The Valve and Steam Platform Discussion Thread

[J_C]

does the steam client run like total shit for anyone else? loading store pages takes forever, client keeps crashing when trying to do anything outside of the library, wishlist barely works, etc..

I've actually been using the website instead of the actual client to browse

Yes. I never had too much problem with the client, but in the last couple of weeks it is slow and crashes a lot. Dunno why, probably the new library update.

 

[HoboForEternity]

not front store page, but sometimes the activity page and specific game store page dont load properly

 

[Latelistener]

I'm using Parsec for this for quite some time. Would be interesting to compare.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.pcgamesn.com/steam/deleted-games

Steam just deleted hundreds of games from the store

The Christmas period is a good time to give your house a bit of a deep clean in lieu of decorations and having guests over. Valve appears to be taking this sentiment to heart this year, as it’s begun a clear-out of Steam’s archives.

Spotted by Reddit user thomasthe1st, according to the banned list on madjoki.com’s Steam tracker, Valve is in the midst of a huge dumping of games and projects that are clogging up the storefront’s digital shelf-space. Starting with Bloodbath Kavkaz, hundreds and hundreds of games have been banned from the service, more coming almost every second. The additions are almost uniformly cheap indie projects, many of which are hard to find information on beyond their now deleted Steam pages. At time of writing the overall amount deleted is at just over 2550, having jumped up several hundred within the last two hours.

Before this purge, there was a steady drip of deletions, as evidenced by going back through madjoki’s records. Most happened in small clumps, sometimes weekly, sometimes monthly, but nothing anywhere near this scale. There’s been pressure on Valve for years to increase moderation on Steam, to have more stringent guidelines for what’s acceptable on the service and what isn’t, from bigoted content to asset flips and so on. This certainly looks like it might be a step in that direction.

This isn’t the only piece of surprising behaviour from Valve. After years of silence on the Half-Life series, the studio revealed a new game in the iconic series. Coming out March 2020, Half-Life: Alyx is a VR project set in-between the first and second Half-Life. Though it’s not the fabled Half-Life 3, to see any new Half-Life at all after 12 years is still something.

Talking Steam specifically, Destiny 2 shot to the top of the charts in its first month on the platform, dominating the charts for October. After eight years apart, EA returned to Steam with EA Access, its own subscription service on the Steam store, of which Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was the first release.

If nothing else, looks like Steam’s getting the place tidy for the Black Friday sale, which starts November 26.

https://www.pcgamer.com/1000-games-were-just-removed-from-steam-and-we-dont-know-why/

Valve removed 1000 games from Steam because publishers were 'abusing' Steamworks
Multiple publisher catalogs have been wiped out.

Update: Shortly after our story went up, developer Alexandra Frock noted on Twitter that "a good chunk" of the removed games were linked to a single Russian publisher, Dagestan Technology, that appeared to be operating under a large number of different names. Selecting "related apps" for individual listings of banned games reveals how they're connected: Sly Pigs, for instance, is five steps removed from Running Sausage, but only two from BattleStar Mazay.

It's a bit like a Steam version of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon: Some of the connections in the "related games" lists aren't immediately obvious, but the steps do lead from one point to the next, and Frock appears to be onto something. A cached version of the Dagestan Technology Steam Curator page lists 48 games and 4 DLCs, but the live page is now empty.

Valve didn't reveal any specifics on involved companies or their transgressions, but it did indirectly confirm that Dagestan wasn't the only publisher involved, saying that the removals were the result of bad behavior on the part of multiple publishers. "We recently discovered a handful of partners that were abusing some Steamworks tools," a rep explained. "We emailed all the affected partners."

Original story:

Something strange appears to be happening on Steam, where, as chronicled by Steam Tools, roughly 1000 games have been suddenly removed from the system. Some of the "banned" games look a little sketchy but others seem like fairly normal games (for Steam at least), and have been on the platform for months or years.

Glasswinged Ascension, for instance, has been on Steam since mid-2017, and is still listed on IndieDB, while Mind Trap has been around for about the same length of time. Electric Highways had more than 1300 very positive user reviews before it was removed (we also included it in a 2018 Free Games of the Week roundup) and Masha Rescues Grandma, a casual puzzle-adventure released in 2016 and removed a couple of hours ago, actually has a walkthrough video on YouTube with nearly 49,000 views.

