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[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

In the future, every publisher will have their own Digital Distribution Software/application whether we live it or not

 

[kswiston]

It is only a matter of time before Activision does this with Battle.net. 10s of millions of people already have Battle.net accounts. Millions of people already use the service daily/weekly for WoW, Starcraft 2, and soon Diablo 3. They have already created a cross game chat feature and friends list. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to release a common update app with a games list and store front.

 

[Keasar]

BioShock was awesome. It's the natural end zone of PC gaming.

"I am Andrew Ryan, and I'm here to ask you a question. Is a man not entitled to the earnings of his game? 'No!' says the man in GOG, 'It belongs to the poor.' 'No!' says the man at Steam, 'It belongs to Gabe.' 'No!' says the man in Piratebay, 'It belongs to everyone.' I rejected those answers; instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose... Rapture, a platform where the graphical artist would not fear the censor, where the designer would not be bound by petty morality, where the great would not be constrained by the small! And with the cash of your wallet, Rapture can become your platform as well."

 

[Derrick01]

I'm talking about DD services in general. GG sales, D2D sale, Steam sales... it'd be pretty boring if it were just Steam.

Yeah but I don't understand the point of the comment. All of those places already existed including Origin/EADM so in this case we have 1 less choice (and arguably the one who gets the best deals) for a sale. If anything you should be upset, going by your previous comment.

 

[lastplayed]

Yeah but I don't understand the point of the comment. All of those places already existed including Origin/EADM so in this case we have 1 less choice (and arguably the one who gets the best deals) for a sale. If anything you should be upset, going by your previous comment.

What's this 1 less choice you keep going on about? BF3?

 

[Cptkrush]

It's not about the game's release date, it's the DLCs release date no?

I can't say for a fact certainly. Someone posted it on GAF the other day and seemed very sure of their sources.

Regardless I think EA would have done this anyway. They might be just using it as timely excuse.

Crysis 2's DLC was available through STEAM iirc. Even if not the DLC came out before Dirt 3 even released, so the entire thing is borked. But I guess until Valve makes a statement, in the next never, we will only have this to go on.

 

[confused]

It's not so much being a steam loyalist, as some posters would love to frame the issue, it's about being a customer of a privately owned company vs. a publicly owned company. Ask customers who bought Madden 10 how their online is working out for them now. Yeah putting as much control of their product as possible into EA's hands is what really smart customers want.

But hey I'm just a steam loyalist what do I know.

And how many people are suffering now because all they want to do is play Madden 10 online ?

Also being a customer of a private vs public company argument makes no sense, What soda do you drink/what car do you drive/what shes do you wear etc.

Yeah but I don't understand the point of the comment. All of those places already existed including Origin/EADM so in this case we have 1 less choice (and arguably the one who gets the best deals) for a sale. If anything you should be upset, going by your previous comment.

He means more choice in sales in general, not BF3 in particular.

 

[soulassssns]

Pro tip: right click and copy links rather than copying the truncated version.

it works just fine thanks...

 

[Derrick01]

What's this 1 less choice you keep going on about? BF3?

Steam. It's not on there so that's 1 less opportunity for a sale to compete with.

 

[StuBurns]

Still doesn't explain dirt 3

So Dirt 3's DLC has been released recently and is not sold thru Steam?

Steam. It's not on there so that's 1 less opportunity for a sale to compete with.

The publishers decide the sales, that's illogical.

 

[flyinpiranha]

The only thing I hate about having multiple places to get games is ... well, I have multiple places I need to get games.

I love Steam, but I've purchased off GoG, D2D, and a few others and what sucks? I honestly don't remember what exactly I purchased.

What it needs is something unified, just a generic client like Trillion for chat clients. I'll pay each one respectively their due moneyz but I want to be able to have ONE login service that handles them. I'll even pay a $1-2 a month or an up front charge for this.

Online storefronts is where everything is going. It's the only way companies "feel" they can control their product and I don't mind this. You can bitch about change but it's too easy to steal and while I loathe DRM I do understand the steps companies are taking.

Unified client and I'll buy from all your companies. The client doesn't take a cut and hell, each separate publisher could even advertise their games on my home screen.

I secede.

 

[I H8 Memes]

I'm talking about DD services in general. GG sales, D2D sale, Steam sales... it'd be pretty boring if it were just Steam.

Oh it's boring. Great sales and service from a privately owned company who's main goal isnt to get every extra cent possible from you is SO BORING.

I'm fine with more choice. But people act like Steams dominance was somehow scary and bad. How exactly? People crying for no reason about Steam monopoly this and that. They only had around 70% of the market. And from my experience them controlling 70% of the market was pretty damn awesome for me as a consumer.

