of selling games.
People only believe this because good guy valve. Valve has been doing things far worse than any of those aforementioned companies have ever done, and they are doing it directly to consumers and getting away with it.
People only believe this because good guy valve. Valve has been doing things far worse than any of those aforementioned companies have ever done, and they are doing it directly to consumers and getting away with it.
Find me a better alternative than Valve then?
Origin? Please don't make me laugh.
GOG? That is for old games only.
Polygon is clickbait trash.
When companies like EA, Hellogames and Activison exist, one shouldn't rag on Valve. At least they don't lie about features in their game, buy other companies and then destroy them. Also not healthy for gaming? Is this a joke. The only reason PC gaming is now big as it is is because of Steam. I think that is healthy. Why do people willingly read this rag site's articles. Polygon can't even play video game games right. see Doom.
Origin? Please don't make me laugh.
GOG? That is for old games only.
Polygon is clickbait trash.
When companies like EA, Hellogames and Activison exist, one shouldn't rag on Valve. At least they don't lie about features in their game, buy other companies and then destroy them. Also not healthy for gaming? Is this a joke. The only reason PC gaming is now big as it is is because of Steam. I think that is healthy. Why do people willingly read this rag site's articles. Polygon can't even play video game games right. see Doom.
Sad Affleck
Member
There doesn't need to be a sentimental aspect to it. Valve offers a good service, better than its competitors, and it gets my business as a result. Every other client is worse in almost every way: Usability, features, additional services, game selection. Nobody else comes close.
Discotheque
Banned
I wish GOG was the premier store, but its understandable that a lot of big publishers are scared of the lack of drm they promote.
It comes down to this. Are there other cloud/email/search services I can use aside from Google? Sure. Do I really benefit from switching? No. And Google gets the same criticism for being a monopoly etc. etc., we've seen this song and dance tons of times.
If I can stomach putting all of my sensitive personal details at the mercy of Google, whose track record hasn't been stellar as of late, the vague, improbable threat of Gabe pulling the plug on all my video games doesn't even register.
I'm reminded of the recent mobile service provider strategy of literally paying you to switch to their line. This is, my distrust of telecom companies aside, at least a good gesture and a convincing effort. What does EA do to get you to use Origin? They force Origin-exclusiveness, or what about Ubisoft, with requiring U-play even if you run Child of Light from Steam?
I'm not going to switch DD services when these companies go out of their way to fuck with me because I use their competitors' services.
Ritzboof
Member
i feel like "steam is not healthy for gaming" is a really bad way of looking at it. i, the player, have never really had any issue with steam. on the contrary, steam is a hugely influential platform thats revolutionizes PC gaming and immortalizes countless amazing games for us
admittedly, i havent read the article. im too tired. from what i can gather, though, this is more about developers and creators getting treated faily from a business/financial standpoint. i agree that thats very important. i wish steam could just be a haven for amazing devs and amazing games/content
admittedly, i havent read the article. im too tired. from what i can gather, though, this is more about developers and creators getting treated faily from a business/financial standpoint. i agree that thats very important. i wish steam could just be a haven for amazing devs and amazing games/content
I know this is sarcasm but that's essentially what they did unless you wanted to pass on the biggest game of the year and for some the decade.
CecilRousso
Member
That was one shitty article, it's really hard to know where to start picking it apart.
But if the author really is mystified about how people can feel positive against Valve and Steam, he should have a look at two things:
1. Was PC gaming really in a good spot when Steam really started to take off?
2. Is it possible that customers can be more positive to a platform with DRM management, when the platform holder compensates the need for games to be run through a client (which isn't even mandatory for developers to implement), with functionality customers actually want?
Steam is far far from perfect, but it's a difference between having rough edges like Steam have, and being a complete turd like this article is.
But if the author really is mystified about how people can feel positive against Valve and Steam, he should have a look at two things:
1. Was PC gaming really in a good spot when Steam really started to take off?
2. Is it possible that customers can be more positive to a platform with DRM management, when the platform holder compensates the need for games to be run through a client (which isn't even mandatory for developers to implement), with functionality customers actually want?
Steam is far far from perfect, but it's a difference between having rough edges like Steam have, and being a complete turd like this article is.
