Report: Steam Has a Monopoly Over PC Gaming

[simple_inhibition]

the reason steam is so popular is because there is nothing else like it. i like the steam cloud which saves my character in mw2 and many other games in case i need to do a reformat of my system so theres no more lost stats ect. also, i dont have to worry about losing a disk or a product key because i can just re-download the game (though it takes a lot longer than a disk. small trade off for the peace of mind imo) its easy to find and invite friends to my game.

in short, steam offers a better service for games and i feel it doesnt have a monopoly on games, after all, we are still waiting for HL2 episode 3

 

[digiex]

It's just a game...

 

[spikey_monkey]

I see a major misuse of the term "monopoly" in this article. Going around touting MONOPOLY on the PC market is quite silly. What I see is companies like Blizzard and Valve and potentially EA (though they distribute games on Steam) coalescing into tighter knit oligopolies, which is the exact same situation as Pepsi and Coke have. There will never be any legal action against this economic setup, and there is no chance for a monopoly, especially with other gaming giants in the arena. Econ 101 ftw

 

[-Fran-]

Uhm... Is it bad for the "good guys" to have control over a big thing that actually WORKS? I don't complain about it since their prices, even though I'd like them lowered sometimes, are really not a lot more/less than MSRP/street price. Service is awsome (please work on the voice server side, Valve/Steam ) and it has pretty nice deals (I didn't check on time for Borderlands, dammit).

Cheers!

 

[deadsheep]

steam, i feel, has single handedly kept pc gaming healthy. i forgo the discount i get at my work to buy from steam. they do everything right...giving serial codes, fast downloads, auto updates...its silly that this is happening. if other companies want in on the action, they need to create something that offers something that steam doesnt...thats what competition is all about...not getting special treatment when they realize that someone else came up with a good money making idea.

 

[samuraibiged]

I don't like the idea of having to load Steam just to play the single player game I purchased at the store, that is probably a borderline anti-trust violation. And as Franklin Hennersdorfer stated, I want my game purchases to be around as long as I have them, not as long as Steam is operating or otherwise changes their business model.

 

[jubalhharshaw]

Like a lot of people said, their service is the best and also the most customer friendly. If someone is worried that they become a monopolist games distributor, just clone the model. Drop the stupid invasive and restritive DRM like, Ubi's, securom and other crap and try to think about the customers and not about squeezing the paying customer. Also impulse is excelente, and I wish they secure their place in the market.
The other, I just wish that they stop whining and start trying to think in us, those who pay for their crappy games.

 

[rhelme]

[citation][nom]intelliclint[/nom]I'm not happy that Steam requires you to login and stay connected to play the games. They do track what you play, and how much you play it, whihc I'm not to happy with. I do like the accessablity, specials, and downloadable content. As far as I know valve has helped Indie games out, where no one else would touch them.[/citation]

If you decide to do a little foot work, you will find that you DO NOT have to be logged on to play all of steam's games. This is such a wide spread and outdated notion. When you add that shortcut to the desktop to play the game, it assumes that you want Steam to be loaded while you play so you can chat and use the Shift-Tab features. The real fact is that most games do not require you to be logged in to steam AT ALL EXCEPT for the first time you play to un-encrypt the game. Tell me what game you have that you HAVE to stay connected to steam to play and if you get disconnected you get booted?? The answer is there isn't one... the real answer is the perception, and in this case, the perception is an ignorant one.

 

[rhelme]

[citation][nom]False_Dmitry_II[/nom]My problem with steam is the same as with literally any other digital distribution system. Used games. The first sale doctrine.I still use them when I can get the price half off or less, but when it's a choice between buying mass effect 2 on amazon with no draconic copy protection or having it forever tidally locked to my steam account I'm not getting anywhere near choosing steam.[/citation]

Way to support those companies that bring you those games you enjoy. You buy used copies which the publisher gets no money, so that is less money they have to invest in new games AND for some to keep these servers like MW2 up and running for players. In a very round about way, the resale of games really ends up affecting the quality and the number of games you will play in the future...

If every copy sold of MW2 was new... that game company would have that much more money to pour into the next game, hire more developers and so forth...

Its a game of biting the had that feeds you..... you demand great games, and low prices, yet great games cost a fortune to produce and by buying only used copies, you make sure that that developer has less money to spend to make their next great game..

Thats why you will see the one time use codes, where if you want the map pack that everyone else has, and don't want to be stuck on the 3 maps, you will have to contact the publisher and pay 20 dollars to get the keycode that comes free in a new game that download the other 15 maps...

I buy all my games new, because as a developer if someone resells my work, I don't get that money....

 

[rhelme]

[citation][nom]deadsheep[/nom]steam, i feel, has single handedly kept pc gaming healthy. i forgo the discount i get at my work to buy from steam. they do everything right...giving serial codes, fast downloads, auto updates...its silly that this is happening. if other companies want in on the action, they need to create something that offers something that steam doesnt...thats what competition is all about...not getting special treatment when they realize that someone else came up with a good money making idea.[/citation]

Make a backup of the games that you download and burn them to DVD or Blu-Ray, and keep an up to date copy of a full steam install handy... that way you can install steam if it ever dies and restore your precious games from the backups...

