The Valve and Steam Platform Discussion Thread

[Latelistener]

Valve killed their community servers in both TF2 and CSGO.

 

[Sentinel]

Valve killed their community servers in both TF2 and CSGO.

as you can see, 99% of those are mods like surf/awp/aim/mg/jb. The community servers that ran valve and community maps on a rotation are largely gone.

 

[Sentinel]

Valve to open source 'GameNetworkingSockets' to help developers with networking, Steam not required
Posted by liamdawe, 27 March 2018 at 12:19 pm UTC | Views: 15,723

In a rather helpful move for developers, Valve is about to open source 'GameNetworkingSockets' and it won't require Steam.

You can see the source here on GitHub, including the fact that it will use a the 3-Clause BSD license. What's interesting is that since it won't require Steam (they're pretty clear on that), this could possibly help with developers who need multiplayer functionality and end up not doing Linux builds outside of Steam. Given this quote:

The intention is that on PC you can use the Steamworks version, and on other platforms, you can use this version.

It's entirely possible that's exactly what they're hinting at. This is something we've seen lately, with GOG games not having a Linux version due to this very reason like Serious Sam's Bogus Detour and Heroes of Hammerwatch as two quick examples of this, so it's quite exciting to hear about.

Here's what it will feature:

• Connection-oriented protocol (like TCP)
• ... but message-oriented instead of stream-oriented.
• Mix of reliable and unreliable messages
• Messages can be larger than underlying MTU, the protocol performs fragmentation and reassembly, and retransmission for reliable
• Bandwidth estimation based on TFP-friendly rate control (RFC 5348)
• Encryption.
• Tools for simulating loss and detailed stats measurement

From what they say on it currently, it's "Coming soon" with the actual GitHub repo being mostly empty for now (insert a joke here about ValveTime). Great to see Valve continue to put more out in the open—good stuff!

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/artic...pers-with-networking-steam-not-required.11483

 

[Sentinel]

GDC 2018: Denial of Service mitigation by Valve

TLDW;

• There was a lot of ddos during 2015 in dota 2 and CS:GO
• Fletcher Dunn went downstairs and talked with other valve employees and they created system of proxies server so servers can't be directly addressed. You can ddos proxy server but then client will just choose other server
• Working at valve is pretty good
• Adding proxy servers improved latency for a lot of players
• Your ISP sucks but Valve fixes their problems for you
• They opensourced their basic transport layer for games here https://github.com/ValveSoftware/GameNetworkingSockets

 

[Sentinel]

GDC 2018: John McDonald from Valve: Using Deep Learning to Combat Cheating in CSGO

 

[LESS T_T]

Last week's top seller list (based on revenues, microtransactions do not count).

JRPG, multiplayer, or popamole, pick your poison! Oh btw we have doubled Ubisoft.

#10 - Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
#9 - FINAL FANTASY XV WINDOWS EDITION
#8 - Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
#7 - Assassin's Creed Origins
#6 - Far Cry 5
#5 - Assassin's Creed Origins
#4 - Far Cry 5
#3 - Grand Theft Auto V
#2 - Warhammer: Vermintide 2
#1 - PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS

The day has come. The chosen one is here.

Valve is also celebrating it.

#10 - Far Cry 5
#9 - Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
#8 - Far Cry 5
#7 - PixARK
#6 - Grand Theft Auto V
#5 - Far Cry 5
#4 - Far Cry 5
#3 - Far Cry 5
#2 - PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS
#1 - Far Cry 5

(No, this is really the list Valve [most likely automatically] published.)

 

[Boleskine]

Steam Machines are dead.

https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-gets-rid-of-the-steam-machine-section/

Valve gets rid of the Steam Machine section
By Fraser Brown 7 hours ago

Goodbye, little boxes

Remember Steam Machines? Valve seems to be trying to forget its bid to get everyone playing games on expensive little boxes from Alienware, Asus and the like, as it’s removed the Steam Machines section from Steam. It’s been a while since anyone really talked about the living room PCs, but this looks like the final nail in the coffin.

Steam Machines never really got their big moment. Valve envisioned a new ecosystem following on from Big Picture mode, where people would play PC games in their living room using a Steam Machine, Steam Controller and SteamOS, but the big launch at the end of 2015 only saw a handful of the boxes appear, and none of them exactly tempted people away from their desktops or consoles.

The issues were myriad. There were the delays, cancellations, high price points, and then there was the fact that people weren’t really interested in SteamOS. The linux-based operating system was originally a draw, but it was delayed and then finally released with bugs and a poor frame rate when compared to Windows 10. Steam Machines ended up having to offer Windows alternatives.

The Steam Machine launch wasn’t helped by Valve’s second bid for domination of the living room. While their Steam Machine partners were designing their first boxes, Valve was busy making their own device: the Steam Link. It essentially did the same thing: allowing people to play Steam games on their TV, but instead of being a desktop surrogate, the Steam Link was a streaming device. And it was much, much cheaper.

If you hover over the Hardware tab on Steam now, you’ll only see the Steam Controller, Steam Link and HTC Vive appear in the drop down, and the Hardware page itself is gone, replaced with a search list that only contains four Steam Machines with links to external websites. The old Steam Machine page can still be reached, but not through the front page.

It was an interesting concept, but by the time the first machines started to appear, their day was already done. Pour one out for these fallen boxes.

Cheers, GamingOnLinux.

 

[HoboForEternity]

overpriced crap with barely any support.

like it doesn't even know which market section it wanna reach. for those who don't have the budget > 500, they are better off getting a console which in raw performance still worse, but most likely better optimized.

for people who have budget > 500, then they better build a PC because it is a multi function tools too aside from gaming platform.

 

[Fedora Master]

Nobody could have foreseen that those things would fail. Nobody at all.

 

[Sentinel]

We've noticed that what started out as a routine cleanup of the Steam Store navigation turned into a story about the delisting of Steam Machines. That section of the Steam Store is still available, but was removed from the main navigation bar based on user traffic. Given that this change has sparked a lot of interest, we thought it'd make sense to address some of the points we've seen people take away from it.

While it's true Steam Machines aren't exactly flying off the shelves, our reasons for striving towards a competitive and open gaming platform haven't significantly changed. We're still working hard on making Linux operating systems a great place for gaming and applications. We think it will ultimately result in a better experience for developers and customers alike, including those not on Steam.

Through the Steam Machine initiative, we've learned quite a bit about the state of the Linux ecosystem for real-world game developers out there. We've taken a lot of feedback and have been heads-down on addressing the shortcomings we observed. We think an important part of that effort is our ongoing investment in making Vulkan a competitive and well-supported graphics API, as well as making sure it has first-class support on Linux platforms.

Recently we announced Vulkan availability for macOS and iOS, adding to its existing availability for Windows and Linux. We also rolled out Steam Shader Pre-Caching, which will let users of Vulkan-based applications skip shader compilation on their local machine, significantly improving initial load times and reducing overall runtime stuttering in comparison with other APIs. We'll be talking more about Shader Pre-Caching in the coming months as the system matures.

At the same time, we're continuing to invest significant resources in supporting the Vulkan ecosystem, tooling and driver efforts. We also have other Linux initiatives in the pipe that we're not quite ready to talk about yet; SteamOS will continue to be our medium to deliver these improvements to our customers, and we think they will ultimately benefit the Linux ecosystem at large.

In general, and if you have any questions or feedback on the topics above, feel free to reach out to me at pgriffais@valvesoftware.com.

Thanks!
- Pierre-Loup

https://steamcommunity.com/app/221410/discussions/0/1696043806550421224/

 

[Irata]

Valve seems really intent on getting its customers to break free from Microsoft so I can see them continuing to push alternatives. I imagine they're afraid of what will happen if Windows becomes a walled garden. Not that I'm complaining. Microsoft's monopoly as the gaming OS needs to end (even if I wouldn't switch to another OS).

 

[HoboForEternity]

agree, but they really need better tactic. first and foremost, steamOS needs to be easy to make games work with so AAA can be bothered with it, and indies dont have to spend too much resources.

steam OS needs to offer something more than videogames too. alot of PC gamers use their computers to do other stuff too. work/school/etc. i use mine to design phamplets / catalouge for work and doing spreadsheet in glorious 1440p, back in college i used it to render and edit videos when i worked as freelance video editor.

if they gonna go as full videogame paltform, steamOS could work as a secondary OS you install in other drives/partitions, but it really need an edge over playing games on windows. if someone is gonna go trough the hasle of installing two OSes, and logging off/on to new OS everytime they want to work or play games, the payoff better worth it.

since steamOS is just a modified linux, i don't think it offer much advantage over regular linux/windows.

it's a steep battle they gonna fight and honestly there are probably alot smarter people than me in valve and i hope they figure it out to outdo windows because it's getting shittier, yet hold monopoly over most of software/games especially available on PC

 

[Latelistener]

It's like bought Steam Machines suddenly stopped working and exploded, once Valve removed the section from Steam.
I think they didn't even expect it to be a large success. They gathered a necessary feedback, and will probably try something else in the future.

 

[Infinitron]

New report by Steamspy Sergey: https://galyonk.in/steam-in-2017-129c0e6be260

Summary at PCGamesN: https://www.pcgamesn.com/steam-2017-revenue-growth-sales-performance

Cheap games don't sell, but prices are plummeting on Steam anyway

Whenever SteamSpy’s founder Sergey Galyonkin shares insights from his creation, it is never less than interesting. At GDC this year he gave his latest report on the state of Steam, and it’s a fascinating mixed bag. The headlines: sales and prices are dropping, despite premium price points being the most lucrative, and despite last year having been Steam’s best so far - by certain measures.

Last year Steam grew by every significant metric: overall game sales, total revenue generated (up to $4.3bn from $3.5bn in 2016, not including DLC sales, microtransactions, or free-to-play games), and audience size. Indeed, Galyonkin says 63 million Steam users signed up in 2017, representing 22% of the platform’s total 291 million players, so it is still growing at an astonishing rate.

However, sales-per-game and average prices are both going down. Three years ago, about 32,000 people owned the median game on Steam. Now, that figure is 9,500. For an indie, it is 5,000. For an indie released in 2017, it’s just 1,500.

In possibly related news, prices are also dropping: the median price for a game now is just $5.99. That’s $3.99 for an indie, and $2.99 for an indie released in 2017. Galyonkin’s analysis: “the pricing situation is becoming more and more unhealthy, and reminds me of the pre-iOS 11 App Store. The race to zero is on.”

These new problems compound the familiar problem of surging game releases, and the attendant discoverability challenge. As of February this year there were 21,406 games on Steam, of which 7,696 (or 39%) were released in 2017 alone. In the indie sector, there were 2,149 indies on Steam in 2015, and 13,624 as of February 2018. So while Steam is growing, the audience simply can’t keep pace with the flood of new releases.

In light of this, Galyonkin notes that counting medians and averages is “starting to lose its meaning”. At the top end of the market, the revenue needed to crack Steam’s top 2,000 games has not changed much: $150,000 in 2017 versus $160,000 in 2016.

Speaking of bestsellers, these were the most lucrative games on Steam last year.

Not many surprises: PUBG, CS:GO, and GTA V make up the top three, with triple-A dominating the list. Indie exceptions include Divinity: Original Sin 2, Rocket League, Ark, and Cuphead.

Of those, none sit at the $9.99 price point, “a so-called sweet spot that a lot of indies love”, as Galyonkin says. If you take out PUBG (which costs $29.99 and sold enough by itself to skew the data), the most lucrative price points on Steam are actually $19.99 and $59.99, with those two prices accounting for 40% of all revenue.

“Surprise: cheap games do not make a lot of money,” says Galyonkin. “People are still mostly buying relatively expensive and quality titles.”

Galyonkin full report is on Medium here and is well worth a read.

 

[Gerrard]

"Quality titles"

 

[Sentinel]

Cheap games don't sell

hmmmm. I wonder what he's considering "games" here. Probably the shovelware indie trash mentioned above somewhere else in the thread.

 

[Average Manatee]

agree, but they really need better tactic. first and foremost, steamOS needs to be easy to make games work with so AAA can be bothered with it, and indies dont have to spend too much resources.

steam OS needs to offer something more than videogames too. alot of PC gamers use their computers to do other stuff too. work/school/etc. i use mine to design phamplets / catalouge for work and doing spreadsheet in glorious 1440p, back in college i used it to render and edit videos when i worked as freelance video editor.

if they gonna go as full videogame paltform, steamOS could work as a secondary OS you install in other drives/partitions, but it really need an edge over playing games on windows. if someone is gonna go trough the hasle of installing two OSes, and logging off/on to new OS everytime they want to work or play games, the payoff better worth it.

since steamOS is just a modified linux, i don't think it offer much advantage over regular linux/windows.

it's a steep battle they gonna fight and honestly there are probably alot smarter people than me in valve and i hope they figure it out to outdo windows because it's getting shittier, yet hold monopoly over most of software/games especially available on PC

95% of the people who don't already have a PC of significant capability do not know what an OS is. 99% will not care if you told them. 99.9% will consider the computer "broken" if it doesn't pop up the exact same windows desktop they've always seen and have the exact same compatibility with all of their programs.

The only thing that is going to get rid of Windows is if Microsoft manages to kill it. And given how hard they've trying so far to no success the chances of them succeeding must be pretty low.

 

[LESS T_T]

The day has come. The chosen one is here.

Valve is also celebrating it.

#10 - Far Cry 5
#9 - Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
#8 - Far Cry 5
#7 - PixARK
#6 - Grand Theft Auto V
#5 - Far Cry 5
#4 - Far Cry 5
#3 - Far Cry 5
#2 - PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS
#1 - Far Cry 5

(No, this is really the list Valve [most likely automatically] published.)

Last week's top seller list (based on revenues, microtransactions do not count) is boring as ever. To spice things up, I added changes of onwers based on Steamspy (shamelessly copied from SteamDB):

#10 - The Long Dark (+87,679)
#9 - Grand Theft Auto V (+56,808)
#8 - Warhammer: Vermintide 2 (+65,168)
#7 - Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (+288,864)
#6 - PixARK (+61,333)
#5 - Far Cry 5 (+226,504)
#4 - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR (+22,175)
#3 - Far Cry 5 (+226,504)
#2 - Far Cry 5 (+226,504)
#1 - PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS (+240,763)

Yeah, considering the prices, Far Cry 5 would have been #1 again if the entries are merged into one.

 

[Gerrard]

>#1 - PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS (+240,763)
Who the fuck keeps buying this garbage? Didn't every easily impressionable retard already buy it by now?

 

[Latelistener]

Who the fuck keeps buying this garbage?

Chinese. They're like locusts.
I was hoping that Tencent will block it on Steam for China, and make their own client, but it just isn't happening.

Owners: 33,372,070 ± 173,315

 

[LESS T_T]

I was hoping that Tencent will block it on Steam for China, and make their own client, but it just isn't happening.

As far a I understand Chinese Steam players are still a small subset of entire Chinese gaming market. So I wonder if they think Steam as sortof test market for them, to find out foreign games that could sell in China. Tencent could not know PUBG would be a massive hit in China if Steam wasn't accessible to their audience.

Indeed Tecent already brought a number of Steam games to broader Chinese audience with their own client (IIRC non-Steam Chinese version of Don't Starve sold millions of copies).

 

[Latelistener]

Almost a year ago they even launched their own gaming platform called WeGame, primarily for the internal market.

 

[LESS T_T]

Last week's top seller list (based on revenues, microtransactions do not count) is boring as ever. To spice things up, I added changes of onwers based on Steamspy (shamelessly copied from SteamDB):

#10 - The Long Dark (+87,679)
#9 - Grand Theft Auto V (+56,808)
#8 - Warhammer: Vermintide 2 (+65,168)
#7 - Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (+288,864)
#6 - PixARK (+61,333)
#5 - Far Cry 5 (+226,504)
#4 - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR (+22,175)
#3 - Far Cry 5 (+226,504)
#2 - Far Cry 5 (+226,504)
#1 - PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS (+240,763)

Yeah, considering the prices, Far Cry 5 would have been #1 again if the entries are merged into one.

Weekly top sellers list (based on revenues, microtransactions do not count) What is an RPG? Edition:

#10 - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR
#9 - Warhammer: Vermintide 2
#8 - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition
#7 - Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
#6 - Divinity: Original Sin 2
#5 - Far Cry 5
#4 - FINAL FANTASY XV WINDOWS EDITION
#3 - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Game of the Year Edition
#2 - Far Cry 5
#1 - PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS

 

[vonAchdorf]

Interesting that the list is dominated by old and very old games.

 

[racofer]

I wonder how much money has Bethesda made out of Skyrim alone so far.