Advantages to using multiple digital distribution services

[jamail77]

Hey, everybody! This is my first post (I think). I have a Steam account like a lot of people for a lot of the same reasons. Over these last couple of years though I've wondered about signing up for other similar or somewhat similar services like Desura or GOG.com.

There are a few reasons for this:
1) I think I might feel guilty that Steam has a monopoly over this part of the game industry and hides other services indirectly. I'm not sure though. I myself didn't find out about the other services until last year and I've had Steam for more than 2 years. I don't blame Steam for this of course, rather the marketing and setup of the industry. Valve probably doesn't do that purposefully. Probably.
2) Games or perks (sales, drm, bonus content, modding etc.) that aren't available and probably won't be on Steam in the future thus maxing out my gaming enjoyment potential through multiple platforms.
3) It might be a cool experience.

What do you think? Is there a point to having multiple accounts with multiple services? While it works for the individual in other industries or scenarios can it translate into something meaningful for this one? I don't want to get rid of Steam and lose the games I have and I certainly don't want to try Origin for obvious reasons.

Also how do can I move this to the right topic without reposting? I seem to have posted in the off-topic discussion forums. Whoops! Thanks!

 

[DoPo]

Erm, what's stopping you from having accounts on multiple platforms? At most, you lose having all games in Steam...which I don't think is that big of a deal. Not to mention you can also register games with Steam, I think, to be able to launch them from there but I haven't used this feature. And a sizeable portion of other DD services sell Steam keys, too. And last but definitely not least

I don't want to get rid of Steam and lose the games I have and I certainly don't want to try Origin for obvious reasons.

Why would you get rid of Steam? You don't want to lose your games - fine, then don't close your account. It's like saying that because you want to buy something on Amazon, you should stop using eBay forever. Doesn't work like that.

 

[jamail77]

I think you didn't understand my question. Nothing is stopping me from using multiple platforms. I don't want the same games on all platforms either. I am asking what the advantages are. I only mentioned getting rid of Steam to make sure people understood that I wasn't looking for another service to sign up with. I want to try multiple services.

As for that thing you mention about registering games with Steam you don't really register them unless it's through the Humble Bundle or something partnered or advertising Steam I think. You add the shortcut of the game from your computer so you can play the game but have access to Steam capabilities while playing (like chatting and keeping track of hours you've played).

 

[Genocidicles]

I use multiple digital distribution services (Steam, Gog, Humble Bundles) but I refuse to have more than one client on my computer, which is Steam.

I'm not installing another piece of crappy bloatware just so I can play EA or Ubisoft games. Release it on Steam or don't use a client at all.

 

[DoPo]

You add the shortcut of the game from your computer so you can play the game but have access to Steam capabilities while playing (like chatting and keeping track of hours you've played).

Yeah, that's what I meant - "register" wasn't the best term.

As for what the advantages are - I don't know why you need to know - there are no drawbacks, so you can safely go for it. But anyway, if you really want to know:

1. A larger selection of games - duh. Steam doesn't have everything, nor does any other service, but you can pick what you want from each - you won't find Dungeon Keeper elsewhere than GOG, for example, and some indie games get only a Steam release. Even Origin has its exclusives.

2. Cheaper prices - what's not on offer on Steam now, may be on offer somewhere else. Or it may actually have a better offer somewhere else - Green Man Gaming shipped the preorder of Bioshock Infinite with three more free games as opposed to Steam's two (both had Bioshock and XCOM: Enemy unknown, Green Man Gaming also had a choice between Spec Ops: The Line, Civilization V, BioShock 2, Mafia II or The Darkness II) and the preorder was cheaper than Steam's. For the record, Gamer's Gate also had the same offer but it was the same price as Steam.

Though, I would have thought these were obvious. You could toss in better information protection and/or a wider variety of payment methods (maybe some more convenient) but I doubt these are too relevant - account protection should be high enough on the service side, you shouldn't really be picking the option for security on your end. And all services support the most widely used payment methods, so that, too, shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Snotnarok]

A lot of people keep blaming steam for being a 'monopoly' and what not, it's been around for ages, since Half Life 2 (as that was the DRM for it) and since it's evolved into this. Origin is how old?
The reason why steam is far more popular is because it offers far better deals much more often, I think 600+ items were on sale yesterday and it wasn't even a special event.
Origin has some random sales sure but they're not often and they don't do it for their newer titles. I think the only game I bought on there was Crysis 2 for 5 bucks and that was because Crysis 3 was on the horizon. Steam had Farcry 3 on 40% off recently, I checked Uplay, and it was full price still, I had actually considered buying it on Uplay but they weren't even trying to compete here and this is a UBISOFT GAME here.

