The Valve and Steam Platform Discussion Thread

[Hobknobling]

TBH, Steam is so good as an app/software that it makes me wonder how Valve has managed to remain so based in this sea of mediocrity and shittiness from the mega corporations in gaming. Epic Games Store never stood a chance, even if it was actually good. Cause "good" is only a fraction of the greatness that Steam manifests.

Private company with a money printer that doesn't scale up with the amount of employees.

 

[lightbane]

Don't forget the spyware.

I believe in American Spyware, not Chinese Spyware.

Unfortunately you get the latter, not the former.

 

[Konjad]

Don't forget the spyware.

I believe in American Spyware, not Chinese Spyware.

Unfortunately you get the latter, not the former.

Why not both

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/st...-try-a-lot-of-different-things-over-the-years

Steam turns 20 today: "We've had to try a lot of different things over the years"​

"Feedback from devs and gamers is always a huge part" of platform's success, say Valve

The first time I heard of Steam it was, as you might expect, in conjunction with the release of a little FPS called Half-Life 2 back in 2004. You needed Steam to access it, whether you bought the digital version or a retail copy. Given relative unfamiliarity with digital distribution, the nascent status of broadband internet in the UK and US, and the much greater importance of physical game sales at the time, this caused quite a stir. I remember being alarmed by an op-ed over on GameRevolution.com that held forth at length about the risk of conflicts between Steam and other software, if players were outright required to leave it running. How quaint those anxieties seem today - the day of Steam's 20th anniversary. And yet, there's nothing quaint about Steam's ability to shape the field in which it operates.

Between 80,000 and 300,000 players participated in the Steam beta test before its official release on 12th September 2003. In January 2023, the service scored a concurrent activity record of 33 million users. That's greater than the population of Venezuela. For many players, Steam is simply the air we breathe. Open rivals like the Epic Games Store have so far failed to make much of a dent, while alternatives like the wonderful Itch.io have carved out a niche that is essentially predicated on not competing directly. Steam's rise has also been the transformation of Valve from a video game development studio into a sprawling retail empire. The company relied upon releases such as Counter-Strike and to a lesser extent, Half-Life 2 and the Orange Box, to drive early sign-ups, but the idea that Steam still needs Valve the developer the way Valve need Steam is a fading memory.


Image credit: Valve

It's equally bizarre to think that Steam was once thought of principally as a more convenient way of handling downloadable patches for games such as Counter-Strike (the latest iteration of which, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is still Steam's most-played game on a daily basis). The original Steam client didn't even have a storefront. And it's probably safe to say that Steam will always exist in a state of hectic evolution.


One of the platform's lingering existential questions is just how big a cut Valve should take from a game's revenues. Another is how to ensure that games without giant marketing budgets aren’t buried. Valve introduced a crowd-sourced submission service in 2012, Steam Greenlight, to speed up the release of new games, rather than Valve doing the "hand-picking" themselves. Greenlight proved unfit for purpose in Valve's eyes, and was later replaced by Steam Direct, which itself led to the introduction of various algorithmic personalisation systems. In recent times, Valve have cultivated a volunteer army of Steam curators, user reviewers and "explorers" to help curate the offering. They have come and, mostly, gone over how actively they should moderate the Steam community for abuse and hate speech.

Steam has an unequalled influence on the culture of both making and playing games. When Valve sneezes, the industry and community catch a cold. Technicalities like the introduction of a two-hour window for refunds in 2015 have had a top-to-bottom effect on how games are designed and thought about. The creation of the Steam Marketplace, following the addition of lootboxes to Team Fortress 2, is one of the most significant steps along the road to the normalisation of in-game monetisation. When Steam relaxed its policies on games with adult content, it led to both a wave of baleful porno titles and a surge in more heartfelt or witty explorations of sex in games. When Valve embraced the early access model popularised by Minecraft, they shifted understanding of things like bugs and helped redefine the relationship between developers and players as an on-going "conversation", for better and worse.

"Our goal with Steam from the very beginning was to make it easier for game developers to reach (or find and start building) their audience; and for players to find games they like (and to get updates on those games)," Valve told RPS over email this week, in a general response to a series of questions about the service's life and times. "Part of that was based on our own needs as devs ourselves, but we were also hearing from groups of developers outside of Valve who really didn't want or need to go the traditional publishing route; they just wanted a way to reach players.

"These have been our clear objectives from day 1, but we've had to try a lot of different things over the years to figure out how to get there. Feedback from devs and gamers is always a huge part of that."