KingGreasy
Member
I'm really missing what Valve is doing that is so terrible to the consumer and how they've done so much worst things than at least Microsoft, the company of embrace, extend, extinguish as well as the constant threats of Linux patent litigation, the company that tried to charge to play online, the company that made the X button that people expect to close a Window actually be the button to accept and upgrade to Windows 10, red ring of death. Ubisoft the pioneers of online always single player games and games for years consistently releasing their games months after consoles. EA the company where studios go to eventually die. Nintendo where I can't get refunds for digital purchases and have an online system that just barely reached somewhere between the original Xbox and the Xbox 360 in functionality. Sony has their wonderful history of the PC rootkit and SecuRom. Also the place to get your account locked when someones uses your card fraudulently.
I don't love Valve nor do I love any particular company, but the crap they get around here does not match the experience of the general PC gamer I've met. Skimming through your post history almost all of your post are in Nintendo related threads. If you play PC games, I'd think it's only rarely and I would also think you have very little knowledge of what the experience of gaming on a PC and using the various store services is like and I don't know why you're speaking with so much authority without providing any argument for how Valve has been doing things so terrible to the consumer compared to those you listed.
Whatever these major problems people have with Steam, they seem more to be problems for the developer community, not the consumers. The consumers are fine. They're desire is to consume and they're not having any issues doing so. I think this site is so frequented with industry workers, former industry workers, aspiring industry workers, and lifelong/long-term console gamers that there's some huge disconnect between the narrative that runs in this forum and the general gaming public. This is about the only site where I see Xbox Play Anywhere touted as some special feature when for years buying a game off Steam on Windows, Linux, or Mac; and that game was offered on any combination of those platforms, you could play it on those other platforms as well and it's not even something that gets touted as a major feature. Windows is, at the moment, an open software platform. EA, Ubisoft, and Microsoft can all compete in their storefront services yet they all fail to even come to parity with Steam.
Possumowner
Member
I'm gonna need a pie chart from Polygon to back up there arguments, otherwise me and Steam will continue going steady
Auto-Reply
Member
If it wasn't for Steam I wouldn't even be playing games on pc.
"Not my friend?" lol, of course not, more like the machine that is keeping the entire thing alive in the first place, at least to me!
"Not my friend?" lol, of course not, more like the machine that is keeping the entire thing alive in the first place, at least to me!
The problem I have with a google comparison is that the company was built as a search engine, right? Valve was built as a video game maker. Except today, they don't really even make games anymore. They profit off of everyone else making shit. Valve = Steam, and they got people to buy into steam because of the high quality games Vavle made. But now today, they don't really even make those games anymore. This is akin to google doing their business stuff, ads, servers, YouTube - but abandoning search.
And the reason they stopped making games is because steam itself is so profitable they don't have too. This is where I lost respect for the reputation of good guy valve. They make piss loads of money, but don't care about making great games anymore. It's all about profiting as much as humanly possible off of everyone else's work. All because they provide a service. Of course origin and other alternatives can't compete. That's the definition of a monopoly. Origin was doing a lot of things better than steam years back. But steam already had the customer base and all of the games. And no service that tries to compete is going to be able to as long as steam has such an iron grip on it. Completion breeds superior products.
But nothing is competing with steam to
Make it be a better version of itself. It only does "good things" when they are legally forced too.
Microsoft is probably the only one that could put a huge dent into steam some day if they want since most steam users are windows users, and if Microsoft starts to force their ecosystem and block steam, most consumers aren't going to just switch to Mac and Linux. They will complain and complain, until that complaint doesn't matter anymore and people accept Microsoft. Of course the service has to be good. Origin has two issues - their service was buggy at launch (it's not anymore) and EA's reputation is that they are shit. They really only did what valve did ages ago. The exact same thing.
Except they offered better support to customers and developers. Origin isn't really that bad a of system today in 2017, but it can't touch the library of steam.
Steam is a platform that is too big for its own good and if ever collapses in on itself, it will be because of their greed, the way the gaming industry crashed in the late 70's and 80's, as games stopped getting filtered and the industry was overrun with trash. That still happens on steam now with indie games. Once it happens with the AAA or whatever part... steam will eat itself, surviving only on the basis that people don't want to lose the library they have.
I'm half surprised that steam hasn't started charging for that access with a monthly fee. They probably will if they ever begin to implode.
I'm not against Vavle overall. They should make billions. But they got so greedy and shady about it and stopped being what they built themselves on. When they didn't need to be that way because the money train was coming either way.
I generally don't like monopolies but as far Valve goes in terms of being a friendly company (in so far as a company can be friendly) I can say with 100% certainty that they're the only ones where emailing one of their founders (i.e. Gabe) led to this nobody being invited on a tour of their offices. I was quite amazed by that. Granted, that was a few years ago now but still.