I honestly hope that EA and Activision end up dominating the PC DD market just so I can hear everyone complain about how shitty DD on PC turned out.

 

[confused]

Steam. It's not on there so that's 1 less opportunity for a sale to compete with.

The opportunities he was talking about were opportunities at sales in general, not opportunities at sales on BF3

 

[Tallshortman]

given that EA are a bunch of douche bags and the worst things Valve have ever done are release things on "Valve time" and put more and more hats into their games... yeah dont think steam will be going away any time soon.

lol besides what you think of companies and their service, I love how you think how "nice" you perceive a company to be will somehow doom or save their service to or from oblivion. Hello Activision. What are we, in 5th grade?

 

[lastplayed]

Steam. It's not on there so that's 1 less opportunity for a sale to compete with.

Well you have a point, but certainly doesn't bother me. Publishers have been price gouging a lot on NZ's Steam store, but other DD services (including EA) haven't caught on to that yet, so I'm more than happy buying games elsewhere.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

it works just fine thanks...

Sweet, I see you've fixed it. Good show, old boy.

 

[Gully State]

So Dirt 3's DLC has been released recently and is not sold thru Steam?

Yeah it has..release of both game and dlc has postdated DA2 as well as Crysis2. Still don't understand why gaming journos haven't asked code masters about this policy..

 

[soulassssns]

Sweet, I see you've fixed it. Good show, old boy.

Thats why I said thanks

 

[confused]

Oh it's boring. Great sales and service from a privately owned company who's main goal isnt to get every extra cent possible from you is SO BORING.

I'm fine with more choice. But people act like Steams dominance was somehow scary and bad. How exactly? People crying for no reason about Steam monopoly this and that. They only had around 70% of the market. And from my experience them controlling 70% of the market was pretty damn awesome for me as a consumer.

I honestly hope that EA and Activision end up dominating the PC DD market just so I can hear everyone complain about how shitty DD on PC turned out.

Wake up and smell the coffee. Valve don't want your babies, they want your money, just like any other company on the planet.

 

[Jin34]

Civil War because of what EA is doing? That's laughable, Origin is completely worthless if you don't live in North America.

 

[StuBurns]

Yeah it has..release of both game and dlc has postdated DA2 as well as Crysis2. Still don't understand why gaming journos haven't asked code masters about this policy..

The thing that's so odd to me is I kind of feel like I have to believe EAs story (even though I believe they would have done this regardless), because if they actually lied about Steam policy, Valve would comment I'd imagine.

I really don't know, but I hope someone digs thru all the shit and finally lets us know what is actually happening, because it's pretty bizarre. I'm not entitled to know of course, but it's really interesting.

 

[Himajin]

Personally, I'm voting with my wallet by not bothering with games not on Steam these days. I used to buy elsewhere, and still grab GoG titles that I want, but I found I usually never played games I bought on other services, and I also often bought them again on Steam for the convenience of having everything there.

 

[lastplayed]

Oh it's boring. Great sales and service from a privately owned company who's main goal isnt to get every extra cent possible from you is SO BORING.

I'm fine with more choice. But people act like Steams dominance was somehow scary and bad. How exactly? People crying for no reason about Steam monopoly this and that. They only had around 70% of the market. And from my experience them controlling 70% of the market was pretty damn awesome for me as a consumer.

I honestly hope that EA and Activision end up dominating the PC DD market just so I can hear everyone complain about how shitty DD on PC turned out.

I'll just use one example here...

Space Marine on GamersGate = $44.95 USD

Space Marine on Steam (NZ store) = $89.99 USD

I'd be pretty fucked without alternatives to Steam.

 

[confused]

I'll just use one example here...

Space Marine on GamersGate = $44.95 USD

Space Marine on Steam (NZ store) = $89.99 USD

I'd be pretty fucked without alternatives to Steam.

Oh my, are those are anti-consumer practices by Valve no less?

 

[Gully State]

The thing that's so odd to me is I kind of feel like I have to believe EAs story (even though I believe they would have done this regardless), because if they actually lied about Steam policy, Valve would comment I'd imagine.

I really don't know, but I hope someone digs thru all the shit and finally lets us know what is actually happening, because it's pretty bizarre. I'm not entitled to know of course, but it's really interesting.

I don't believe ea is lying. But I believe that they're the ones that forced valve's hand and not the other way around.

 

[lastplayed]

Oh my, are those are anti-consumer practices by Valve no less?

