The Valve and Steam Platform Discussion Thread

[Alienman]

Funny. It started to work now after my post. At least inside of Steam.

 

[ds]

Been going on for hours now. So something must be truly fucked over at Valve.

WHOIS already showed the domain as active hours ago so Valve were probably just waiting for for the .com DNS servers to update, which is not something they can control.

 

[ferratilis]

A general increase in revenue spending across the board during major Steam sales.

35% of Steam users use English. 28% on Simplified Chinese. A whopping 65% of all Steam users have selected non-English languages as their primary language.

Key Growth Countries the past 5 years.

Steam has continued to show excellent growth long after the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID Pandemic.

 

[Alienman]

The reds are coming.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

What's with growth in Japan?
Isn't that Sony or Nintendo territory?

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

What's with growth in Japan?
Isn't that Sony or Nintendo territory?

Apex Legends, Minecraft and Skyrim

 

[Squidhead]

What's with growth in Japan?
Isn't that Sony or Nintendo territory?

People are starting to realize there's no difference between current gen consoles and PCs.

 

[Kev Inkline]

What's with growth in Japan?
Isn't that Sony or Nintendo territory?

Apex Legends, Minecraft and Skyrim

Minecraft is not on Steam. Maybe that was a joke, never relax/know around here.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

What's with growth in Japan?
Isn't that Sony or Nintendo territory?

Apex Legends, Minecraft and Skyrim

Minecraft is not on Steam. Maybe that was a joke, never relax/know around here.

Oh yeah, but those three are like the outliers that explain why people might want a PC and as a consequence start buying games on Steam.

 

[ferratilis]

What's with growth in Japan?
Isn't that Sony or Nintendo territory?

This is from two years ago, it has increased more since then. It's a combination of factors that led to this increase, however mobile is still king over there.

https://www.serkantoto.com/2022/11/06/japan-pc-gaming-market/

Japan’s PC Gaming Market Doubles In Size In 3 Years​

By Dr. Serkan Toto
November 6, 2022

Mobile is king in Japan’s gaming market, there can be no doubt about that.
In terms of market size, mobile gaming has become about 3x bigger than console gaming in Japan over the last decade.
But what about Japan’s PC gaming market, long considered a niche?

Japan’s PC Game Market Is Becoming Bigger​

For the longest time, the leading industry data providers in Japan either didn’t bother to release numbers on the size of the Japanese PC game market or buried them at the end of their reports somewhere.
This is now changing.
According to Japanese think tank KADOKAWA ASCII Research Laboratories, Japan’s overall gaming market was worth around 2 trillion yen in 2021 (console hardware and software, smartphone and PC games combined).
The sum currently translates to just US$13.7 billion – but note the yen has been falling drastically in 2021.
KADOKAWA ASCII says that Japan’s PC gaming market in particular was worth 131.3 billion yen (US$896 million) that year.
Now, what’s interesting is that the size of the PC gaming market in 2021 roughly doubled versus 2018 – so there is definitely significant growth here.

Gamers In Japan Are More Accepting Of The PC Than Ever​

KADOKAWA ASCII also says there were 16 million PC game users in Japan in 2021 – among a total gamer base of 55.4 million people (Japan’s population was around 126 million last year).
Here, too, a comparison provides more context: in 2015, the same company identified just 11 million PC gamers in Japan – so the number grew a whopping 45% by 2021 (the total gamer population back then was just 45 million – so it grew by just 22%).
Going back to 2021, KADOKAWA ASCII says of those 16 million PC gamers in Japan, 4.5 million played exclusively on that platform (while the others also played on consoles or smartphones).
That number is up an incredible 100% up from 2.2 million PC-exclusive Japanese gamers in 2015.