That said, it does seem important for them to be more transparent perhaps and to not be seen and defended as the only option available (as that effectively makes growth in any competition nigh impossble).
That said, it does seem important for them to be more transparent perhaps and to not be seen and defended as the only option available (as that effectively makes growth in any competition nigh impossble).
TheRedSnifit
Member
This is pretty silly. Valve is "not healthy for gaming" because they don't make (AAA, single-player) games anymore? This would be like arguing Nintendo is a terrible company because they don't make playing cards anymore.
Microsoft has a PC store, it sucks. Origin is extremely bare-bones and offers a fraction of the services Steam offers, ditto with UPlay. GOG's client (GOG Galaxy) blows. Using any client except Steam is a minor inconvenience at best and a direct downgrade at worst, so it shouldn't be surprising that people stick with it.
Most of the threads around here are for console gaming and in that sphere I prefer Nintendo, though I happily own a Xbox one s and will be getting a PS4 pro later this year.
But make no mistake - I pc game more than anything else. I have a custom self built gaming pc and id say half or more of YT consumption is based in PC tech and pc gaming. I come to this forum to talk about Nintendo and console gaming, I go to places like Linus tech tips forums if I want to talk about pc stuff.
I'm a daily steam user. I don't have some massive library as I play mostly AAA games on PC, but my pc gaming library dwarfs my entire console library combined. I also use origin and gog.
I use to buy heavily into valve being a good guy. A white knight. But I slowly started noticing that the reason I trusted valve - because of their great games and great customer service - no longer really exist. They don't really even make games anymore - they create ways for users to make content that they profit off of to a massive degree. They run community tournaments with cash prizes basically off of donations that they largely keep most of (like90% of charities I suppose). And once I got rid of the koolaid and sunglasses, I realized that they take advantage of their users hardcore and we just accept it. I use to participate in advertising their sales because they asked me too. But why do I care? Of the steam sales I have purchased... it's true - I barely touched anything.
And I have to jump through hoops for a cash refund. Even got outright refused once by customer service for a game I had never even installed. Here have store credit -no, I want my money back. That's akin to trying to return an unopened game. They make it much more difficult then it should be.
I think steam is just okay - I think we as consumers and game makers too deserve something better. But the culture surrounding steam is so "whatever" that we'll never see a better service that actually outdoes steam or forces steam to get their act together.
Because steam users are going to crap on anyone that tries. The culture around steam and valve with consumers is weird. I'm love Nintendo. But man, I'll shit on them too when they pull out their anti-consumer crap. Their treatment of online is so laughable. I'm scared that they think a phone app can replace voice chat on a console.
FrozenCell
Member
started gaming in the 80s, always looking for new experiences - not in it to make friends with companies, but it's like this:
Valve says: "ok, you wire me euros, I give you experiences, some even for free"
Sony says: "we're rich so no psn service for your country, buy physical or gtfo"
Valve says: "ok, you wire me euros, I give you experiences, some even for free"
Sony says: "we're rich so no psn service for your country, buy physical or gtfo"
They aren't really adding to the industry. They are Xbox live. A service. They are gog, a service. That's fine. But comparing that to google irked me. Google
Didn't abandon who they are when they made new ventures. Steam has good qualities, naturally.
But take your complaints about origin and gog. Steam was barebones at the start too. It takes a lot of time(and money) to get to where steam is today. No one islaunching a store on par like that. It takes time. It costs too much to be that good day one.
Origin has gotten a lot better since day one. But it will never get that library.
I'm not surprised people stay with steam. I still use steam daily. It does a lot of good things for me. For you too. But, there are just small bits about steam that have been eating at me for years that I just accept because they are the best and I don't want to lose my library. The entire reason I started using steam is no longer there (valve making new games), and without that - I don't really care if I get my games on steam or anywhere else. I just care that my games work, update flawlessly, and that I can always access them.
Maybe it's because I never cared for the social aspects of steam? The now defunct forums... the discussion areas, even chatting with friends - all stuff I don't care about. Steam is just a storefront for me. Like GameStop for retail, I don't really care where I get my games.
Have you been to GOG lately (and by lately, I mean last 5 years)?
TheRedSnifit
Member
It doesn't matter. Whether or not Valve makes games (and apparently multiplayer games don't count, and smaller games like the lab don't count, the three VR games they've stated they're making don't count, gotta be AAA singleplayer) has zero bearing on the quality of Steam and whether or not Valve is benefiting or harming gaming.