It's not Valve. Dead Island on Steam listed right below Space Marine is $49.99 USD. Most games are reasonable, but like I said earlier, some publishers on Steam have decided to start price gouging.

I love Steam, I've spent hundreds if not thousands buying games there. I just also love the fact that there are cheaper alternatives.

 

[hamchan]

Oh my, are those are anti-consumer practices by Valve no less?

THQ decides those prices not Valve.

 

[markot]

Yeah, all Valve games are US priced in Aus ^_^

And do you think if THQ opens up its own alternative to steam, youll have more options?

 

[lastplayed]

Yeah, all Valve games are US priced in Aus ^_^

And do you think if THQ opens up its own alternative to steam, youll have more options?

Possibly, if they list games in NZD like Origin does it would be a slight improvement.

 

[I H8 Memes]

Wake up and smell the coffee. Valve don't want your babies, they want your money, just like any other company on the planet.

So this is your argument? LOL Valve wants to have my babies! I really believe that! Goddamn I am so naive. Herp Derp.

Do you seriously not see the difference between how privately owned companies are run and how publicly owned companies are run? Are you serious here? All companies are in it to make a profit, including Valve, and there is nothing wrong with that. But a publicly owned company is always under pressure by stock holders to increase revenue and show growth.

As a hypothetical, publicly owned company A could make 50 million in profit in year 1 and that would be great. Making 50 million a year in profit for 3 years in a row is not. Those are flat-lining profits. That's not growth.

I mean come on man. Those are some of the most basic truths of economics in a capitalist system.

 

[Smokey]

I really absolutely 100% fail to see what the big deal is.

When I want to play a game, I press the windows key, type a few letters of its name, and press enter. It doesn't matter whether I installed it via Steam, Impulse, Origin or downloaded it directly from the developer in case of indie games.

If I want to play with friends, I message them using one of a bazillion IM protocols (all conveniently unified in Miranda), and then we chat using Mumble.

Adding 1 or 5 or 15 more distribution services doesn't make this any more onerous.
FWIW, I liked Origin better when it was still EA Download Manager.

shhhh anything that is not steam is evil you hear. that's what gaf told me.

 

[bengraven]

I will die by my brothers in the fight against Origin oppression.

 

[Raitosaito]

I wonder if Ubisoft or Activision will look at EA and throw their hats in the ring.

Let's pray if they ever think of doing this that the guys at Blizzard disapprove of it.

 

[I H8 Memes]

Oh my, are those are anti-consumer practices by Valve no less?

Oh my, you dont understand how any of this shit works do you? I will let you in on a little hint, lets see if you can figure the rest out yourself. You know those great Steam sales, well you might be shocked to hear this, but Valve doesn't set those prices. I'm sure Valve may have some small say so in the prices, after all they are responsible for the bandwidth to deliver the game, but they dont set the prices. Every time you have ever bought a great game at a great price from Steam you should thank the publisher first Valve second.

I've got a feeling I am going to be here all night teaching this simple shit to you.

 

[confused]

So this is your argument? LOL Valve wants to have my babies! I really believe that! Goddamn I am so naive. Herp Derp.

Do you seriously not see the difference between how privately owned companies are run and how publicly owned companies are run? Are you serious here? All companies are in it to make a profit, including Valve, and there is nothing wrong with that. But a publicly owned company is always under pressure by stock holders to increase revenue and show growth.

As a hypothetical, publicly owned company A could make 50 million in profit in year 1 and that would be great. Making 50 million a year in profit for 3 years in a row is not. Those are flat-lining profits. That's not growth.

I mean come on man. Those are some of the most basic truths of economics in a capitalist system.

I was just replying to this line :

Oh it's boring. Great sales and service from a privately owned company who's main goal isnt to get every extra cent possible from you is SO BORING.

you're truly dense if you think Valve isn't out to get your money at every turn. Why do you think there's always a sale going on Steam. They might even be more aggressive in going after my money than EA is.

Oh my, you dont understand how any of this shit works do you? I will let you in on a little hint, lets see if you can figure the rest out yourself. You know those great Steam sales, well you might be shocked to hear this, but Valve doesn't set those prices. I'm sure Valve may have some small say so in the prices, after all they are responsible for the bandwidth to deliver the game, but they dont set the prices. Every time you have ever bought a great game at a great price from Steam you should thank the publisher first Valve second.

I've got a feeling I am going to be here all night teaching this simple shit to you.

It's okay, I'll spend all night teaching you about sarcasm. Seen as you're so smart and all.

 

[Lasthope106]

It might appear that way, but I have to disagree. On PC land, the users are always in control. Sure Steam is the major player right now, but don't forget that at one point GameSpy Arcade was one of the most useful game-server applications. People will vote with their dollars in the long run, and only those services that provide value will survive.

