Steam May Go Beyond Mere Games, Sell More Software

[exfileme]

Valve's Steam platform may soon offer more than just games.

Steam May Go Beyond Mere Games, Sell More Software : Read more

 

[Wamphryi]

It is awesome when the battle for my humble dollar brings prices down in this manner.

 

[back_by_demand]

I like this a lot, anything that adds convenience and drops prices is GOOD

 

[master_chen]

HELL YEAH!

 

[waxdart]

[citation][nom]chromonoid[/nom]what do you mean by buying software?Lol! just kidding![/citation]
I don't think people understood your comment at all. You never own the game do you

If steam gave a free transfer to another steam account, that would interesting. Or maybe you can sell it back to steam so they can sell it 2nd hand like a store does. Seems daft for a digital world and Steam items cost more than boxed (which I never understood).
When you can do all you can with boxed stuff, but on-online - that's a decent DRM system.
ALSO - when you buy a game from Steam it shouldn't have any windows live (This is my dream).

 

[tomfreak]

Windows 7 64bit @ -75% discount. come on. I'll gonna love this if only $Mircosoft allow this.

 

[buckcm]

[citation][nom]waxdart[/nom]I don't think people understood your comment at all. You never own the game do you If steam gave a free transfer to another steam account, that would interesting. Or maybe you can sell it back to steam so they can sell it 2nd hand like a store does. Seems daft for a digital world and Steam items cost more than boxed (which I never understood).When you can do all you can with boxed stuff, but on-online - that's a decent DRM system.ALSO - when you buy a game from Steam it shouldn't have any windows live (This is my dream).[/citation]

Certain games have gotten rid of DRM in favor of using Steam itself as the DRM. Also, Steam has lots of sales for games, like right now during the Summer sale. I have gotten most of my single player games for $5, so I don't think Inam overpaying.

Steam should make more per copy. It is ideal for companies because they save on the cost of boxing games and because you can't sell a used game. Of course, we don't know Steam's numbers because Valve keeps that a secret.

 

[Guest]

I am waiting for someone to take Valve to court here in EU, as courts now say we can sell our software licences, and that includes on services like Steam, which is currently against Steams T&C.

This will eventually go to court, and Steam will lose, but I will then start using them, as I will then be able to sell the Games I no longer want like I currently do!

 

[beardguy]

Well if Valve expects me to buy something with a lofty price tag like Adobe suite, they damn well better let me resell it.

I think Valve needs to develop a more hands-off approach to their client. I shouldn't have to launch it every time I want to play a game. And definitely shouldn't have to install it just to play a game I bought retail.

I can see maybe running in the background and opening up Steam when my game needs to be patched or something, but I really don't like how the client always has to be running in the background. With all the things they keep adding to it, it's starting to become a resource hog. If they intend to sell regular software, these "normal" applications better not need Steam open to launch.

 

[back_by_demand]

[citation][nom]moricon[/nom]I am waiting for someone to take Valve to court here in EU, as courts now say we can sell our software licences, and that includes on services like Steam, which is currently against Steams T&C.This will eventually go to court, and Steam will lose, but I will then start using them, as I will then be able to sell the Games I no longer want like I currently do![/citation]
Why don't you do it, if you have nothing to lose?
...
The second hand games market is a parasite on the games indistry, always has been, a game can swap hands a hundred times just to save a couple of $$$ and none of that money goes back to the developers
...
Steam has proved that selling games slightly cheaper gets bigger sales figures, just look at the special game deals, 75% off and sales go up by 1000%
...
But go right ahead, no one is stopping you if you want to approach a legal firm

 

[boiler1990]

Could this be Valve's assault on Amazon? The two companies are seemingly going head-to-head on the PC gaming front, fighting for the consumer dollar with rock-bottom prices in various promotions. For the entire month of July, Amazon is slashing prices on a large number of titles including Just Cause 2 ($8.99), Magicka ($5.99), Hitman: Blood Money ($5.99), Tomb Raider: Anniversary ($5.99) and more.

What's humorous is that most of the games on Amazon use Steam


If Valve could find a way to negotiate the removal of the software companies' use of DRM and rely on their own, I would totally be down to purchase software through Steam. I always manage to lose a MS Office or OS product key, and I reinstall software more regularly than most average users.

 

[uglynerdman]

um steam is cheaper than most boxed versions. a heck of alot of the time. ^ seeing alot of lies up here. You can GIVE items you purchase as gifts. i got most of my games at 4.99 - 10 bucks.. titles that are still 39- 50 bucks. i love steam sales. nor do i worry about patching my games nonstop anymore. Steam has made my life so much easier, i had CDs/dvds. Less noise, less hassle of maintaning em. less space taken up. Awesome prices. EASE of installation and removal. I love steam.. I just wish EA wasnt so greedy. i wanted to buy mass effect 3/ dead space 3 on steam.

