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[xVodevil]

Did we want to go full digital? No.. yet basically here we are.
Do they provide nearly every recent game from past few decades at one place? Yes.
In my opinion this is providing best outcome for a worst case scenario. Can't see how could this be not deserved on their side. None is even close on PC market. I'd say they are at a place that is well deserved.

 

[Hudo]

You are confusing developers/publishers, Valve, and Steamworks. A publisher or developer can absolute publish a DRM free game on Steam and some do.

However, considering PC gaming landscape before Steam, other DRM solutions and basic almost hackable Steamworks DRM (again, not required), I know what I would take.

Steam itself is a DRM platform, tho.

It's also the reason why Valve brought Steam into existence. It was and is first and foremost a way to control user access to a game to combat piracy. It was that even before Valve added the store functionality, back when you bought it with Half-Life 2.

 

[StereoVsn]

Steam drm is the main reason pubs choose Steam in the early days and it's the reason it got the foothold it has today. I also use Steam but the only reason it's because it has the games. I don't use most of their features because most of them are half assed and better in third party software.

Nexus mods, discord, reddit. Everything is better than their equivalents.

VR, Linux Support, Discoverability, Input support and mapping, BPM, Steam Deck and VR hardware. Plus supporting online games, making a great platform and having excellent Dev support.

But yea, go on with the 3rd party shtick.

 

[Fabieter]

VR, Linux Support, Discoverability, Input support and mapping, BPM, Steam Deck and VR hardware. Plus supporting online games, making a great platform and having excellent Dev support.

But yea, go on with the 3rd party shtick.

Do people really think that a handful of features is more important than game library and having dev support its not like they support devs like the big 3 are doing. Valve don't step in to save games or make games happen, make them better bigger etc. They could but they don't care.

 

[RoadHazard]

Duh? They don't make games, they don't really make anything at all. They run a web store and client, which has reached such critical mass that it's kinda of just coasting and bringing in massive profits. Not saying they don't do any development on it, but certainly not like those other companies.

 

[Lumpyoatmeal]

Valve makes PC gaming tolerable. Credit where credit is due.

I used to be able to buy my PC games without having to obligate myself to a damn client collecting metrics on me when I want to play my games. The shit was just fine without Valve involving themselves.

 

[Lumpyoatmeal]

Do people really think that a handful of features is more important than game library and having dev support its not like they support devs like the big 3 are doing. Valve don't step in to save games or make games happen, make them better bigger etc. They could but they don't care.

The truth is companies like Valve, Apple, Microsoft, ect seen the economic opportunity of running a successful client when the tech became available. All that piracy nonsense man get the fuck out of here, now look at these companies today with billions and billions of generated money.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

I used to be able to buy my PC games without having to obligate myself to a damn client collecting metrics on me when I want to play my games. The shit was just fine without Valve involving themselves.

A small sacrifice so that PC gaming would stay relevent

 

[Guilty_AI]

Steam itself is a DRM platform, tho.

It's also the reason why Valve brought Steam into existence. It was and is first and foremost a way to control user access to a game to combat piracy. It was that even before Valve added the store functionality, back when you bought it with Half-Life 2.

I remember steam being created as a way to patch their games more efficiently though, then they also turned it into an online service for CS and hosting mods for their games. But i suppose most people only remember it from the Half Life 2 fiasco onwards.

 

[Lumpyoatmeal]

A small sacrifice so that PC gaming would stay relevent

Y’all m’fers are ridiculous

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Y’all m’fers are ridiculous

Truth be told I do miss the PS3/360 days where we could laugh at PC gaming. Shame Valve saved it

 

[YCoCg]

I used to be able to buy my PC games without having to obligate myself to a damn client collecting metrics on me when I want to play my games. The shit was just fine without Valve involving themselves.

Ahh yes, to return to the era of the early to late 2000's of mainly shitty ports, non-standard controls, various different client launchers, Games for Windows Live, etc. I think some people forget how bad things were in the decade for PC gaming, and YES Steam was apart of that initially before Valve turned it around by listening to what people wanted.

 

[Topher]

Duh? They don't make games, they don't really make anything at all.

Factually untrue. Valve released Counter-strike 2 a few months ago. Steam Deck OLED as well.

 

[Lumpyoatmeal]

Ahh yes, to return to the era of the early to late 2000's of mainly shitty ports, non-standard controls, various different client launchers, Games for Windows Live, etc. I think some people forget how bad things were in the decade for PC gaming, and YES Steam was apart of that initially before Valve turned it around by listening to what people wanted.

And today we still got all these different client launchers. We also still got games on the platform in the year 2024 running worst than the console counterpart for example Unreal Engine titles with the stutters. All that ‘turning around’ is fanboy nonsense; Valve had success but you also had other companies having success on this platform as well in the gaming sector.

 

[Topher]

Ahh yes, to return to the era of the early to late 2000's of mainly shitty ports, non-standard controls, various different client launchers, Games for Windows Live, etc. I think some people forget how bad things were in the decade for PC gaming, and YES Steam was apart of that initially before Valve turned it around by listening to what people wanted.

I don't think the other side of this argument has any clue what you are talking about my man.

 

[Guilty_AI]

I don't think the other side of this argument has any clue what you are talking about my man.

I remember my early 2000s gaming experience being boiled down to wanting X game and not finding it being sold in any retail store, and none of my Windows 98 games working on XP anymore.

Now i get all the games i want and have no time to play them all

 

[Topher]

I remember my early 2000s gaming experience being boiled down to wanting X game and not finding it being sold in any retail store, and none of my Windows 98 games working on XP anymore.

Now i get all the games i want and have no time to play them all

In the 2000s, I bought my first console since the Sega Genesis due to the dire situation of PC gaming. I'll still buy consoles as long as they are around, but the crux of my gaming is on PC these days and Valve deserves a ton of credit for that.

But I'm sure a few console gamers who know better will be around soon to tell me how I'm wrong.

 

[Lumpyoatmeal]

If anybody saved anything y’all should be thanking Blizzard Entertainment. The man yall praise so much was on record literally telling you Blizzard’s blueprint to follow for having success.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

If anybody saved anything y’all should be thanking Blizzard Entertainment. The man yall praise so much was on record literally telling you Blizzard’s blueprint to follow for having success.

Yeah just look at all those third party games selling on Battle.net

 

[Topher]

If anybody saved anything y’all should be thanking Blizzard Entertainment. The man yall praise so much was on record literally telling you Blizzard’s blueprint to follow for having success.

So now a single game publisher is what saved PC gaming? Why don't you post/link that "praise" so we can all see what it entails?

 

[Lumpyoatmeal]

Y’all dudes are the problem with this industry.

 

[Fabieter]

Ahh yes, to return to the era of the early to late 2000's of mainly shitty ports, non-standard controls, various different client launchers, Games for Windows Live, etc. I think some people forget how bad things were in the decade for PC gaming, and YES Steam was apart of that initially before Valve turned it around by listening to what people wanted.

So we give valve credit that ports are better now than 20 years ago. This is delusional at best.

 

[Fabieter]

Factually untrue. Valve released Counter-strike 2 a few months ago. Steam Deck OLED as well.

It's basically a game sequel like overwatch 2. Half assed with less content. Did you know that it had one of the worst security fuck ups ever. No one here talked about that.

A console game with that kinds fuck up would get easy a few pages .

 

[YCoCg]

So we give valve credit that ports are better now than 20 years ago. This is delusional at best.

There's at least STANDARDS now that developers try and follow, whether it's on Steam, Epic, etc, if you can't see how Steam helped shape that then Press JOY5 to save your game in some random ass folder.

 

[Lumpyoatmeal]

So we give valve credit that ports are better now than 20 years ago. This is delusional at best.

You had companies like Capcom shitting the bed with their PC ports but they all got better since then.