None of the removed games are mainstream by any means, and there's a lot of garbage to sift through, but that's Steam in a nutshell. And given its anything goes approach to new releases, there's nothing in the list that leaps out as being especially out of line.

By my count, 982 games have been removed from the service over the past four hours. It's very odd and we're not sure why it's happening, but we've reached out to Valve for more information and we'll update when we figure it out.

Thanks, PCGamesN.

 

[Sentinel]

Ahhhh... those russians!

 

[Modron]

Please tell me ghost_rus games are still there though? Checked and they still are crisis averted.

 

[Venser]

According to reddit some legit devs who put work into their games got burned because they signed with a shitty publisher and now their games are removed.

 

[Infinitron]

Death of the Steam Controller: https://www.theverge.com/good-deals...alve-steam-controller-discontinued-sale-price

Pour one out for the Steam Controller, now on closeout sale for just $5 plus shipping
An amazing gadget bites the dust

The Steam Autumn Sale has begun, allowing you to nab a copy of Resident Evil 2 for a mere $20 among other savings, but there’s one deal that stands out from the pack — a $5 farewell to Valve’s weirdly wonderful Steam Controller gamepad.

Yes, you can now buy the Steam Controller for just $5 plus shipping ($13 total for me), and Valve confirms that this is the last batch of these gamepads that will ever be made.

And while I can’t recommend it wholeheartedly like I did when Valve discontinued its amazing Steam Link wireless HDMI cable-in-a-box, I will say that $13 is a pretty excellent price if you ever plug your PC into your television, or sling your PC games wirelessly to the Steam Link app on your phone and need an accurate solution.

My Steam Controller, next to an earlier prototype.

That’s because the controller, originally introduced in 2013 as part of Valve’s failed Steam Machines initiative — read our feature on how it was designed — is one of the most fully customizable gamepads ever made, and perhaps the only one to offer mouse-like pinpoint precision. That’s because it uses a pair of trackpads, complete with tiny solenoid actuators for haptic feedback, so you can emulate a mouse or trackball. Plus, there are paddles around back for crouching, jumping, strafing, you name it without needing to take your thumbs off those trackpads.

But that’s just the beginning.

The Steam Controller had some growing pains — I remember building the perfect Metal Gear Solid V configuration only to find out the game continually got confused whether I was using a mouse and keyboard or an Xbox gamepad. Eventually, I stopped using it altogether because most games felt more comfortable with a traditional gamepad — and because there wasn’t as much reason to whip out the Steam Controller when Valve started letting you remap any gamepad the same way, with native support for Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, and even third-party controllers like 8BitDo.

But I’ve never stopped marveling over the Steam Controller as a pure gadget, cramming in wired and two forms of wireless connectivity, trackpads that can play chiptunes (see below), insane battery life from a pair of AAs, and cleverly engineered levers to pop those batteries out.

And the Steam Controller did get somewhat of a new lease on life last year when Valve brought the Steam Link app to smartphones, letting you beam games from your PC to a phone, and adding Bluetooth to the Steam Controller with a firmware update so it can be your gamepad for those titles. It doesn’t work as a controller for regular Android or iOS games, though, and you’ll either need a phone stand or a 3D-printed attachment to clamp the gamepad to your phone. I prefer my DualShock 4 for that, which also pairs natively to both mobile operating systems and whose trackpad can similarly double as a mouse.

I doubt I’m actually going to convince you to buy a Steam Controller if you’ve never been sold on the idea before. (Plus, paying $8 for shipping seems a bit much.) But I’m keeping mine around as a piece of gaming history, and I’m a little tempted to buy a second just in case I ever lose its USB dongle.

Or maybe, just maybe, to do this:

Update, 3:32 PM ET: Clarified that shipping will probably cost you more than the controller itself — seemingly $8 in the continental US — so the total is more like $13.

 

[Curratum]

Controller costs 5 EUR, shipping is another 21 EUR. How about "no"?

