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I really wish Valve would publish and secure AAA exclusive content for Steam

They should start some new game focused studios IMO, develop some clever AA games and put the dragon hoard to good use. Like a small team to run TF2 for example, because nobody in that hippie collective wants to work on it.
Getting into the exclusive game by developing its own or securing an Steam exclusive AAA third party developed game like Monster Hunter, like Nintendo did with Rise? That feels antithetical to how Valve operates.
 
Manic27 said:
lmao. They're selling hardware. The point of selling hardware is always to build up a base.
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No, steam sells hardware more as proof of concept than anything. They made steam deck to prove there was a market for handheld pcs and turned out to be correct. They now want to bolster the mini-pc market to prove there is a demand for console-like mini-pcs on the living room. From valves perspective, any new venue of gaming pcs on the market is advantageous to them.
 
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Manic27 said:
lmao. They're selling hardware. The point of selling hardware is always to build up a base.
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While everyone wants their products to sell, Valve is somewhat unique in that they don't have much interest in their hardware sales to scale that high.

Maybe they'll change that, but for now their hardware team is small and they have very few people working their supply chain, which is relatively amateur for a company with so much revenue.

So they don't sit around thinking about how to sell more Index's or Steam Machines or even Steam Decks as their primary goals are to make the products they want to make within the confines of the company they've built. They've been insanely stagnant on their employee count and they have extremely high expectations of these employees and very high pay, but aren't trying to grow at all.

It's the same reason they don't make many games, and those games aren't typically big AAA games. It takes far more people today to make a AAA game than it did when Half Life 2 came out for instance, and again, they don't have much interest in growing or even using many outside dev teams/contractors.

Hell they barely have a marketing team and have little to no relationships with retail.
 
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Guilty_AI said:
No, steam sells hardware more as proof of concept than anything. They made steam deck to prove there was a market for handheld pcs and turned out to be correct. They now want to bolster the mini-pc market to prove there is a demand for console-like mini-pcs on the living room. From valves perspective, any new venue of pcs is advantageous to them.
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Ah yes, they want to just prove there's markets out there and not sell to them. :messenger_tears_of_joy:
 
Manic27 said:
Ah yes, they want to just prove there's markets out there and not sell to them. :messenger_tears_of_joy:
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Yes, that way more companies start investing on them, more gaming pcs start being sold, which in turns expands their userbase since everyone with a gaming pc is almost guaranteed to have steam installed.
 
I don't like exclusives, but aren't their latest games already exclusive? Can you play Half-Life Alyx or Deadlock outside of Steam?
 
Guilty_AI said:
Yes, that way more companies start investing on them, more gaming pcs start being sold, which in turns expands their userbase since everyone with a gaming pc is almost guaranteed to have steam installed.
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They could have done that with a Windows based PC and saved themselves all the trouble of building SteamOS and Proton/Fossilize.

No, the reason why they're not in any rush to scale is because they don't have to be, and because building SteamOS as a platform takes time. They need to iron out more kinks and make the experience better before they would want to do that. The current scale allows them to get feedback from players and gather information for testing games.

They don't need to scale as high as consoles.. but that doesn't mean that their hardware won't accumulate into a massive install base over time.
 
Why? If they do that it would create an arms race for other PC storefronts to do the same. Valve probably don't want to jeopardize guaranteed revenue streams.
 
FMX said:
Why OP? Your post screams of fanboism. How does that help anything?
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You're basically asking me why I want Valve to make AAA games for Steam?

My question is why don't you want Valve to make and fund quality games for their platform? Seems weird.

It has nothing to do with being a fanboy. Simply would like to see Valve produce high quality games for their platform. It's not that serious.
 
Manic27 said:
Wait, so all you guys against this in here want Sony to make AAA games, Microsoft to make AAA games, and Nintendo to make AAA games... but suggesting Valve makes some AAA games for Steam is "Why?"

"pie_tears_joy:
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Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo's platforms are all shit. They need something exclusive so you buy into their ecosystem and keep paying them money to play online and they get a cut of every game sold.

Valve doesn't care what hardware you play on. They make money by you buying things on Steam. So they make Steam not just the best store, but the best gaming platform. And consumers vote with their wallets.

Memecoin Xrp GIF by $DROP
 
Manic27 said:
They could have done that with a Windows based PC and saved themselves all the trouble of building SteamOS and Proton/Fossilize.