So what? I have a choice between Steam and a bunch of wildly inferior clients that are ten years behind it in every way. Blizzard, Ubisoft, EA, GOG, etc. also have little motivation to improve since nobody uses them for the client (their draws are exclusives and, for GOG, no DRM), so I highly doubt they'll ever become as good as Steam is.
And that's fine, but Steam offers gamers way, way more than other clients beyond simply having more games.
keraj37
Member
Well, I tend not to trust any source, so I will just say, that my experience with Steam is so good that if it was a girl I would ask her to date with me.
Best thing that happen for gaming in recent years.
EDIT: I have also some games on Origin, GOG, Uplay but nothing come close to Steam.
Best thing that happen for gaming in recent years.
EDIT: I have also some games on Origin, GOG, Uplay but nothing come close to Steam.
KingGreasy
Member
I understand the issues of Steam customer service. It's absolutely trash. Refunds, I've only ever used it once and I don't even remember what it is was for but that was for Steam wallet credit I remember. Those are complaints I think are something I'll be critical on Valve for.
The not making games anymore does not mesh with me. They were never a high volume game developer and I think most of the complaints about not making more games stem from people wanting another Half Life(perfectly reasonable). I don't have this issue as don't millions others because Valve does make games we play. Over the three major Counter-Strike games I've played thousands of hours. I played a ton of Team Fortress 2, and a little bit of Dota 2. These are the games they make and it's their current audience who they are satisfying (tf2 users may not be satisfied).
The cash prizes being funded through store/workshop purchases but puny percentage going to those tournaments. I just don't have a problem with that. This is true for every revenue sport/competition and at least Valve supports their games competitive scene and isn't doing it in an authoritarian way like Blizzard had done with Starcraft II and now with Overwatch. Any improvement in the revenue split would need some type of union of players to negotiate how the revenue split works but I think negotiations would be hard as the primary revenue stream isn't the esport revenue for the game developers. Blizzard is trying to change that with that Overwatch League where the league is supposed to be the huge source of revenue.
The taking advantage of its users. I see this in the Greenlight stuff which is really lazy on Valves part and I'm not a fan of but I prefer open stores over stores like Origin and Uplay which for whatever reason are barren in game releases. There are so many games I do not play but others do but if I was curating, I wouldn't approve. I have tried to play a visual novel and I can't yet so many people love them but that's just it where curation will always be poor because taste vary so wildly so I'd rather curation be loose. Games get buried but at least they get the chance rather than never getting an appearance on stage. I don't think Greenlight is a big issue to consumers though either because I feel like people only really go to it from developers advertising. If it's an injustice, it's to developers for making such a bad system.
Workshop content is iffy for me. In the past modification content made zero revenue for everyone except it getting the base game sold more. The injustice here to me is also towards developers not to consumers. All of this is pretty transparent to users and at least developers can make money here now with CSGO maps and skins appearing in cases and operations with the skin/map makers making a cut and I'm guessing something similar with Dota and TF2.
The other stores, these are issues with them in my opinion and not with Valve or the consumer. The consumers role in all of this is to consume and the other stores don't meet the minimum standard of, if you search for the game, you will most likely find it. I would love if some developer or publisher detailed why their games never show up on Origin or Uplay. I understand GOG, most don't want to release DRM free.
The consumers aren't having trouble with distribution so there's no onus on them to try and change anything and I don't think they should be the ones expected to drive any change because they have yet to be given reason why they should want something changed. The benefits of competitors services is Origin's superior customer service, and GOG's DRM-freeness. If developers and publishers are having problems with Steam they have incentive to try and support other stores yet they don't. The consumer only has the ability to choose where and where not to buy. If they can't even find the games they want elsewhere they all they have left is Steam. I think consumers get too much blame for problems that companies face but are too conservative with their resources to try and fix. I really want to know what keeps all these games off Origin and Uplay.
edit: also sorry for being so accusatory on the PC gamer thing. I just always see so much talk about PC services that seem so far off base on these forums and so much blame and expectations placed on consumers for things I don't think they should get blame or be expected to push
Steam bad for gaming since 2004? Yeah. Bad for console gaming, probably. The resurrection of PC gaming in conjunction with mobile has dwarfed the console space. That resurrection is in big part Steam's fault.
There's no denying Steam has gone downhill in the latest years and Valve are in a turning point and they need to put their shit together because customers are starting to dislike their doings (I don't buy games on Steam anymore unless there's a huge sale and can't find a better price and many of my friends are the same. We prefer giving our money to gog or humble). But let's be serious, of all the big gaming actors you go and point at Valve?