 

[PulsatingBrain]

Just missed that deal. Was pretty pissed. My 11 year old 360 pad is nearing death too, would have been perfect

 

[Rahdulan]

Steam controller kinda got undeservedly hated on. Haptic feedback is one thing, but a lot people basically misunderstood what the controller was and saw it as their go-to gaming controller rather then a tool to emulate M&K.

 

[Sentinel]

Death of the Steam Controller

Valve filed a patent for a v2 revision last year. It's not dead.

 

[Fedora Master]

Steam should purge all anime after the russki shovelware purge.

 

[Steamboat Willie]

Yet Underworld Ascendant is still available. There is no justice in the world.

 

[Jenkem]

Yet Underworld Ascendant is still available. There is no justice in the world.

It's 85% off.. I should buy it, right?

 

[Steamboat Willie]

It's not even 85% completed.

 

[Country_Gravy]

Is it 15% completed?

 

[Infinitron]

No more controllers:

 

[ScrotumBroth]

Meanwhile, in a third world country run by mafia

 

[DalekFlay]

If VR revolutionizes gaming to the same extent the Steam controller did I'll be a happy man.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

https://www.polygon.com/2019/12/3/20994257/valve-in-the-valley-of-gods-campo-santo-half-life-alyx

Firewatch team’s next game ‘on hold’ as it works on other Valve projects
Campo Santo team is working on Half-Life: Alyx, Dota Underlords, and other projects for now

In 2017, Firewatch developer Campo Santo unveiled In the Valley of Gods, a promising-looking first-person adventure set in Egypt. The following year, Valve, the maker of Counter-Strike, Steam, and Dota 2, snapped up Campo Santo. Some Firewatch fans worried that Campo Santo had been swallowed by a company notorious for not shipping games.

Just last month, Firewatch fans freaked out a little bit more when multiple Campo Santo developers who had joined Valve removed any and all mention of In the Valley of Gods from their Twitter bios. It was a worrying sign.

But then Valve announced Half-Life: Alyx, a VR-only prequel to Half-Life 2. Several Campo Santo developers were confirmed to be working on the project. Still, the fate of In the Valley of Gods was uncertain.

But no longer. Campo Santo co-founder Jake Rodkin confirms that “In the Valley of Gods development is on hold,” but not outright canceled. In a statement to Polygon, Rodkin says that former Campo Santo developers are busy working on not just Half-Life: Alyx, but Dota Underlords, Steam, and other Valve projects as well. Here’s his full statement:

To fans looking forward to In the Valley of Gods, it’s probably clear that the optimistic “2019” at the end of the announcement trailer isn’t going to be accurate. In the end, Valve Time makes fools of us all. But yes, developers from the former Campo Santo team have joined other projects at Valve, including Half-Life: Alyx. As you can imagine, our experience in the first-person adventure genre is pretty relevant. You hear a lot about how at Valve you can work on what you want. It turns out that’s true, and there’s a lot of work available. As we integrated ourselves into Valve it became clear there was a lot of valuable work to be done on Half-Life: Alyx. Some of us starting lending a hand, and have since become full-time on the project as it approaches launch. Similarly, some ex-Campos are working on Dota Underlords, some are on Steam, and so on. So to answer your question as of today, In the Valley of Gods development is on hold—but it certainly feels like a project people can and may return to. And when that happens, we’ll find an exciting way to let fans know.​

Half-Life: Alyx is scheduled to be released on Steam in March 2020. In the Valley of Gods’ release date on Steam is now listed as “TBD.”

It's dead, Jim.

Thanks, Gaben.

 

[LESS T_T]

More important news:



(It was @steam_games.)

 

[passerby]

If VR revolutionizes gaming to the same extent the Steam controller did I'll be a happy man.

Not a perfect analogy, since unlike VR, Steam controller would be a significant improvement, if simillar design was adopted by console manufacturers and AAA games were designed with it's capabilities in mind.

Otherwise I agree, VR will flop. In the current form it is suitable for an amusement park, not for regular gaming. I'm waiting for 90% off sale on VR sets, few years down the line.

 

[DalekFlay]

Otherwise I agree, VR will flop.

For the record I'm not saying it WILL flop, just that I hope it does.

 

[Gerrard]

Campo Santo team is working on Half-Life: Alyx

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA