Nice little rant, that’s the same way I ran across it, haven’t been to Polygon in years…
What year is it, 2006?
I’d love to see a strong viable competitor to Valve. There are some trying, like GoG, but not really close. I am not sure i get the Good Guy thing. Valve exists to drive profits. There was a time when you walked into a store and PC had a tiny corner of shelf space and snicker from from the console playing employees. We’ve seen how many PC is dead articles? It’s a pretty great time to be a PC gamer… but that doesn’t mean everything Valve does, promotes or what is golden. They certainly had some issue with their paid DLC scheme… so it’'s not as if no one is holding them accountable. We have refunds now too, which certainly helps with a number of issues, including some customer complaints.
At the time, I assumed Steam refunds were a response to the programs already being offered by GOG and Origin. In an alternate universe where Steam was a monolithic platform with no competitors (or more so than it is today at least), I wonder if they would have ever adopted a refund policy.
Considering they spent millions to fight it, I’d guess no.
I don’t see why the article is worth such derision. It makes a good case, combining many points and it is meticulously researched. It’s not like I spend my days looking for court papers for a confidentiality order in Australia. I also liked the bit where in Europe they acknowledged the right to a refund, but that purchasing anything automatically waived that right according to the ToS. Classy.
I’m also guilty of the thinking derided in the article: I’m perfectly okay with serving one bloated overlord (Steam), but add another one (Origin, Ubisomething) and I go nuts. Freeeeeeedom!
It just read to me like a “startling” expose that Valve is, in fact, a business and not our gaming buddy. I hope they follow it up with a story on how the New York Yankees want to win the World Series, even if it means trading players!
Nah, it’s more like if 95% of the world rooted for the Yankees and wanted no other team to exist. I don’t see it as much as an “attack” on Valve than the Steam fanboys really (who actually believe Valve is their friend).
We’re all better off with more stores, not less.
I am about to blow your mind right up.
The Yankees make lots and lots of money too!
This conspiracy to be profitable runs deep!
My God, I thought they did it for the love of the game!!!
Except I don’t want more stores. I like my games all being in one container. It’s already annoying as fuck I have to remember which game is in uPlay, Steam, Origin, Blizzard and what my login creds and secondary authentication methods are to get into those games. Oh, also GOG Galaxy now. I’d honestly be a lot happier if everything was on one platform, and I don’t give a shit what platform that ends up being. Steam is fine for me though, it’s the one I have the most games on, the least amount of problems with, and is the leanest and most responsive of all the front ends.
Buy you want that store front to be like the one that you use today. But do you really believe a store front with monopoly will be the same? I would bet a lot of money on “no”. It would be much worse. It’s the same thing with all the people who want a one console future, they really don’t know what they’re asking for.
Indeed.
I think the point is that it goes beyond “it’s a business, not your buddy”. It’s that all the big tech companies are turning into ever bigger monopolistic, tax-dodging, non-compliant rent seekers, beloved Valve included. It may be a retread, but complacency seems a weird attitude to adopt. If anything, the efforts of consumer protection agencies mentionned in the article should be lauded.
Heck, if people really want Steam to be the one chosen online store for all games forever, that means regulatory agencies will just have to keep hounding Valve constantly for it to stay even remotely honest.
That’s probably the disconnect for me. It’s not “beloved Valve”, they’re just the company that happens to run the digital storefront that has offered the best prices and features for me thus far.
Then the article wasn’t written for you. There are a lot of people who feel that way, though.
Yeah, I agree. There’s a lot of love for Valve out there.
That article was interesting to me. I didn’t know about the court cases in Australia or Europe until I read that. I honestly thought the whole refund thing was started by Valve in order to be more consumer-friendly. I didn’t know they were forced into it by Australian and European courts, and that EA’s Origin had been doing it before Valve.
Yup. Plenty. I see comments all the time to that effect.
I still see people trotting out the chestnut that Valve vowed to release keys and files of games for everyone with Steam accounts if they ever permanently go down. It’s ridiculous.
The problem with your stance is the audience. If games start getting expensive through some sort of monopoly people will just stop buying them. How many gamers already “wait for a sale”?
EDIT - And you also seem to be thinking Steam sets the prices. They do not - publishers do. Do you really think if some sort of Steam-opoly happens Steam can get away charging, say, $80 for a $59.99 game? You think EA will shrug and say, “good for them?” No way.
Probably no, but that’s fairly normal when there isn’t competition. Competition tends to force companies to behave more rationally and benefit the consumer. That doesn’t make Valve evil or good. I just know on the physical retail front, PC did look like it was dying. Steam definitely gave a kick to the market that everyone else seemed to be content to just watch flail.
What I would like… is something like Ultraviolet. I buy it from whomever I feel like buying it from and my content follows me to the service of choice.Disney Anywhere is similar.