Have these guys ever heard of Sony, MS or Nintendo?
There's no denying Steam has gone downhill in the latest years and Valve are in a turning point and they need to put their shit together because customers are starting to dislike their doings (I don't buy games on Steam anymore unless there's a huge sale and can't find a better price and many of my friends are the same. We prefer giving our money to gog or humble). But let's be serious, of all the big gaming actors you go and point at Valve?
Have these guys ever heard of Sony, MS or Nintendo?
The piece is kinda baffling to me because it doesn't even touch on Greenlight, which is the case study in Valve trying to cut costs down by having users do their work for them, and this spectacularly backfiring as the complete lack of attention on Valve's part enables all kinds of abuse, from your shitty grifters making a quick buck through Unity asset flips to the harboring of an extremely toxic community harassing developers if they don't play by their rules.
You can look at what happened when Zoë Quinn submitted Depression Quest to Greenlight and you can basically see the Gamergate origin story. And Greenlight, this extremely poorly-designed thing that Valve isn't putting any real effort in, enabled that. When your failure to do your job at any of the standards you set for yourself leads to one of the most significant campaigns of targeted harassment in history, you can't claim any sort of moral high ground.
And somehow the piece misses that! It misses how Valve has let their community tools rot because they aren't as profitable as Dota hats.
You can look at what happened when Zoë Quinn submitted Depression Quest to Greenlight and you can basically see the Gamergate origin story. And Greenlight, this extremely poorly-designed thing that Valve isn't putting any real effort in, enabled that. When your failure to do your job at any of the standards you set for yourself leads to one of the most significant campaigns of targeted harassment in history, you can't claim any sort of moral high ground.
And somehow the piece misses that! It misses how Valve has let their community tools rot because they aren't as profitable as Dota hats.
Spot on.
undu
Member
Yes, Valve is not our friend.
But what are the alternatives? I play my games in Linux and if it wasn't for them Linux wouldn't be anywhere viable.
I haven't seen or heard any other big game-making company invest in Linux, Valve keeps hiring people to work on kernel drivers, and open-source OpenGL and Vulkan drivers. Nobody else offers a Linux client for their store, not even GoG.
So tell me, polygon guy, if I want alternatives what am I supposed to use, your benefactor's OS?
But what are the alternatives? I play my games in Linux and if it wasn't for them Linux wouldn't be anywhere viable.
I haven't seen or heard any other big game-making company invest in Linux, Valve keeps hiring people to work on kernel drivers, and open-source OpenGL and Vulkan drivers. Nobody else offers a Linux client for their store, not even GoG.
So tell me, polygon guy, if I want alternatives what am I supposed to use, your benefactor's OS?
This article is a mess, there are probably things to say about Valve/Steam but this isn't it.
No shit Valve isn't my friend, that's not what I want from them anyway. They provide me with an unmatched service at the moment with Steam, that's enough for me.
Not to mention it is probably the best thing to happen to PC gaming in recent years.
No shit Valve isn't my friend, that's not what I want from them anyway. They provide me with an unmatched service at the moment with Steam, that's enough for me.
Not to mention it is probably the best thing to happen to PC gaming in recent years.
Nimmermehr
Neo Member
Back then i refused to play HL2 for a pretty long time just because of those reasons.
I only gave in because HL2 was bundled with my video card.
I still haven't played ME3 because EA tried to pull the same thing.
I only gave in because HL2 was bundled with my video card.
I still haven't played ME3 because EA tried to pull the same thing.
GhostTrick
Banned
Valve is no one's friend but it's basically the best alternative available as of right now. I see a lot of "Why is Origin seen as the bad guy" as if people forgot. Maybe they should remember that EA forced exclusivity on Origin. Maybe they should remember who EA was back then. That company with Sim City. That company that was closing servers of games that were barely 2-3 years old.That company that was AGAINST sales, claiming it's devaluing the industry. EA at this moment was the anti-consumer company that was pushing for their own platform.
And most importantly, Origin is a client that is YEARS behind in term of fonctionnality. A lot of people gives a lot of shit to the Steam client but:
-You can change the skin
-You can add non-Steam games to your library
-You can customise a lot of things, like the game icons
And despite that monopoly, Valve kept improving themselves and offering more freedom and customisation on their client. Despite having a monopoly, Valve didn't force their own API for VR and kept pushing for openVR. They kept pushing for Linux/SteamOS/OpenGL/Vulkan. They brought that amazing universal controller customisation, allowing you to customise to an amazing degree your controller. Deadzones, triggers sensitivity, remapping and such.