 

[DawnTreader]

i love steam. in a lot of ways it is like windows 7. i know that probably sounds wierd, but both of them just work.

after my fresh installation of windows 7, which was as easy as putting in the disc and answering a few wizard questions, i tell steam to install, log into my account and viola, it knows what games i own, and if i want to play it installs them. who needs a backup? i can go have dinner while i wait for it to download and install the game.

the deals are fantastic. over christmas holidays i bought 5 games for less than $20. it is the iTunes of games.

there is only one other service from another company that i am interested in, OnLive. but since that is still some time from being a wide spread system i will use my steam.

Valve is one company who knows how to build great software.

 

[PoPoH]

Long Live Steam! I use Steam since 2003, never a problem, never down. Valve complete pack for 60US$? Come Get Some!

 

[anamaniac]

If anyone is to have it, I'm glad it's Steam at the moment.
Thy offer a great service at a great price. Other companies seem all too happy to just rape the PC gaming crowd...

 

[krzyinuyasha]

At first I didn't care for Digital Download of games. For the fact that 98% of the places that have it, state that you can only download the games one to three times and if you ever loose the install files you have to re-buy it.

Because of that I avoided Digital Download in all forms until I bought The Orange Box and Left 4 Dead on DVD and started using Steam. After reading through there TOS I found that they not only let you download unlimited amount of times and on as many PCs you want. They also have said else where that should Steam ever close down they would provide a activation utility for the games.

The other Advantage I see with Steam over other competitors is there Sales, most of the games I have bought have all been on sale from 33% to 80% off. I have yet to see any of these aspects provided like Valve does from the competition, and until they do IMO Steam will all ways dominate.

 

[back_by_demand]

Monopoly - Yes
Unfair - No

No one twists your arm to use Steam, there have been plenty of alternate digital download services and only Steam has really taken on, even against Microsoft. And before anyone accuses them of strongarm tactics are you seriously saying Steam can bully Microsoft?

Steam exists and is successful because it is good.

 

[takapa]

Wall of Text ahoy:

http://takapa.blogspot.com/

 

[takapa]

Steam is not a monopoly but it has the advantages of a monopoly. It is now seen as a safe port in the storm where users trust that they will be in business for a long time as valve is a very safe player.

Its hard as a small market to compete with a larger market in the digital download space. Why would I buy software from a market that may just disappear and leave me with DRM riddled broken software?

The solution, digital download rights. When you buy something via a market, you get some rights. And some of the rights you get is to be able to get your purchased content from another provider free of charge if your primary provider ceases to exist and/or function.

More text in the wall of text:

http://takapa.blogspot.com/2010/04/digital-download-markets-pcmaclinux.html

 

[qwoz]

Valve is awesome. My favorite developer and marketing geniuses. I happen to love steam and I don't believe it needs competition to continue to expand as a marketplace.

 

[uso_bc]

If they let publishers use STAM alongside with other retail and on-line services i think there in no monopoly.

I don not know if they force publishers to signs exclusivity contracts.

 

[beayn]

Why are so many people chalking it up to "best business model". A monopoly doesn't mean they have the best business model or the best software client to offer. It only means they gained popularity before the other companies did and now the developers choose it over the other clients because of that popularity. Windows is the same. It isn't that it's the best, it's that it is the most popular. Developers will choose it for that reason alone.

Steam has a much larger customer base than any other online client and that means developers will use it to distribute their games. It is a monopoly because of that and no other reason.

 

[beayn]

I can't stand Steam. Having to log in and remain connected to play a game is stupid. I have the original DVD and my internet goes out (frequently) and guess what... I can't play that game I just bought. It's like disabling games and apps on your phone just because you don't have a signal.

I bought Supreme Commander 2 original box, got it home, did the enormous 2gb update and just as it finished my internet kicked off for 12 hours and it wouldn't let me in. I will avoid STEAM games if at all possible.

 

[VWXYZ]

Give me something better than steam and I'll be happy.

Until then: don't hinder steams progress, help the other services.

with that said: If steam threats other devs bad or use unfair matchmaking, that of course has to stop.

 

[lowguppy]

As said, Steam dominates because there is no service providing comparable quality. Its not like the Apple App store where software gets rejected for commerical reasons (Skype over pressure from AT&T) or no good reason at all.

If Valve does have the leverage to harm other developers (which I doubt) they don't. Their products stand on their own, and they provide a great way for indie games to get distributed. If anyone has a monopoly on PC game distribution its EA, who owns multiple developers and studios and doesn't have any incentive to support smaller indie operations.

 

[Guest]

I am an AVID PcGamer, and have never even installed steam on my PC, Yres I may be missing a few of Valves games, but there is more choice of hard box set games out there than steam could ever offer and I like to have the physical media for my game. If Steam were to offer the newest games at the correctly adopted price for a purely download product with no manuals, media box art work then I may, possibly consider them as an option.

Nope, it seems to me at this time that my Alligence to Code-masters as a developer is still justified.. and for the record, Steam is definately not a monopoly!!!

 

[rhino13]

First off anyone can make a clone of Steam. So it can never really hold a monopoly.

Secondly, I'm still a firm believer in physical media. I very rarely purchase from Steam and I can't immagine I'm the only one.