Report: Steam Has a Monopoly Over PC Gaming

[flyinfinni]

How the heck could they have an unfair monopoly? They found a product that people like and catered to it- what have they done unfairly? Just because no one else has been able to do anything to match it doesn't mean Steam has done anything wrong.

 

[thlillyr]

Itunes anyone? When you have a great product well supported rich with content at a fair price is it your fault everbody buys your stuff rather then the crappy alternative?

If your a buissnesman and your competetitor is doing better than you and you cry foul play then your an idiot and a crappy buissness man. Kids and immature teenagers cry foul play. Adults should Nut up and work harder and figure out how to be competitive.

 

[waikano]

Not sure that this has been stated since I don't feel like reading 4 pages of notes, so it looks like that Tom's hit a nerve with this one. But I am a PC gamer and although I have a Steam account with a few games on it, I rarely use it. In fact my son has hijacked it and haven't used it in over a year. And yet I PC game almost every day. Sorry I don't see a Monopoly.

 

[uso_bc]

I hate phisical media, they scratch, they loose, they take space.

Since used Steam Once no more media loosed, no need to find that DVD to play, no need to crack for no media legal games.
I reinstall windows, reinstall steam amd all my games ready next morning, no finding, no changing media...

Buy them on shelve.

 

[uso_bc]

ah, no patching, steam does ot for me on many games.

 

[Guest]

Lol, yet another "monopoly" that paradoxically exists despite _numerous_ alternatives, just like Microsoft. It's kind of sad that people are so stupid that they think a demand-created "monopoly" makes sense. A monopoly shouldn't be defined because people overwhelmingly _choose_ it, it should be defined because they have no other choices. In this case, a company can do web download from their own website or they can just sell it in stores. This whining is just rampant crybabyism.

 

[kanaric]

I guess according to this article stardock or gamersgate doesn't exist. Both of which have any steam game other than Valve products.

 

[bounty]

I bought 4 extra copies of Left 4 Dead as gifts for like 7$ each over the Christmas holiday just so I could run a lan party on Jan 1.

7 dollars.

They also had some nice deals on publisher collections, where you get say almost everything from THQ for like 50$ I'll take an 18 for 1 deal any day.

 

[invlem]

As long as I can hit the retail stores and obtain any bigger title I'd say they don't have a monopoly.

For indie games, sure they do, but without steam most of those indie games would never get the attention they deserve.

 

[triculious]

it's been mentioned before, but really, steam might be a monopoly as in there is no competitor able to catch up with it but it is not because steam went up with bad practices as breaking its competitor's legs
they are the best digital service out there by doing things right, keeping developers and customers as their top priority, pushing aggressive prices and providing a very stable service with a not-so-annoying drm

want to break the so-called steam monopoly? come up with the right business strategy and service... really, if you can't compete with steam it's because YOU are doing it wrong, not valve

 

[cakecake]

I had to reinstall windows and steam too... all my downloaded games were there for me to reinstall too! That's good service.

 

[antilycus]

someone needs to be fired... STEAM has a monopoly, LOL. Tell that to the energy companies in every state.

 

[noodlegts]

Is it a monopoly of digital distribution? Yes.

Is it an unfair monopoly? Absolutely not. Their product is simply better than the competition.

 

[beayn]

[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]I happily play all my Steam games at LAN parties by setting it to Offline mode.I do not have to be connected to the internetlet me repeat thatI do not have to be connected to the internetnotethis also works at homeif I want to play my Steam games offline I can do so[/citation]

Funny because that did not work for me for SupCom2. It hung trying to connect to steam, giving no message about doing offline mode. When manually placed in offline mode it poppped up immediately saying it could not connect to Steam and would not launch the game.

I am happy that you're happily playing your games in offline mode. Mine did not work.

 

[beayn]

[citation][nom]rhelme[/nom]A> Ever heard of offline modeB> You do NOT have to be connected to the net to play the game and if you get disconnected lose your games or your spots... Either your a troll, or are mixed up with the UBI-Soft deal and thinking that it applies to Steam as well.Some people never figure it out, and you sir, probably won't, but you do not have to be connected to play your game... well unless your playing online multiplayer and then you can't bitch about that...[/citation]

As pointed out to the troll above, it did not work for this particular game in offline mode. It demanded a connection.