Multiple Factors Behind The PC Gaming Boom In Japan​

So what happened?
Japan actually has a rich history of early PC games that started on home-grown computers around the early 1980s.
It is correct that soon after, consoles and later smartphones took over, but PC gaming was really never dead in Japan and its niche character has always been a bit exaggerated in my view.
As just one example, DeNA (2432) was successful in scaling a PC-based social gaming platform in Japan to over 10 million users around 10 years ago.
The main factors behind the current boom are:

• Corona effects (enlarging the user base of gamers in Japan overall, with the tide also spilling over to the PC)
• The continued lack of availability of the PS5 in Japan, leading some hardcore users to turn to PCs to play high-fidelity games
• A growing acceptance of foreign and indie games, which are more accessible and often cheaper on Steam or the Epic store (PUBG was a particularly big driver for Japan’s PC gaming scene around 2017/2018)
• Improved local PC gaming platforms, i.e. that of DMM that wisely took PUBG to Japan early on (the game moved from DMM to Japan’s Steam store in 2021)
• Simply more availability of Japan-made PC games, driven by new insight of Japan’s studios such as Capcom (9697) that this platform can be actually very lucrative (Steam in particular is among the standard launch platforms for many Japanese studios nowadays, something very rare just a few years ago)
• Rare but existing home-grown PC-first hits like Final Fantasy 14 or Kantai Collection
• The rise of blockchain gaming in Japan (most such games are still computer-only, and Japan has a healthy community of blockchain enthusiasts)
• Steam has a drastically improved store front for the Japanese audience and expanded its presence (the first iterations several years ago were terrible and didn’t even offer prices in yen, for example – but the usability is now much better, physical Steam top-up cards are available everywhere in Japan etc.)
• Smartphone hits like Uma Musume from CyberAgent (4751), Memento Mori from Bank Of Innovation (4393) or Heaven Burns Red from GREE (3632) are increasingly present on the PC as well, in some cases on day one
• etc.

The list above is not complete, and I am fully aware not every point set the PC gaming market in Japan on fire by itself – but the individual factors combined certainly have been and still are self-reinforcing themselves over time.
I believe the trend to a bigger PC game industry in Japan will continue in the next several years.
For example, Valve says that Japan not only finally entered Steam’s top 10 country ranking but currently boasts one of the highest growth rates worldwide.
As another interesting factoid, 40 of the 60 games showcased by Japan’s big 6 video game studios at this year’s Tokyo Game Show were compatible with Steam – as opposed to just 38 for PS5 (according to a check by The Nikkei).
For foreign PC game makers specifically, there can be no doubt it has never been simpler to enter the Japanese market than today.

 

[Catacombs]

The reds Microsoft acqusition are is coming.

 

[lycanwarrior]

Valve being sued for £656m in UK amid accusations of Steam market rigging​

Backed by law firm behind PlayStation suit.

https://www.eurogamer.net/valve-bei...d-accusations-of-market-rigging-through-steam

Valve is being sued for £656m by a UK digital rights campaigner, who claims the company is rigging the PC games market and deliberately "shutting out" competition through Steam.

The accusations have been made in a collective action claim filed with the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal by digital rights activist Vicki Shotbolt. As per an accompanying website encouraging people to join the claim, the suit alleges Valve's conduct "amounts to an abuse of its dominant position which is in breach of UK competition law". It also argues 14m people in the UK have been overcharged for PC games as a result, and is seeking compensation of between £22 and £44 for each one.

 

[Rahdulan]

So this is happening? Is Cream API next? What everyone is wondering is what this means for Paradox DLC.

 

[Jonathan "Zee Nekomimi]

We have been made aware that steam is now blocking this tool, if you don’t have anything constructive to add (bypasses or fixes) please refrain from posting about it.
If you have the same error & can provide more information (method of using Smoke, Game etc) feel free to share that as well.

From 3 days ago so. On cream API nothing so far.

 

[Rahdulan]

Some demo updates. They can be reviewed now, which is probably the biggest change.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/593110/view/6233628070477025190

Updates to Free Demos on Steam
With thousands of playable demos launching on Steam every year, and millions of players trying them out (often as part of Steam Next Fest), we've noticed some trends in feedback from both developers and players about the process and functionality. We've put together an update based on that feedback.

As a reminder, you can always find great demos to play on the Steam demo hub.