Valve added that "we don't see this anniversary as 'yay we did it!' but more like 'yay everyone on Steam has helped this grow into something cool, let's keep doing it!'"

Some thoughts on all this from Alice0: "I hated Steam when it first launched. As frustrating as it was queueing to download patches from FilePlanet, at least that was a one-off. Steam was there every day, slowing my already-slow computer for little benefit. And one of the main supposed benefits, the Friends list, was soon broken for more years than I can remember. Still, I had little choice if I wanted to keep playing Half-Life mods. Thankfully, over time, Steam improved enough to fade into the background. It's Steam. It's just there. That's where most my games are."

What would the field of gaming be, without Steam? It is a Question, isn't it. I'm interested to read your thoughts and memories. In the meantime, happy birthday Steam.

 

[gabel]

Bester Beitrag seit langem.

 

[Infinitron]

https://store.steampowered.com/sale/steam20

 

[gabel]

https://store.steampowered.com/sale/steam20

Schlechtester Beitrag seit ner Weile.

 

[Elttharion]

Valve fails to get out of paying its EU geo-blocking fine

Valve has failed to convince a court that it didn't infringe EU law by geo-blocking activation keys, according to a new ruling. The company argued that, based on copyright law, publishers had the right to charge different prices for games in different countries. However, the EU General Court confirmed that its geo-blocking actions "infringed EU competition law"and that copyright law didn't apply.

"Copyright is intended only to ensure for the right holders concerned protection of the right to exploit commercially the marketing or the making available of the protected subject matter, by the grant of licences in return for payment of remuneration," it wrote in a statement. "However, it does not guarantee them the opportunity to demand the highest possible remuneration or to engage in conduct such as to lead to artificial price differences between the partitioned national markets."


The original charges centered around activation keys. The commission said Valve and five publishers (Bandai Namco, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax) agreed to use geo-blocking so that activation keys sold in some countries — like Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary and Latvia — would not work in other member states. That would prevent someone in, say, Germany buying a cheaper key in Latvia, where prices are lower. However, doing so violates the EU's Digital Single Market rules, which enforces an open market across the EU.

The five developers were given a reduced fine of €7.8 million (over $9.4 million at the time) for cooperating, but Valve decided to fight and faced the full €1.6 million, or more than $1.9 million penalty. In a statement back in 2021, Valve said that the charges didn't pertain to PC games sold on Steam, but that it was accused of locking keys to particular territories at the request of publishers. It added that it turned off region locks for most cases (other than local laws) in 2015 because of the EU's concerns.

The court rejected the appeal and backed the original EU Commission's decision that the companies’ actions had “unlawfully restricted cross-border sales” of games. As a result, Valve is still subject to the original €1.6 million fine — but it has two months and ten days to appeal. Engadget has reached out to Valve for comment.

 

[Bad Sector]

Good, geo-blocking is stupid, if i buy something i should be able to use it regardless of the country i am in.

 

[Alienman]

My account today...

 

[SlamDunk]

https://gamalytic.com/blog/steam-revenue-infographic

 

[Infinitron]

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamworks/announcements/detail/3749866608167579206

Coming Soon: Security improvements for managing builds and Steamworks users
We wanted to give everyone a heads up on some important changes to how builds will be managed in Steamworks, along with adding new users to your Steamworks partner. As part of a security update, any Steamworks account setting builds live on the default/public branch of a released app will need to have a phone number associated with their account, so that Steam can text you a confirmation code before continuing. The same will be true for any Steamworks account that needs to add new users. This change will go live on October 24, 2023, so be sure to add a phone number to your account now. We also plan on adding this requirement for other Steamworks actions in the future.

See below for more info.

Managing builds

For any released app, if you want to update a build to the default branch, Steam will text you a confirmation code. You will need to enter this code in order to set the default branch. Note that you will not need a code if your app is not yet released, or if you are updating a beta branch.

Adding Users

Only admin accounts in your Steamworks partner group can invite other users, and inviting a new user requires that new user to confirm their email address. But with this update we're adding one more security step: the admin account inviting the new user will need to enter an SMS code before sending the invite. Learn more about inviting and managing users here.

FAQ:

Q
: I set my builds live to the default branch via SetAppBuildLive. Will I still need to enter a SMS code?
A
: That’s impressive! We’ve also updated this API to take in a steamID, and will send that steamID a confirmation request via the Steam Mobile app. So be sure you have access to the Steam account that is passed in, and have the Steam Mobile app ready to use. Note that on October 24, 2023, we’ll be updating version 1 of this API to require a valid steamID. You can begin testing this by using version 2 of this API and supplying an additional “steamid” parameter along with the existing parameters. You will always be able to pass in a steamID to require confirmation of the build if you’d like, but the “steamid” parameter will only be required for changes to the public/default branch of a released app. You may continue using existing infrastructure to upload beta branches, or apps that are not yet released without supplying a “steamid” for confirmation for quicker iteration.