No, the reason why they're not in any rush to scale is because they don't have to be, and because building SteamOS as a platform takes time. They need to iron out more kinks and make the experience better before they would want to do that. The current scale allows them to get feedback from players and gather information for testing games.

They don't need to scale as high as consoles.. but that doesn't mean that their hardware won't accumulate into a massive install base over time.
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The reason for all the investment in SteamOS and Proton (also Valve are the biggest funder of development of the Vulkan SDK) is because Valve considers Microsoft their number one competitor, and are aware that Microsoft could do all kinds of things to mess with Steam and PC gaming in general if they wanted to, so they're providing alternatives just in case.

I'm not just making this up either, Gabe has said this himself iirc. Lemme see if I can find a source.
 
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Manic27 said:
You're basically asking me why I want Valve to make AAA games for Steam?

My question is why don't you want Valve to make and fund quality games for their platform? Seems weird.

It has nothing to do with being a fanboy. Simply would like to see Valve produce high quality games for their platform. It's not that serious.
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A Valve that makes a bunch of AAA games is basically a totally different company. They'd need far more developers, managers for those developers, etc.

So while I don't necessarily disagree with you, it's also a double edge sword because you are wishing for Valve to become more like other game publishers. Hell they WOULD be essentially those other game publishers as they would need to hire people from them lol.

And when you grow like that, everything becomes harder to manage, the people currently running valve would need to be less involved in projects, would become more and more worried about the profitability of those projects, etc. It's also incredibly hard to maintain the same level of quality of employees as your company scales.
 
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Manic27 said:
They could have done that with a Windows based PC and saved themselves all the trouble of building SteamOS and Proton/Fossilize.
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Windows is bloated and requires licensing. Investing on steamOS and linux gives hardware makers an alternative that doesn't require them to make the product more expensive.

Not to mention the fact steamOS exists in the first place so steam doesn't have to be reliant on windows.
 
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Manic27 said:
You're basically asking me why I want Valve to make AAA games for Steam?

My question is why don't you want Valve to make and fund quality games for their platform? Seems weird.

It has nothing to do with being a fanboy. Simply would like to see Valve produce high quality games for their platform. It's not that serious.
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Why does it have to be for their platform though? You could just say you want Valve to make and fund games.

What does it matter it they then choose to sell them on Xbox, Switch or Playstation?
 
BennyBlanco said:
Genuinely curious, what is not to like about Steam? I like GoG too and buy many games there but Steam has the best features of any platform by a country mile. Workshop, access on multiple devices, free online and cloud saves, enormous library, etc.
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I don't particularly care about the features, I just don't like the DRM. Or, to a lesser extent, the UI. If GOG had the selection, I'd never buy a game on Steam again.
 
IntentionalPun said:
A Valve that makes a bunch of AAA games is basically a totally different company. They'd need far more developers, managers for those developers, etc.

So while I don't necessarily disagree with you, it's also a double edge sword because you are wishing for Valve to become more like other game publishers. Hell they WOULD be essentially those other game publishers as they would need to hire people from them lol
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I understand this completely. I don't want them to become some huge publisher like MS or EA or Sony blowing $300M on a game. What I mean is that they could fund some games, work with some studios to make games for Steam. There's companies out there that create AAA products without the AAA budgets. It's possible to make quality games without going crazy. I think Valve is one such company that makes the most out of their budgets.

They might have to hire some people, but they are a video game company lol, I shouldn't feel crazy for asking them to make some games and add a bit of variety to the games they produce.
 
BennyBlanco said:
Genuinely curious, what is not to like about Steam? I like GoG too and buy many games there but Steam has the best features of any platform by a country mile. Workshop, access on multiple devices, free online and cloud saves, enormous library, etc.
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Steam as a platform is generally fine for most users. However, Valve as a parent company gets a pass on a lot of things, especially when it comes to anti-consumer practices.

These are just off top of my head. I know most people will not really consider this important at all.

It wasn't that long ago that you couldn't refund a game after playing it. The 2 hour refund window only exists because they got sued by the Australian government. Valve actively fought that from 2014 to 2018 and ultimately lost that lawsuit.

Recently, they fought, and won, a lawsuit in France against re-selling digital games on their platform. This went on for almost 10 years. Many people would have loved to be able to re-sell their games on steam, but Valve and all the publishers absolutely hate that idea. You are also not buying licenses through steam. So if a publisher wants to pull a game from the storefront, steam has to abide since they don't technically own the license either. See the whole "stop killing games" movement. Licenses that people paid for can also be removed from the library.