Demos now behave better in the Steam library
We've made a few updates to how demos appear and behave within the Steam Library. Here are the key items:

• You can add demos to your library without having to immediately install them. Just click on the new "add to library" button next to demos you may not be ready to install (while using the mobile app, for instance).
• Demos can be installed even if you already own the full game. Primarily, this will make it easier for developers to test demos, but it will also help players more easily manage installing/uninstalling demos.
• Demos can be explicitly removed from an account by right-clicking > manage > remove from account.
• When a demo is uninstalled, it will automatically get removed from your library.

Demos can now have a separate store page

By default, free demos appear as a button on the full game's store page. But, developers have been asking for a way to enable a full store page to better describe the contents of the demo, add separate screenshots, upload a trailer, and specify supported features. So, that is now possible and you'll find that clicking on a demo sometimes loads a full demo store page while other times will take you to the full game's page with a button to install the demo.

Tight connection with the full game
Stand-alone demo store pages will automatically display both the demo install button as well as a widget linking back to the full game for players interested in wishlisting or purchasing the full game.

User reviews for demos
If developers have chosen to enable a store page for their demo, it will also be possible for players of the demo to post user reviews for the demo. These reviews and review score will appear on the demo store page just like reviews for any other free game on Steam. Note that if the developer has chosen to not have a separate store page for their demo, then user reviews will not be enabled for that demo.


Demos now appear more in the Steam store

Demos now behave more like free games and can appear in all the same sections and lists. For example, demos can now appear on the Steam homepage in charts such as the "New & Trending", on the "New on Steam" page, and on relevant tag and category pages. We've also made some changes to the thresholds for free products to appear in those sections to better balance them with paid products.

Of course you can always find great demos to play on the Steam demo hub.

Wishlist notifications when demos become available
We've now also made it so that when a demo becomes available for the first time for a game that you have on your Steam wishlist, or from a developer you follow, Steam can send you an email and mobile notification about that demo.

You can opt in or out of these emails by updating your email preferences.


Infrequently Asked Questions
Q. What is the deal with the Demo icon? Is that a plate? A vinyl record?
A. That classic icon, my friend, is from the days when demos were commonly distributed through the post office, contained in a bound package of game journalism printed on dead trees and imprinted on circular media known as Compact Discs.

Q. Some demos just appeared in my Steam library. How did those get there?
A. We've made some changes to visibility of demos in the Steam Library, which may effect demos that you played long ago. We've tried our best to clean up the demos that we expect you don't care about anymore, but we may have missed some. You can easily remove those by right-clicking them in your Steam library and selecting manage > remove from account.

Q. I love free demos. When is the next Steam Next Fest?
A. Check back on October 14th for the next weeklong Steam Next Fest, featuring hundreds of new free playable demos! You can sign up for a reminder by visiting the Next Fest page now: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/nextfest

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.eurogamer.net/half-life...e-actor-who-probably-has-never-heard-of-steam

 

[lycanwarrior]

Valve unintentionally set the stage for today's digital economic hellscape, according to its former economist in residence​

https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-indu...cording-to-its-former-economist-in-residence/

In an interview with Aftermath, Yanis Varoufakis, former economist in residence at Valve, says that the company unintentionally prototyped the digital economic hellscape we're currently forced to languish under. That hellscape is the subject of his book Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, published earlier this year, and it's one he says he helped create.

As Varoufakis describes it, we no longer live under capitalism. Instead, he says we're in the age of "technofeudalism," a condition which emerged from and supplanted capitalism. The essential feature of this new era, according to the economist, are algorithmic fiefdoms that masquerade as marketplaces, extracting rent and dictating the terms of exchange while producing none of the goods themselves. Amazon is a prime example, as is Apple's App Store.

 

[Tyranicon]

technofeudalism

The Warhammer 40k version is way cooler than algorithms telling you to consume slop.

 

[PlayerEmers]

https://www.eurogamer.net/half-life...e-actor-who-probably-has-never-heard-of-steam

(Invidious link for the video if you dont want to give tyler mcvicker views: https://yewtu.be/watch?v=36gF6eiCsqU )
Not sure what to think but still interesting.

 

[ferratilis]

 

[Rövtomte]

That guy is special. Not in a good way.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

People will just upvote whatever supports their personal bias.

 

[Alienman]

They should just let it be or I will start to downrate everything.

 

[Gerrard]

It still needs a "Only reviews longer than 200 characters" option.