Back then you had thirsty ass Microsoft trying to shoe in their client into some titles as well with that Vista live shit or whatever, nobody seriously gave a single fuck about 98% of those shitty games besides GTA.

 

[Lumpyoatmeal]

Y’all fanboys should tell Valve to save those Unreal Engine titles so I can decide for myself when I want to go take a shit in my bathroom for a pause break.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Y’all fanboys should tell Valve to save those Unreal Engine titles so I can decide for myself when I want to go take a shit in my bathroom for a pause break.

I'm praying for Valve to save you first

 

[Topher]

It's basically a game sequel like overwatch 2. Half assed with less content. Did you know that it had one of the worst security fuck ups ever. No one here talked about that.

A console game with that kinds fuck up would get easy a few pages .

Console warrior goodness is pumping up the page count here and other Valve threads instead.

Y’all fanboys should tell Valve to save those Unreal Engine titles so I can decide for myself when I want to go take a shit in my bathroom for a pause break.

Top notch stuff

 

[Lumpyoatmeal]

It's basically a game sequel like overwatch 2. Half assed with less content. Did you know that it had one of the worst security fuck ups ever. No one here talked about that.

A console game with that kinds fuck up would get easy a few pages .

I deadass went right back to 1.6, I didn’t even know that.

Ayo Topher, you want to play some matches on Dust?

 

[Kacho]

This thread is a shitshow

 

[Hudo]

This thread is a shitshow

We're on GAF. It's the fate of every thread.

 

[llien]

It was years since the last time I was active on this forum, but level of silliness in this thread deserves a comment.

So, Valve is swimming in money not because 30% cut in software sales by an online store is obnoxous, but because "zey are so gud"?

Amazing finding.

 

[peronmls]

Crazy how the we the fans can make valve successful and in return we get no games. Gabe Newell and Valve are sellouts.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

It's easier to make more money per head when you have way fewer heads.

Valve - 400 employees

Apple - 161,000 employees
Meta (Facebook) - 67,000 employees
Microsoft - 221,000 employees (!!)
Amazon - 1,525,000 employees (!!!!!!)
Alphabet (Google) - 140,000 employees (!)

Most of big tech is FUCKING BLOATED in terms of headcount so of course they make fuck-all per head compared to Valve which is orders of magnitude smaller by comparison. Which is why this comparison is actually stupid and you should feel stupid for comparing them like that.

Damn, I did not realize it was that much of a difference for head count. Valve doing the tried and true--if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

But also explains why we don't get new games from them much these days.

 

[Fabieter]

It's easier to make more money per head when you have way fewer heads.

Valve - 400 employees

Apple - 161,000 employees
Meta (Facebook) - 67,000 employees
Microsoft - 221,000 employees (!!)
Amazon - 1,525,000 employees (!!!!!!)
Alphabet (Google) - 140,000 employees (!)

Most of big tech is FUCKING BLOATED in terms of headcount so of course they make fuck-all per head compared to Valve which is orders of magnitude smaller by comparison. Which is why this comparison is actually stupid and you should feel stupid for comparing them like that.

It's not bloated, other companies have to work hard to grow. Valve isnt, no matter what fanboys claim.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Unless we know every company's exact employee structure, I wouldnt put too much into $$$/employee. See my post on page one.

Business - Valve was making more money per head than Apple, Facebook, and nearly every tech giant out there

As per a GameDiscoverCo newsletter, details have emerged from the suit's discovery phase—both sides' legal teams were able to exchange documents to help build out their cases. One particular email chain between Valve employees stood out, though. Turns out, Valve was making more money per head...

www.neogaf.com

 

[hemo memo]

I’ve never heard “per head” used before outside of farms referring to sheep.

 

[Hudo]

I’ve never heard “per head” used before outside of farms referring to sheep.

People shit out all sorts of weird metrics to serve their point.

Same shit with "Monthly Active Users (MAU)" or "Engagement" etc.