 

[jhansonxi]

What Steam doesn't offer is non-gaming downloads like Norton 360, QuickBooks Pro 2012, Microsoft Office and more.

Norton 360 isn't a loss.

 

[Camikazi]

[citation][nom]john_4[/nom]Again with STEAM (Origin too) you can not give much less resell what you paid for. If I buy a clock then later buy another I can sell the old clock or give it away. Apparently not with software anymore.These STEAM services are a Achilles heel. F*ck all of them.[/citation]
You never could, you only owned the media the software came on and they let you transfer that because once you no longer had it you could no longer use it (unless you crack it which is illegal). The companies only ever gave you a license to use the software and once the media was gone the ability to easily transfer the license was made harder. You can't compare buying hardware (the clock) with licensing software, the hardware can't be easily copied and if copied will take you time and you have to buy the materials making it yours completely. Software on the other hand can now be easily copied with you doing nothing but giving away another persons work and not paying them for the usage.

 

[leongrado]

Have you guys seen the summer deals? You could probably buy a game from gamestop and sell the game back to them and still have it cost more than the price that Steam offers. Obviously this isn't the same with newer games but they seem to have special deals pretty often.

 

[eddieroolz]

Why not? If they can sell Photoshop CS6 for $250 I'm sure Adobe and Valve will see a huge surge in profits.

 

[beardguy]

@ eddieroolz

There is no way Steam is going to be able to give a discount like that. Not even Amazon can come close to that price. Adobe has never heavily discounted it's software, for better or worse.

 

[back_by_demand]

Problem is, too many people think they deserve everything for free, the price of living in a capitalist world is that you have to pay for things

 

[cptnjarhead]

[citation][nom]Wamphryi[/nom]It is awesome when the battle for my humble dollar brings prices down in this manner.[/citation]

yes, capitalism "is awesome"

 

[jimmysmitty]

[citation][nom]moricon[/nom]I am waiting for someone to take Valve to court here in EU, as courts now say we can sell our software licences, and that includes on services like Steam, which is currently against Steams T&C.This will eventually go to court, and Steam will lose, but I will then start using them, as I will then be able to sell the Games I no longer want like I currently do![/citation]

Games that do not use Steamworks, like Batman Arkham Asylum for example, can be launched without Steam running at all.

But games that do are using Steam for DRM instead of SecuROM or something worse which I prefer. Plus newer games are using the Steam Workshop to help share user created content.

And you can always do the Offline Mode although I don't know what the big deal is as Steam doesn't use that many resources when opened.

 

[Guest]

Frankly, I doubt "reaching" that market will be hard - how many people using productivity software like the Adobe suite also game? I do. If Valve offered such things, I would see it, and if they offered it at great prices, they'd likely get my dollar... Chances are, they aren't reach a good portion of that market via gamers.

 

[Guest]

Hey, if Valve can get future releases of MS Office discounted in its summer and holiday sales, I'm all for it.

 

[back_by_demand]

People say "DRM" like its a dirty word
...
It is another method to prevent cheap-ass people from stealing something, if you don't want to pay for games then don't use Steam at all, just download the cracked version from torrent sites and leave the pay-for games to the people who want to pay not a lot of money for quite a lot of convenience

 

[beardguy]

[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]People say "DRM" like its a dirty word...It is another method to prevent cheap-ass people from stealing something, if you don't want to pay for games then don't use Steam at all, just download the cracked version from torrent sites and leave the pay-for games to the people who want to pay not a lot of money for quite a lot of convenience[/citation]

It is a dirty word, usually. Everyone understands the need to try and prevent piracy, but not when it becomes a pain in the ass for the paying customers shelling out $60+ a game (myself included).

For example, a game that needs to be always connected to the internet in order to play has crossed the line for DRM and is not acceptable. I won't buy games like that. I've also had very bad experiences with other DRM software like SecuROM which in a few cases I could not play the game I bought at all.

I am 100% positive these extreme measures have actually hurt sales instead of the thing they were trying to prevent (piracy).

 

[upgrade_1977]

Very cool. It'll be like an app store for windows. I hate itunes, but I actually like this idea. Now if they could only integrate the install app like ninite.com it would be perfect.

Oh another idea, and if steam could set up the in game settings before you launch the games (resolution setting next to each game in the games list), that would be awesome. that way if your want to move to a lower resolution monitor (ex: moving from 3 screen surround to 1080p t.v.), and you have to lower your resolutions, to avoid crash on startups, then you don't have to go and edit a bunch of config files.