Loot boxes is another issue. CS brings Valve something like $1 billion in revenue each year, and that's basically pure profit. NY state tried to sue Valve for that stating it's gambling and that enables minors to gamble. People spend thousands buying loot boxes to get the skins, which of course have a very low drop rate.

Removing adult games from the platform because payment processors demanded it due to censorship.

The 30% cut is pretty high, especially for small developers. You only get a discount if you sell hundreds of thousands of copies on steam. Some small developers complained about the revenue cuts and how they are basically forced to publish on steam regardless.
 
Manic27 said:
They could have done that with a Windows based PC and saved themselves all the trouble of building SteamOS and Proton/Fossilize.

No, the reason why they're not in any rush to scale is because they don't have to be, and because building SteamOS as a platform takes time. They need to iron out more kinks and make the experience better before they would want to do that. The current scale allows them to get feedback from players and gather information for testing games.

They don't need to scale as high as consoles.. but that doesn't mean that their hardware won't accumulate into a massive install base over time.
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SteamOS exists because Valve saw the writing on the wall that Microsoft could lock down Windows and push everything through their Windows Store and cut out Valve. Microsoft thankfully flubbed doing that, and Steam ended up being even more powerful.

Proton makes them not rely on Windows. And with Fex-Emu they don't need AMD, Intel, or NVIDIA. Make a store that sells games that can be run on anything, and you're going to sell and ton of games.
 
Manic27 said:
I understand this completely. I don't want them to become some huge publisher like MS or EA or Sony blowing $300M on a game. What I mean is that they could fund some games, work with some studios to make games for Steam. There's companies out there that create AAA products without the AAA budgets. It's possible to make quality games without going crazy. I think Valve is one such company that makes the most out of their budgets.

They might have to hire some people, but they are a video game company lol, I shouldn't feel crazy for asking them to make some games and add a bit of variety to the games they produce.
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They'd rather sell lootboxes to kids to fund gabe's elite lifestyle than fund games unfortuntely
 
Manic27 said:
I understand this completely. I don't want them to become some huge publisher like MS or EA or Sony blowing $300M on a game. What I mean is that they could fund some games, work with some studios to make games for Steam. There's companies out there that create AAA products without the AAA budgets. It's possible to make quality games without going crazy. I think Valve is one such company that makes the most out of their budgets.

They might have to hire some people, but they are a video game company lol, I shouldn't feel crazy for asking them to make some games and add a bit of variety to the games they produce.
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I don't think you are crazy. But we don't really know how good Valve would be at managing some 3rd party's effort to create a game do we? I don't think they've ever done that.

And Steam exclusivity just doesn't really mean anything to me personally, and I think most PC gamers agree. They will probably buy any given game from Steam, but they don't ever think about whether that game is exclusive to that storefront or whether it comes to consoles.
 
SScorpio said:
SteamOS exists because Valve saw the writing on the wall that Microsoft could lock down Windows and push everything through their Windows Store and cut out Valve. Microsoft thankfully flubbed doing that, and Steam ended up being even more powerful.

Proton makes them not rely on Windows. And with Fex-Emu they don't need AMD, Intel, or NVIDIA. Make a store that sells games that can be run on anything, and you're going to sell and ton of games.
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And the only way they could get that product out to market and test it... is by.... selling hardware. Linux gaming was nothing until the Steam Deck came out.

Yes, the hardware exists for a reason. The hardware pushes adoption. They want to have an install base of SteamOS based hardware to continue pushing their platform.
 
This is not Valves business anymore (for a long time). They are highly efficient as a storefront. Add developing and publishing AAA games into the mix, the business fundamentally changes and accrues a ton of risk in an uncertain market, and risk alienating the goodwill they've built up. Also developing and publishing games is very volatile.

Does not seem like a good risk-reward.
 
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Imagine if the Steam Machine launched with Half Life 3, Portal 3 and Left 4 Dead 3. All exclusive to Steam. That'd be an insane exclusive line up.
 
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IntentionalPun said:
I don't think you are crazy. But we don't really know how good Valve would be at managing some 3rd party's effort to create a game do we? I don't think they've ever done that.