 

[markot]

Let's pray if they ever think of doing this that the guys at Blizzard disapprove of it.

Blizz will probably lead it >.<

 

[hamchan]

Battle.net store would be fine by me. I already log on everyday to play SC2 and it will probably bring a whole load of new features and improvements to the service so yeah, bring it Activision Blizzard.

 

[Laughing Banana]

So this is your argument? LOL Valve wants to have my babies! I really believe that! Goddamn I am so naive. Herp Derp.

Do you seriously not see the difference between how privately owned companies are run and how publicly owned companies are run? Are you serious here? All companies are in it to make a profit, including Valve, and there is nothing wrong with that. But a publicly owned company is always under pressure by stock holders to increase revenue and show growth.

As a hypothetical, publicly owned company A could make 50 million in profit in year 1 and that would be great. Making 50 million a year in profit for 3 years in a row is not. Those are flat-lining profits. That's not growth.

I mean come on man. Those are some of the most basic truths of economics in a capitalist system.

I don't know why, but this comment made me laugh.

 

[I H8 Memes]

The point that you are missing is that Steam, Gamers Gate, D2D, Green Man Gaming, this is why there are sales and great prices. This is where the competition takes place. If EA were a private company that allowed other games to be sold through Origin this wouldn't be an issue for me.

The insane drive toward profit of a publicly owned company means that I cant trust them at all. This is the same company that has already, or will soon, prevent people from playing Madden 10 online in order to push them into buying the new Madden.

I still play Deus Ex and System Shock 2 from time to time. SS2 is 12 years old now. I still play HL2 all the time and will still play it 10 years from now and I know the game will be there for me to download. Do you really think that EA are going to let you still re-download BF3 or any game 17 years from now?

 

[br0ken_shad0w]

I'm not a fan of Origin because its predecessor had activation limits, limited time to download, and tacked on fees.

Reputation goes a long way.

 

[coopolon]

Let's pray if they ever think of doing this that the guys at Blizzard disapprove of it.

Uhh...Blizzard sells their games only on their platform, they never go on sale on their end, only drop in price after years, and have now instituted the most intrusive form of DRM since Starforce. Blizzard disapproving? They're leading the fucking charge.

 

[lastplayed]

Do you really think that EA are going to let you still re-download BF3 or any game 17 years from now?

Everything will be streamed by then I bet.

 

[watership]

Exactly. I'm not sure why some people are so determined to turn this into some idiotic us-vs-them catfight.

Steam represents the platform for some. If has the features and community of the ps3/xbox yet on their favorite hardware.

 

[coopolon]

Do you really think that EA are going to let you still re-download BF3 or any game 17 years from now?

I can still download games I bought from EA over 4 years ago. There's no evidence to suggest they're changing this policy any time soon. And you can also back up the games in a meaningful way (i.e. not requiring the client to install them again) which makes it less a catastrophe if they do go down, unlike Steam.

 

[confused]

The point that you are missing is that Steam, Gamers Gate, D2D, Green Man Gaming, this is why there are sales and great prices. This is where the competition takes place. If EA were a private company that allowed other games to be sold through Origin this wouldn't be an issue for me.

The insane drive toward profit of a publicly owned company means that I cant trust them at all. This is the same company that has already, or will soon, prevent people from playing Madden 10 online in order to push them into buying the new Madden.

I still play Deus Ex and System Shock 2 from time to time. SS2 is 12 years old now. I still play HL2 all the time and will still play it 10 years from now and I know the game will be there for me to download. Do you really think that EA are going to let you still re-download BF3 or any game 17 years from now?

First off, Valve has the same drive for profit, whether you see it or not. All they want is your buck, nothing else. Are they being more friendly to get your buck, maybe so but the end result stays the same.

Funny you should mention system shock 2 as an example seen as the was published by EA. Also, do you really think I'm going to want to re-download BF3 17 years from now ? Neither do I

 

[legacyzero]

whoever wins, we lose..

Seriously, the gamer is the only one that suffers in this war...

 

[Salacious Crumb]

If everyone starts following EAs lead in the PCDD space I'll be going back to import only. $99 for Mass Effect 3? No thanks EA.

 

[confused]

If everyone starts following EAs lead in the PCDD space I'll be going back to import only. $99 for Mass Effect 3? No thanks EA.

That's funny, it's the regular $50 here.

 

[bangai-o]

whoever wins, we lose..

Seriously, the gamer is the only one that suffers in this war...

how? the market is competing for sales.