How can other digital distributors become bigger/better? More sales, better competitive prices, stop crying steam is a monopoly and actually DO something better. As it stands Origin is pretty decent and has some decent sales here and there and Uplay is useless and Gamestops system last I checked (years ago) was a pile of garbage, Games For Windows Live wouldn't let me buy things last time I tried, and kept timing out and failing to load pages.
And I do have Steam, Origin, Uplay installed and I've bought from GoG. It's not like I'm not interested in buying from these others, they just don't offer better deals.

Again, they want to compete with steam? Be more competitive and stop prices from being railed to the roof all the time.

Edit: And it's pretty mental to deprive yourself of lower prices to support a giant company who refuses to do business 101 and do competitive prices. That's THEIR fault and THEIR problem.
This is why I've seen a number of friends on FB go to PC over console, they're tired of spending 60 dollars per game and hopped on the steam sale band wagon. Farcry for 60 on console ...or 30 on PC, not exactly rocket science here.

 

[Best of the 3]

The only benefit is the chance of better deals on certain games and the availability of more games which some services don't provide. GoG for example I'm sure has many games Steam will not. As far as I see it, it doesn't offer you anything else to sign up with multiple services.

And why feel guilty if Steam is a monopoly. They work hard to make it that way, and competition isn't doing enough to stop them. That's their matter to deal with and shouldn't make you feel guilty if you chose one service over the others.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

OP, it's the same benefit you get from shopping at different brick and mortar stores: competition. I mean, sure, you could buy everything you need for your daily life at Walmart, and for the most part it would be fairly priced (if not necessarily always as cheap as you might think), but what if one week Target is having a sale on something you usually get? Or what if Walmart doesn't carry a DVD you really want, but Best Buy has tons of copies sitting around? The same things apply to DD stores. Different stores keep different things in stock, and they put different things on sale at different times and with different discounts. I've got probably six or seven different accounts just for PC games. For android, I've got three (Google Play, Amazon App Store, and the Humble Bundle app, if you can count that.) I'd be lying if I didn't say Steam and Google Play get the most use from me, but every now and then one of the other stores will have a good deal on something I want, and I'll go there. Most DD stores also periodically give away free stuff, and you get a lot more of it if you have accounts with multiple stores than if the only one you've got is Steam.

 

[jamail77]

-snip-

Okay this is my third question on these forums so far and I've learned a lot already. I really should be clearer in my questions. I don't blame Steam for being a monopoly; I said that in my OP. I don't even blame the other services that much really. Steam made it very clear how great their sales and support were very early on. Some other services at the time didn't have sales of that magnitude and a good portion of the game industry considers them criminal to this day (stupidly of course). More importantly though, consumers just don't know the others exist. They aren't talked about by word of mouth enough. I think that contributes a lot to the problem.

-Snip-

So, you see Best of the 3 I don't feel guilty in a serious way. I feel guilty in the sense that I am hurting good businesses (they are good from what I've heard anyway). It's not plaguing me at night. It's just something I'll think about. I am helping to contribute to the problem with my lack of advocacy for other services. I don't blame the competition's aggressiveness as much as some of you do. I still think they could do more but I don't go so far as to say that is the majority of the problem.

I guess I'll ask a more specific question. What services would you recommend having accounts/clients (prefer not to have multiple clients on my computer though) with alongside Steam? Some of you mentioned some benefits already like games that sell on one service that probably won't sell on others or special deals not offered on Steam (ex. Someone said free games bundled with a preorder and I've never seen free on Steam). I know about Desura, Gog.com, and Origin.

-Snip-

I don't think Google Play Store, the Amazon App Store, or Humble Bundles fall into a similar enough category. I mean Humble Bundles are just bought from a site and can be put on multiple computers and redeemed on Steam. It's digital distribution but I wouldn't call it a digital distribution service.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

-snip-

Okay this is my third question on these forums so far and I've learned a lot already. I really should be clearer in my questions. I don't blame Steam for being a monopoly; I said that in my OP. I don't even blame the other services that much really. Steam made it very clear how great their sales and support were very early on. Some other services at the time didn't have sales of that magnitude and a good portion of the game industry considers them criminal to this day (stupidly of course). More importantly though, consumers just don't know the others exist. They aren't talked about by word of mouth enough. I think that contributes a lot to the problem.

-Snip-

So, you see Best of the 3 I don't feel guilty in a serious way. I feel guilty in the sense that I am hurting good businesses (they are good from what I've heard anyway). It's not plaguing me at night. It's just something I'll think about. I am helping to contribute to the problem with my lack of advocacy for other services. I don't blame the competition's aggressiveness as much as some of you do. I still think they could do more but I don't go so far as to say that is the majority of the problem.