And Steam exclusivity just doesn't really mean anything to me personally, and I think most PC gamers agree. They will probably buy any given game from Steam, but they don't ever think about whether that game is exclusive to that storefront or whether it comes to consoles.
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For sure. I'm mostly suggesting the exclusivity as something to garner excitement around the Steam Machine and Steam in general. I know they're not trying to sell 100M Steam Machines. But an exclusive game like HL3 launching alongside the Steam Machine will bring tons of publicity to it. Undeniably. If HL3 launched on PS5/XSX/SW2 alongside PC.. then it's nothing special for the Steam Machine.

And while I have no objection against HL3 being multiplat, and would frankly love to see how many copies a game like HL3 could sell across all platforms... the reality is that Valve is unlikely to do that. So if their games are exclusive already, I'm simply asking that they make and produce more quality games for their platform than they do.
 
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https://www.geekwire.com/2013/valve-cofounder-gabe-newell-linux-getoutofjail-free-pass-industry/
He began by giving two main points: "The P.C. ecosystem is going to expand into the living room," and that "the game business will increasingly be focused around building and exchanging digital goods and services."...

He said that Steam for Linux gives people freedom to innovate on an alternate operating system. "It's a get-out-of-jail free pass for our industry if we need it," he said. We'll assume that he's referring to Windows there. It's no secret that Newell is not a big fan of Windows 8.

Newell has made headlines in the past few months with his theory of the gaming PC moving into the living room. Newell has discussed "stronger-than-expected" reactions to Steam's TV-friendly "Big Picture" mode and said he expects PC companies to soon start selling computers designed to hook up to your TV and run Steam immediately.

Newell also said recently that Valve will build its own gaming computer, but added that its hardware package "will be a very controlled environment."
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https://www.techpowerup.com/169551/windows-8-a-catastrophe-want-linux-to-thrive-gabe-newell
"I think that Windows 8 is kind of a catastrophe for everybody in the PC space. I think that we're going to lose some of the top-tier PC [original equipment manufacturers]. They'll exit the market. I think margins are going to be destroyed for a bunch of people. If that's true, it's going to be a good idea to have alternatives to hedge against that eventuality," said Newell.

The alternatives he is referring to are the other platforms Valve is setting up its Steam content distribution platform. The company already has Steam client for Apple OS X, with quite a few of its games ported to, and enabled to existing buyers using SteamPlay. The company also recently announced that its client for desktop Linux (Ubuntu, to be precise), is up and running, and that it sees a future for PC gaming on Linux.

Moving the PC gaming to Linux is not a herculean task, and is just going to need a few few big companies to take initiatives. One of them is Valve, the others include companies governing Linux distributions, hardware vendors getting their act together and releasing fully-functional drivers, and lastly, for game developers to see the potential in all of it. The move to Linux doesn't change the machine, it only changes the software.

"One, we're trying to make sure that Linux thrives. Our perception is that one of the big problems holding Linux back is the absence of games. I think that a lot of people - in their thinking about platforms - don't realize how critical games are as a consumer driver of purchases and usage. So we're going to continue working with the Linux distribution guys, shipping Steam, shipping our games, and making it as easy as possible for anybody who's engaged with us - putting their games on Steam and getting those running on Linux, as well. It's a hedging strategy," said Newell.
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Nah. Just make the store the best it can possibly be while offering value added services and hardware to it. Like the Steam Deck for example.

Heck, port CS2 and DITA2 to consoles for all I care.
 
Zathalus said:
Nah. Just make the store the best it can possibly be while offering value added services and hardware to it. Like the Steam Deck for example.

Heck, port CS2 and DITA2 to consoles for all I care.
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I'm kind of amazed nobody managed to fill the evergreen CS & DOTA niches on consoles.
Valorant is on consoles, but the impact seems limited and League of Legends: Wild Rift doesn't seem to be happening?

Guess they prefer buying a new COD every year and shark cards.
 
KyoZz said:
Thank God Valve is smarter than that.
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Funny how people are so hung up on the exclusivity angle when Valve is literally already doing that exact thing. Half-Life Alyx, Counter-Strike 2, and Deadlock are only available on Steam.
OP brings up an interesting point on what they can do as a publisher (i.e. investing on externally-developed projects), but people here cannot contribute much beyond lazy drive-by posting.
 
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You are right OP, Valve should buy CD Projekt, Larian, Warhorse, 4A Games, GSC Game World, Pearl Abyss and about 100 other top tier studios and make all their games Steam and PC exclusive.