Q
: I set my builds live via steamcmd. Will I need to enter a SMS code for that?
A
: No, but that’s because steamcmd can no longer be used to set the default branch for a released app. You can continue using steamcmd to upload your builds and prepare beta test branches, but when you’re ready to flip your content to your default branch and your app is released, you’ll need to sign in to the Steamworks website and do so from there.

Q
: I don’t have a phone. What should I do?
A
: Sorry, but you’ll need a phone or some way to get text messages if you need to add users or set the default branch for a released app.

https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-malware-attack-new-security/

Valve adds new security check after attackers compromise Steam accounts of multiple game devs and update their games with malware​

Fewer than 100 Steam users had the games installed, but Valve is adding a new SMS verification step for all developers to try to prevent it from happening again.

The Steam accounts of multiple game developers were recently compromised and used to update their games with malware. Fewer than 100 Steam users had the games installed when the malware was added, and they've been directly notified of the risk by email, according to Valve. The company confirmed details of the story, reported earlier this week by GameDiscoverCo newsletter founder Simon Carless, in an email to PC Gamer today.

Although this attempt to use Steam to distribute malware wasn't very effective, Valve has taken a major step to prevent it from happening again. Starting October 24, game developers will be required to pass a two-factor authentication check before updating the default branch of a released game—the version that Steam will automatically deliver in an automatic update to most players who have it installed.

An SMS text message will be the only way to receive the two-factor code, so Steam partners must register a mobile phone number to be used any time they want to update their game's main release version. To developers who don't have a phone, Valve's post about the change says "sorry," but they'll "need a phone or some way to get text messages" if they want to continue updating their games.

Valve tells PC Gamer that this "extra friction" for partners is a "necessary tradeoff for keeping Steam users safe and developers aware of any potential compromise to their account." This recent incident hasn't been the only attempt to gain illegitimate access to Steam partner accounts: Valve says it has seen "an uptick in sophisticated attacks" targeting the accounts of devs who release games on Steam.

Steam partners will also need to use SMS verification to add new users to their group, and Valve says that it plans to add the two-factor security check to other Steam backend actions in the future.

One of the games temporarily compromised was NanoWar: Cells VS Virus, whose developer, Benoît Freslon, said on X that he was himself the victim of malware which stole his browser access tokens, giving the attackers temporary access to any web service he was logged into at the time. "I just used my dev account to release the game few hours before the hack I suppose," he said.

 

[ferratilis]

You know those big banners on Steam when a new game comes out? Turns out, those are not bought by publishers, but rather Valve chooses what and when to promote. Though, it makes sense that they want people to see a new and popular thing, with their cut being 30% and all.

 

[Bad Sector]

TBH i think this is better than the banners being bought as it means Valve can promote games from niche and smaller developers/publishers instead of only those who have the most money to throw. In theory at least.

 

[Elttharion]

Steam is working on allowing you to mark a game as private and hide it from your friends.

 

[Peachcurl]

Corn game sales will increase tenfold.

Tyranicon rejoice!

 

[Modron]

Corn game sales will increase tenfold.

@Tyranicon rejoice!

Did your owner forget to feed you?

 

[Peachcurl]

Did your owner forget to feed you?

Are you having a bad day? That sucks, bro.

 

[Late Bloomer]

Steam is working on allowing you to mark a game as private and hide it from your friends.

That's pathetic.

 

[Alienman]

Come on Steam.

 

[Gerrard]

Steam is working on allowing you to mark a game as private and hide it from your friends.

Huh? I thought this was already added as an option long ago.

 

[Modron]

Are you having a bad day? That sucks, bro.

I was referring to your talk of corn games.

Come on Steam.

Yeah you have to restart steam every few days because of all the memory leaks this chrome version has.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

You can hide games but it's just so your library isn't cluttered (they only show up if you search for the name or click on show hidden), this is hiding games from other users without having to make your entire profile private. It could have some use in this era of "fired for liking a post on Twitter".

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

I will not hide that I play Evenicle 24/7.

 

[Peachcurl]

Are you having a bad day? That sucks, bro.

I was referring to your talk of corn games.

Ah, I see, sorry.

But dogs don't eat corn.

Cats on the other hand...