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PC gamers - Would you rather Steam didn't exist and Valve kept releasing games non-stop?

Steam never existed, Valve kept making games to survive?

  • Yes

    Votes: 20 21.7%

  • No

    Votes: 64 69.6%

  • Either way/Don't care

    Votes: 8 8.7%
  • Total voters
    92
kicker

kicker

Banned
Not that I'm saying developing steam is holding valve back, but I believe if they didn't have that revenue source they probably wouldn't be so unable to commit to fully devloping games(as the stories of internal events go).

Steam is a basically the exemplar of pc gaming. If it didn't exist the pc gaming experience would be objectively worse, but we'd probably still have gog and epic(after suffering through the dark times of Games for Windows Live in this alternate timeline).

Personally I'm fine with things as they are. Valve is reportedly working on releasing a few new games, and we'd still get the steam controller, link, Vive, Index, Deck either way.
I also believe the fact that valve developers only work on games they absolutely have passion for is a good thing, even if it means a lot of games don't get to us.

Just a fun hypothetical
 
Topher

Topher

Gold Member
John Candy No GIF by Laff
 
C

CGNoire

Member
kicker said:
Not that I'm saying developing steam is holding valve back, but I believe if they didn't have that revenue source they probably wouldn't be so unable to commit to fully devloping games(as the stories of internal events go).

Steam is a basically the exemplar of pc gaming. If it didn't exist the pc gaming experience would be objectively worse, but we'd probably still have gog and epic(after suffering through the dark times of Games for Windows Live in this alternate timeline).

Personally I'm fine with things as they are. Valve is reportedly working on releasing a few new games, and we'd still get the steam controller, link, Vive, Index, Deck either way.
I also believe the fact that valve developers only work on games they absolutely have passion for is a good thing, even if it means a lot of games don't get to us.

Just a fun hypothetical
Click to expand...
Why would it be "Objectively" Worse?
 
kicker

kicker

Banned
CGNoire said:
Why would it be "Objectively" Worse?
Click to expand...
Maybe you don't use them, but the fact that steam enables:
- a browser
- music player
- wlan games streaming
- extremely in-depth custom controller configurations on a per-game, per-controller basis
- modding a click away from a game's launch page
- community tab with discussions, artwork, guides, etc a click away from a game's launch page
- availability in muktiple operating systems
- store sales that regularly bloat people's backlogs
- friends features
- a mode that allows one to emulate the console experience if you want to play on a pc
- the largest storefront of games in existence
- the very best user review system in gaming
and so much more makes it objectively a positive for pc gaming
 
C

CGNoire

Member
kicker said:
Maybe you don't use them, but the fact that steam enables:
- a browser
- music player
- wlan games streaming
- extremely in-depth custom controller configurations on a per-game, per-controller basis
- modding a click away from a game's launch page
- community tab with discussions, artwork, guides, etc a click away from a game's launch page
- availability in muktiple operating systems
- store sales that regularly bloat people's backlogs
- friends features
- a mode that allows one to emulate the console experience if you want to play on a pc
- the largest storefront of games in existence
- the very best user review system in gaming
and so much more makes it objectively a positive for pc gaming
Click to expand...
Yep outside of the controller config I dont use any of that. And I dont even use that. Just happy its there.
 
vaibhavpisal

vaibhavpisal

Member
Yes. I would like to buy cardboard boxes pc games as well. That came with thick manuals and goodies.

That + constant stream of Valve games would make up for it.
 
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The Cockatrice

The Cockatrice

Member
No. I like Steam. It's where I socialize most of the time, where I write reviews for games, where I can see if a game is dog shit or not in regards to performance compared to literally every other store, community is nice even if toxic, but at least they always say whats on their mind without being censored, guides, mods, refunds, marketplace and so on and so forth. Doubt I could live without it these days as a PC gamer.
 
dreamstation

dreamstation

Member
I'd rather quality Valve games than most of the garbage on there now. I've been through something like 23k games by doing the discovery queue every day and majority of it is absolute trash.
 
Fredrik

Fredrik

Member
Nope. Without Steam I wouldn’t even have a gaming PC. Or a VR headset. Or a Steam Deck. 99% of my PC gaming interest is tied to having a big digital library usable on multiple devices and open enough for modding.
Steam is way way bigger than Valve’s games. And I don’t trust MS, GOG, Epic to ever make an alternative as good.
 
C

crackajack

Member
Valve never made that many games to begin with. Just around the Orange Box they made a couple of games in a rather short era, "kept releasing games" kind of never really stopped.
They could have grown in a publisher powerhouse, I guess, but as a dev they kind of are no different than Naughty Dog or Rockstar or Rocksteady etc. Some years between releases is the result, even though as HW experiments came out over the years it appeared like no one is working on anyhing there beside that, and they also talk almost nothing about their visions or plans. I would want more games from them, but as a dev and publisher they sort of just followed the overall trend of the industry and they seemingly have no ambition to be a major developer, just do some cornerstone games and maybe occasionally come with something new. Kind of like Nintendo on a smaller scale of support.
 
PaintTinJr

PaintTinJr

Member
PC gaming was far superior and something that interested me before Steam, no login, no trojanware garbage store front taking a mafia cut of a developer's profits.

We even had effectively a first party developer in LucasArts using the 3dfx Glide API that made PC the SW fans place to play.

If I owned a SteamDeck or had a PC main-ing SteamOS I'd probably be less irked by their presence in PC gaming, but with the open nature of PC, no-one should be making more than a few percent on sales IMO- especially when that company isn't putting out AAA games for PC gamers to eat well, and certainly not a store front that feels completely non-curated and is like looking insde a pair of uncomfortable Dr Martins - if by comparison console stores are like looking inside a pair of top-end Nikes or Adidas.
 
T4keD0wN

T4keD0wN

Member
If their position on the market was replaced by GoG i would be perfectly ok with that. If they were replaced by Epic, Origin, Uplay or Microsoft store? Id quit.

I do prefer things the way they are and Valve have been pissing me off lately. Despite that a great store is more valuable to me than a bunch of games (theres thousands of them, a few more would make no difference). In fact, id rather they fully abandoned game development and focused on other things.
 
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supernova8

supernova8

Banned
Assuming there was always going to be one centralized store front (and assuming that's, on balance, the best thing for ease of use), I think Valve has proven itself to be a worthy steward. Valve basically have a monopoly on PC gaming and still generally chose not to fuck over the consumer. Not sure what's going on with revenue cuts etc (I don't care because I'm not on that side anyway), but from my perspective it works like a charm.

To think I started using it in 2004, and all of my purchases are right there available to download/re-download and play whenever I want to. Obviously sounds like a given now, but imagine a scummier companies being in charge of the "keys" to PC gaming at large and stipulating shit like:

1) You need to pay a X% fee to download any games more than X years old. This revenue goes toward server upkeep.
2) We will be retiring XYZ games after 123 date, in order to streamline our datacenter operations. We will only be keeping patch data, so please download any games you wish to play before 456 date.
3) All sales are final and there are no refunds for any reason.

etc etc etc

In an alternate world I can absolutely see a different company pulling stuff like that.
 
Mister Wolf

Mister Wolf

Gold Member
No i like Steam. I'm able to buy games for cheap through key resellers like CD KEYs. Picked up RE4 for $45 and Jedi Survivor for $49. I've been profiting off this current system since The Witcher 3.
 
balls of snow

balls of snow

Member
I only pcgaming on Steam. Half life 2 was a blast but would never trade Half life 3 for an eduring 20 year digital strorefront full of games that bring me the warm fuzzy nostalgia.
 
Foilz

Foilz

Banned
No! I remember the dayy before steam it was sucked. Won Ids and doing everything through random sites or bs launchers. Getting my mods from the modders blogs and having to use ventrillo or teamspeak or chat just to try and get help with a game that's not launching.