Fm1CIcZaYAMv96e.jpg
 
Manic27 said:
Obviously everyone understand they don't NEED to do this.. but if their goal is to build up a hardware base, then having some exclusive big AAA titles to show off would build excitement.
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I don't think they have the same goals for selling hardware that console makers do. Console makers rely more on exclusives, because if they get you to buy the box for them, you'll buy the other stuff there because you're locked into their storefront, and they'll even take a loss on the hardware to get that.

Valve by being on PC has no real way to do this, it's OS relies on building off Linux which requires open-sourcing aspects, and their hardware has been more about providing non-standard form factors for a PC to provide value to their existing customers...or remove a barrier from people even wanting to own a PC at all. I don't think a few AAA exclusives would move the needle much, especially when smaller budget indie titles every month or so seem to break out making bank for low production cost.

Manic27 said:
And the only way they could get that product out to market and test it... is by.... selling hardware. Linux gaming was nothing until the Steam Deck came out.

Yes, the hardware exists for a reason. The hardware pushes adoption. They want to have an install base of SteamOS based hardware to continue pushing their platform.
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Eh, Linux gaming only became something because of Proton, and they timed it's maturation point with the Steam Deck to showcase it. Proton still at its launch could scale to other hardware, and the Steam Deck is still only about 1/4 of the Linux userbase on Steam based on their own hardware survey numbers. They didn't need the Steam Deck to test it, they used the Steam Deck to help market it.

Lith808 said:
Removing adult games from the platform because payment processors demanded it due to censorship.

The 30% cut is pretty high, especially for small developers. You only get a discount if you sell hundreds of thousands of copies on steam. Some small developers complained about the revenue cuts and how they are basically forced to publish on steam regardless.
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I don't think people view Valve as perfect, but the issue with most of these problems is they're not unique to them. The 30% cut, profiting off live-service lootboxes, and removing adult content is something multiple other gaming platforms (usually more "closed" platforms) do that don't seem to get the same level of legal fights thrown at them. The only ones who do better in those areas are usually only other PC storefronts that need to compete with them by offering some unique value.
 
Manic27 said:
For sure. I'm mostly suggesting the exclusivity as something to garner excitement around the Steam Machine and Steam in general. I know they're not trying to sell 100M Steam Machines. But an exclusive game like HL3 launching alongside the Steam Machine will bring tons of publicity to it. Undeniably. If HL3 launched on PS5/XSX/SW2 alongside PC.. then it's nothing special for the Steam Machine.

And while I have no objection against HL3 being multiplat, and would frankly love to see how many copies a game like HL3 could sell across all platforms... the reality is that Valve is unlikely to do that. So if their games are exclusive already, I'm simply asking that they make and produce more quality games for their platform than they do.
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Yeah I just can't really relate personally. Games aren't any less special on PC because they release on console. That's kind of a console fan (and warrior) mentality to me that I just don't jive with.

The game will be special if it's a special game regardless of what platforms it does or doesnt' launch on.
 
HRK69 said:
Dude what

He actually said to himself 'Yeah, I want Valve to start doing that too'

One of the most short sighted, corporate bootlicking takes possible
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Thank fuck Gabe is still the boy in charge.

Imagine when he passes and the kids or a buyout happens. FUCK THAT
 
nial said:
Funny how people are so hung up on the exclusivity angle when Valve is literally already doing that exact thing. Half-Life Alyx, Counter-Strike 2, and Deadlock are only available on Steam.
OP brings up an interesting point on what they can do as a publisher (i.e. investing on externally-developed projects), but people here cannot contribute much beyond lazy drive-by posting.
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This. Yes, Valve are a storefront... but they are also a game publisher. I'm basically asking them to publish more games, and because I used the word exclusive people suddenly couldn't see the logic..lmao.

I would want a game like Half Life 3 to sell a bajillion copies on all platforms if it was realistic. Obviously it would sell more on all platforms than it would just on Steam. It would be better for everyone to experience the game no doubt. But Valve likely aren't going to release it everywhere. So based off that fact, it DOES have some benefit to use big games to push hardware that they are selling.

SteamVR should could have used a couple more HL:A tier games, no?

It's just crazy how some people act like what I said what just the dumbest thing Valve could do lmao.
 
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You want Valve to throw a billion dollars away on vanity projects by washed console execs that sell less than a million as steam exclusives. That isn't how Gaben gets to buy more yachts.
 
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I just wish Valve would continue to make more games, because I miss new Valve games being more plentiful. I also missed their cross promotions and stuff you'd get for preordering, etc. I always thought it was cool.
 
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