Despite that monopoly, they pushed and allowed for developpers to sell their games outside of their store for 100% revenue, without any fee, while still using the Steamworks API. Despite that monopoly, they never made DRM mandatory on Steam. Yes, your game can be DRM free on Steam.
So yes, while it's not necessary healthy to give all the control to one company that MAY turn bad, the thinking that they should be a monopoly for the profit of anti-consumer companies (EA, Microsoft) is totally fucked up.
As for GOG, while it's a neat alternative, for me it's also lagging behind because of their dumb curation system.
And most importantly, Origin is a client that is YEARS behind in term of fonctionnality. A lot of people gives a lot of shit to the Steam client but:
-You can change the skin
-You can add non-Steam games to your library
-You can customise a lot of things, like the game icons
And despite that monopoly, Valve kept improving themselves and offering more freedom and customisation on their client. Despite having a monopoly, Valve didn't force their own API for VR and kept pushing for openVR. They kept pushing for Linux/SteamOS/OpenGL/Vulkan. They brought that amazing universal controller customisation, allowing you to customise to an amazing degree your controller. Deadzones, triggers sensitivity, remapping and such.
Despite that monopoly, they pushed and allowed for developpers to sell their games outside of their store for 100% revenue, without any fee, while still using the Steamworks API. Despite that monopoly, they never made DRM mandatory on Steam. Yes, your game can be DRM free on Steam.
So yes, while it's not necessary healthy to give all the control to one company that MAY turn bad, the thinking that they should be a monopoly for the profit of anti-consumer companies (EA, Microsoft) is totally fucked up.
As for GOG, while it's a neat alternative, for me it's also lagging behind because of their dumb curation system.
So now we're complaining about the best platform because harsher conditions on a feature only they have among all storefronts, OK.
If Valve is evil what are the rest?
Also, just because it feels fair, Polygon is nothing but trash. There, I gave as many explanations as the article itself.
Wonder when GAF is going to officially tag Polygon as clickbait and ban it.
If Valve is evil what are the rest?
Also, just because it feels fair, Polygon is nothing but trash. There, I gave as many explanations as the article itself.
Wonder when GAF is going to officially tag Polygon as clickbait and ban it.
That's shortsighted to say Steam isn't adding to the industry. They basically one upped everyone else when it came to moving to a purely digital storefront, with automatic updates and the community hub. If anything, they arguably saved the PC industry in a time where torrents and convenience were erring on the side of piracy.
These days we can talk about the game streaming, the controller support that lets you use any controller, the steam library sharing, the sound API they are helping to adapt, the refund system, the large sale incentives, the constant attempts to improve the storefront... i mean, I could go on. They're not perfect by far, but this article is a joke when they have been far more consumer friendly than any other gaming entity out there.
TheRedSnifit
Member
Pretty much. It's bizarre seeing people shill for Origin and the like because it "isn't as bad as it was" and "Steam is a monopoly" is silly.
Knowingly investing in an inferior product for the sake of propping it up doesn't encourage innovation and isn't competitive. It's just wasting your money.
tenderbrew
Member
There are well-thought out, well-researched journalism outlets that strike a professional tone and raise important issues. Polygon just isn't it.
This article reads like a tween blog post. Yet once again, the clickbait is real, and being on the GAF front page has probably got them even more clicks. Sigh. Polygon lives on.
This article reads like a tween blog post. Yet once again, the clickbait is real, and being on the GAF front page has probably got them even more clicks. Sigh. Polygon lives on.
daninthemix
Member
I love Steam, I love the Steam Link, I love Steam's PS4 controller support.
So, er, I guess this article isn't relevant for me.
So, er, I guess this article isn't relevant for me.
breadtruck
Member
Valve is always giving me sweet under-the-table deals on the hottest games.
Valve may not be my friend, but he sure is a cool dude.
Valve may not be my friend, but he sure is a cool dude.
Abilidebob
Member
I have no idea why some people, even on this forum, act like the "community funded" tournament prizes are a bad thing. Like, do people think that they display a huge red button with "DONATE HERE TO INCREASE THE PRIZE POOL. WHOOPS, BUT ONLY25% GOES TO THE ACTUAL POOL, THE REST IS STRAIGHT TO OUR POCKETS, TEEHEE"?