The day steam was originally released was a great day.
 
Bonfires Down

Bonfires Down

Member
Steam is good and whatever storefront would be dominant in this scenario would almost certainly be worse. However, I’m confident it would still be good enough for me. And there is third party software that can replace things like Steam Input and Streaming.

But I also don’t particularly care about Valve’s games so whatever.
 
Wildebeest

Wildebeest

Member
Steam allows defective DRM, microtransactions up the wazoo, gambling (not just loot boxes but real money gambling). Devs don't get that great a cut of the revenue considering the costs valve have and have to deal with refunds if their game isn't padded out, so people feel they haven't really got started with a game in the first three hours. It isn't really that incredibly consumer or developer friendly. The sales aren't even that exciting any more.

On the other hand, there is a huge selection of games and devs usually seem happy with being paid promptly and in full and having access to a large, active marketplace. They are getting better with promoting demos.
 
Last edited:
Companion Cube

Companion Cube

Member
The best thing about Steam is it showed publishers that a game can be sold at absurd discounts and it will greatly exceed whatever other profit they expected to gain by maintaining full price.

Without Steam, your only discounted games outside of GameStops preowned section and eBay would be ‘Greatest Hits/Player’s Choice’ style re-releases on major titles, a buy2get1 deal from Target once a year, or if you’re lucky: a store has a liquidation sale.

RIP Circuit City. 🫗
 
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poodaddy

poodaddy

Member
Fuck no! Then I'd still have a physical library on PC rather than the convenience of digital. Steam is the biggest part of why PC gaming is so goddamn incredible, and vastly more convenient than it was in the 90's. There are other great games out there, sacrificing Steam so Valve could put out some more games effectively would negate all the fantastic indies that were made possible by Steam's existence.
 
diffusionx

diffusionx

Gold Member
Valve "kept" releasing games non-stop
Click to expand...

lol when did they ever do that? There were six years between Half-Life and Half-Life 2. Their most prolific period came AFTER Steam launched.

Valve has stated it a bazillion times (in their own way), they make stuff that their people want to make. They never at any point would have said "ok, now here is the Portal team, and their job is to make Portal games". They never would have said "we are disbanding the Half-Life team because we have Steam" because there never was a Half-Life team. Steam existing or not existing would not change anything - this idea that they are just layabouts because they just collect the Steam bag is totally false. From day one this is how they operate.

Also: they have two of the biggest GAAS games on the planet. They're launching a new version of one of them presumably in a few months. I knwo that people who like Half-Life singleplayer don't count this, and if they dont have a VR they don't count Alyx, but it's actually what is happening.
 
Last edited:
Laptop1991

Laptop1991

Member
It's hard to choose just 1 or the other, Steam is still the best client, but i would rarther Valve made more big games, can't i choose both.
 
L

LakeOf9

Member
I love Valve games, but Steam is far more crucial to the well being of my favorite platform than Valve games, as great as they are, will be, so I pick Steam
 
A.Romero

A.Romero

Member
I voted no.

There is nothing at the level of Steam in the market but there are many other games not made by Valve.

If Valve didn't make Steam I doubt PC gaming would be where it is today. However, we can make do without HL3.
 
GHG

GHG

Member
The arrival of Steam saved PC gaming from the depths of hell. It's like people forget what PC gaming was like around the time that Steam started to gain prominence as a storefront.

So no.
 
Last edited:
O

Ozzie666

Member
Steam does make you wonder where all the profits are going, how many projects have they started only to fail. Let's be honest it prints money for a very small company and could fund expansion and countless more software projects. Steam saved PC gaming for the most part, or it would at least look very different. No one really knows how much profit they make or the true value of the company. But whatever they make, they were able to work with AMD in a similar fashion as Sony and Microsoft for the deck.

I get the impression they are not well managed when it comes to finances and just spend to explore until they cancel projects. They have a unique freedom big companies would kill for. Using other companies' money to bankroll.

So why not both, a few more risk-free titles and the store front?
 
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