Game Stores View Valve's Steam as the Devil

[timobkg]

[citation][nom]gh0st[/nom]Amen bruthaI agree with you 100%.. why are software only prices getting back up to the physical boxed versions?!? non of the packaging or printed material to drive up costs.So what's the deal?[/citation]
The deal is that the packaging and printed material is a minuscule cost of making the game. They still make a manual, so they don't save money on the writers, editors, and artists. They only save on having to print it. The packaging and printing material costs $1-2, so there's really no savings to pass on, and most people ignore the packaging and printed material. I get a game, pop the disk in, and go. In-game tooltips tell me everything I need to know, and the box and manual just gather dust on a shelf.

 

[NuclearShadow]

I truly do worry about putting all of ones eggs in one basket.
Remember that nothing lasts forever and Steam is not a exception to this rule. The unknown and the unforeseen could happen at anytime.
I will admit the chances of Steam facing a complete meltdown anytime soon is extremely slim.

Don't get me wrong I love Steam I just simply wish that it wasn't a requirement to boxed versions of games.

 

[dalta centauri]

I truly do worry about putting all of ones eggs in one basket.
Remember that nothing lasts forever and Steam is not a exception to this rule. The unknown and the unforeseen could happen at anytime.
I will admit the chances of Steam facing a complete meltdown anytime soon is extremely slim.

Don't get me wrong I love Steam I just simply wish that it wasn't a requirement to boxed versions of games.

If Steam does fail, it could easily tell us what's going to happen to the rest of pc gaming, as it'll fall and only indie gamers will be the last developers for pc gaming. Steam is a large factor for pc gaming, and it'll probably fail when Valve goes bankrupt one day in the future, other then that it should last just fine.

Why hasn't Steam gained a better price line category? They managed to have an "Under 5-10$ Games" selection, but they can't have a feature that helps us find games like Bad Company 2 for 30$.

 

[LightningStryk17]

Innovate or perish.

Look what happened to blockbuster and netflix.

 

[pandemic187]

Umm yeah...console games far outnumber PC games in licenses sold. This would be like MS complaining about Apple stealing their market share.

You still have damn near a total monopoly. Deal with it.

 

[pandemic187]

Also, unless Steam develops software that will run on consoles and works the same way as the PC version does, I would say retail stores really need to stop whining.