The Valve and Steam Platform Discussion Thread

[PlayerEmers]

I'm curious how this timeline would look, if Steam never became a thing. Would something else take its place? Would we still be able to buy “DRM-free” disc based PC games? Would PC gaming be dead, or perhaps in a better place, with less shovelware? Would the indie sphere ever explode without a store like Steam? Etc, etc.

Someone would eventually create a digital store but I bet PC as a gaming market would probably be way WAY smaller. I also believe without Steam, the indie game scene (and to some degree the game engine market) would be heavily impacted since 99% of them relies heavily on the current PC market (that was only possible thanks to Valve/Steam).

i buy games now that i have no intention of playing just because I own a deck

I'm also buying games solely to play on the deck. Been using it as a backlog machine and nostalgia tripping playing and replaying old stuff. Probably removed about 100 games from my backlog since last year and still doing it.
Funnily enough, my backlog list actually increased quiet a lot because I bought even more stuff + picked forgotten games from my library that I never touched (keys from humble bundle and other random stuff)

 

[Elttharion]

I'm curious how this timeline would look, if Steam never became a thing. Would something else take its place? Would we still be able to buy “DRM-free” disc based PC games? Would PC gaming be dead, or perhaps in a better place, with less shovelware? Would the indie sphere ever explode without a store like Steam? Etc, etc.

Stardock already had a digital store platform before Steam. Blizzard also already Battle Net, tho I dont remember if you could directly buy games there. Xbox had a big indie program before Steam.

Steam biggest advantage was how agressive in pushing Steam they were with their own games and that these games were hugely popular at the time.

 

[mediocrepoet]

I'm curious how this timeline would look, if Steam never became a thing. Would something else take its place? Would we still be able to buy “DRM-free” disc based PC games? Would PC gaming be dead, or perhaps in a better place, with less shovelware? Would the indie sphere ever explode without a store like Steam? Etc, etc.

Stardock already had a digital store platform before Steam. Blizzard also already Battle Net, tho I dont remember if you could directly buy games there. Xbox had a big indie program before Steam.

Steam biggest advantage was how agressive in pushing Steam they were with their own games and that these games were hugely popular at the time.

HL2 started it and Orange Box was like a crowbar prying open the gates to push adoption.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Anyone else getting "This payment method is currently unavailable to use" -error message when trying to buy with Skrill?

 

[PlayerEmers]

risk of rain (and deadbolt) devs work at valve now

 

[Caim]

Oh boy, can't wait for them to stop making games.

Unless of course Gaben REALLY hated Risk of Rain.

 

[gooseman]

What's going on with all the lawsuits and license agreement changes? A bunch of law firms got tens of thousands to sue them, because the agreement includes a waiver of class action suits, but also Valve promised to pay $10k of your legal fees regardless of the outcome. That's an assload of money, and they're trying to weasel out of it, which seems like it's not happening.

 

[Modron]

What's going on with all the lawsuits and license agreement changes? A bunch of law firms got tens of thousands to sue them, because the agreement includes a waiver of class action suits, but also Valve promised to pay $10k of your legal fees regardless of the outcome. That's an assload of money, and they're trying to weasel out of it, which seems like it's not happening.

Wasn't the TL/DR they made it easier for class action suits but harder for individual arbitration? Something like the plaintiff has to show up in person at the county where valve is headquartered?

 

[deuxhero]

Apparently it used to be mandatory arbitration (a concept that should be burned in its entirety: Access to courts is natural right "which can neither be bartered away nor taken from them by any earthly power"), but then Valve realized they were vulnerable to the arbitration spam tactic (the same kind Patreon was, deservedly, hit with) and a third party vendor they used for arbitration actively tried to screw them, so they said "Fuck it, no more arbitration. Sue us instead if it's that big an issue." Whatever the origin, commentators I trust on this field (one a lawyer, one an expert on EULA-roofieing) say the new agreement is entirely better for you.

 

[Avonaeon]

Whatever the origin, commentators I trust on this field (one a lawyer, one an expert on EULA-roofieing) say the new agreement is entirely better for you

Louis Rossman?

 

[deuxhero]

Yes
Also


When I read it without knowing that it was a removal of forced arbitration I saw the only part applicable to me was forcing jurisdiction to Washington (not ideal but entirely understandable to include in a contract) and wondered what could have changed (I was wondering if this was another round of some Euro law forcing everyone, even outside of applicable regions, to get "we updated our ToS" emails).