Even if it did work in offline mode as you pointed out I wouldn't be able to play multiplayer. SupCom2 has no LAN mode and requires a Steam connection to play with or against someone, thus making it useless for LAN parties that don't have an internet connection or for playing a game with the wife next to me.

Perhaps it is an option of the developer to allow or disallow offline mode and demand a connection at all times.

 

[xandric]

Can Steam really have a monopoly when there are so many alternatives? I use it because I want to not because I have to. If the others want my business they will have to make their service more appealing to me than Steam. At the moment none of them are.

 

[buddhav1]

This is the same argument that Windows and Microsoft have had to deal with. People complaining that a superior product is stomping them. if 99% of software out there is PC compatible, including games, then of course Windows is going to be the best selling OS. It's just better for the masses. Apples have always seemed more of a specialized product to me, and I'm personally glad to see Steam moving over to that platform, because it's going to add depth to an entire segment of the market. More Computer gaming market=better games. Steam is the Windows of Digital Download gaming services. Calling them anti-competition is ridiculous. They're not stopping people from developing anything, they're just better at it. Are we actually going to start punishing people for making the effort to improve products? Has society really gotten to the point where we have to sue companies for doing too good of a job?

And if so, why hasn't Wal-Mart been sued yet?

 

[wcarthurii]

Steam FTW indeed!

1. saves paper/plastic (from cd boxes, manual, etc.) [im environmentally friendly]

2. no need to find your games (or keys for that matter)

3. gifting games is hella nice (4 packs rule)

4. no need to go stand in line or deal with bestbuy

5. uber sales! (try to find a sale on a new title at bby)

6. tools and demos! (often overlooked) who else will let you TRY CODMW2 for a weekend?

only real downside is having to share server bandwidth when downloading a game (much quicker to install from disc)

The only time I have thought about dropping Steam was over the whole Red Faction: Guerrilla game. (u kno the games for windows update that would never update) Played the game for about 5-7hrs in total, steam wouldnt support it, gfwl wouldnt support it, i just uninstalled it. asked steam for my money back and they pwnd me off to the publisher. From now on I just stay away from GFWL games.

 

[rockstone1]

How would you fix a monopoly anyway? You can force gamers to redirect to a different service.

 

[back_by_demand]

[citation][nom]beayn[/nom]Funny because that did not work for me for SupCom2. It hung trying to connect to steam, giving no message about doing offline mode. When manually placed in offline mode it poppped up immediately saying it could not connect to Steam and would not launch the game.I am happy that you're happily playing your games in offline mode. Mine did not work.[/citation]
Methinks you need to RTFM

 

[e-rock]

Even if steam has a monopoly.Gamers will not care. This is because Steam supports the gaming community. When problems arrise with digital downloads on your computer, you will find a fix in about a weeks time. To my knowlage there are still updates coming out for the original counter strike. When you support the fans and the comunity, they inturn will support you.
Games for windows is junk, If I want that hassle I'll play an xbox. knowing microsoft you would have to play to use their online services in the future. Steam...you don't.

EA online sucked because all EA does is put out a product then they will get to supporting the product when they feel like it. as great as BF2 was the support wasnt there. 5 years till the latest patch.(which is a pretty cool patch)

So kudo's to Steam.

 

[spoofedpacket]

Article: "Does Steam have an unfair monopoly of digital distribution?"

Why ask after you already said no? We just get four pages of people rephrasing the last two paragraphs. It's not like anyone is going to take a minority view on this site with the comment thumbs system enforcing popular opinion and nothing else.

 

[B-Unit]

Heheh, it was a long road Valve took to get here, I remember back in the HL1 days calling it 'Steaming' and wanting a way to replace that locomotive piece with a freshly pinched loaf. The service is MUCH better now, and hardly a monopoly, there are many games that just arn't on Steam.

 

[aerofly]

I have steam and impulse accounts. Steam is WAY better. If the other companies want in on the market, they need to have good service and wide game selection (like steam).

 

[deepsea]

I believe that Steam's monopoly will inspire lots of other companies to some great innovation. There are many areas for unique positioning and features like reselling digital games, cash back programs etc. Anyway, if you look at deal sites like www.deals4downloads.com you can see that there are many more digital distribution platforms.