I guess I'll ask a more specific question. What services would you recommend having accounts/clients (prefer not to have multiple clients on my computer though) with alongside Steam? Some of you mentioned some benefits already like games that sell on one service that probably won't sell on others or special deals not offered on Steam (ex. Someone said free games bundled with a preorder and I've never seen free on Steam). I know about Desura, Gog.com, and Origin.

-Snip-

I don't think Google Play Store, the Amazon App Store, or Humble Bundles fall into a similar enough category. I mean Humble Bundles are just bought from a site and can be put on multiple computers and redeemed on Steam. It's digital distribution but I wouldn't call it a digital distribution service.

Well, the Humble Bundle app isn't, which is why I said something to the affect of "if you can count that one as a DD store." The amazon app store, on the other hand, is a full blown DD service. It's geared to supporting Amazon's Kindle devices, but it's available for anything that runs android. I have both because Amazon gives away a free app every day, and occasionally it's worth getting. I don't actually spend much money on Android apps, and what I do mostly comes from Humble Bundles, but if I did routinely buy android apps outside of bundles, I'd probably compare prices between the two services.

PC based DD, though? Let's see here. Steam, Green Man Gaming, Gamestop Digital (formerly Impulse), Gamers Gate, GoG, Origin (although I only ever used it for the BF3 beta), and I think I'm actually forgetting one or two more. Now granted, out of that list, I've only actually spent money at three of the stores (Steam, Gamestop Digital, and Gamers Gate), but I've gotten some sort of benefit from each of those accounts, typically in the form of cheap or free games.

Edit: Just realized, you may not know what I meant by the Humble Bundle app. They have an android app that acts as a download manager, kind of like the PC download manager that GoG uses. It doesn't have the store built in, but it's a part of the service.

 

[jamail77]

Am I really the only one curious as to why the OP had to use the term "Feminist" when describing a straw-man argument? Granted, their group does use them, but so do Christians, Atheists, Satanists, Hindus, Muslims, Odinists, Democrats, Republicans, Anarchists, Banana Republicans, IT Department, human relations, mechanics, dentists, people in sweat shops, or any group consisting of people with a pulse.

OT: I actually haven't met anyone with any hatred for the Escapist. Some don't know it, some don't care for it, but any of my friends that have actually heard of it don't care strongly enough to even dislike it.

I chose to use the term "Feminist" because it's a recent topic I've been debating with people who hate feminists, calling them "Feminazis" and saying they ALL hold double standards, and such without understanding the actual movement. Since it was a recent debate it stuck out in my mind. I use terms relating to religious and political affiliations just as much.

-Snip-

It's not that I don't know. It's that I want to hear people's opinions. A lot of people see these discussions as pointless, wasting your life and productive time. I like to think it gives me a chance to talk with people and get feedback I wouldn't get from people in my little geographical and cultural bubble. Perspective and experience and reliable statistics are all very important things to me. It also gives me a chance to practice my writing outside of school. My biggest problem is my inability to make a well-structured argument concisely. Had that problem since middle school; it gets better every year though.

 

[jamail77]

-snip-

Okay this is my third question on these forums so far and I've learned a lot already. I really should be clearer in my questions. I don't blame Steam for being a monopoly; I said that in my OP. I don't even blame the other services that much really. Steam made it very clear how great their sales and support were very early on. Some other services at the time didn't have sales of that magnitude and a good portion of the game industry considers them criminal to this day (stupidly of course). More importantly though, consumers just don't know the others exist. They aren't talked about by word of mouth enough. I think that contributes a lot to the problem.

-Snip-

So, you see Best of the 3 I don't feel guilty in a serious way. I feel guilty in the sense that I am hurting good businesses (they are good from what I've heard anyway). It's not plaguing me at night. It's just something I'll think about. I am helping to contribute to the problem with my lack of advocacy for other services. I don't blame the competition's aggressiveness as much as some of you do. I still think they could do more but I don't go so far as to say that is the majority of the problem.

I guess I'll ask a more specific question. What services would you recommend having accounts/clients (prefer not to have multiple clients on my computer though) with alongside Steam? Some of you mentioned some benefits already like games that sell on one service that probably won't sell on others or special deals not offered on Steam (ex. Someone said free games bundled with a preorder and I've never seen free on Steam). I know about Desura, Gog.com, and Origin.

-Snip-

I don't think Google Play Store, the Amazon App Store, or Humble Bundles fall into a similar enough category. I mean Humble Bundles are just bought from a site and can be put on multiple computers and redeemed on Steam. It's digital distribution but I wouldn't call it a digital distribution service.

Well, the Humble Bundle app isn't, which is why I said something to the affect of "if you can count that one as a DD store." The amazon app store, on the other hand, is a full blown DD service. It's geared to supporting Amazon's Kindle devices, but it's available for anything that runs android. I have both because Amazon gives away a free app every day, and occasionally it's worth getting. I don't actually spend much money on Android apps, and what I do mostly comes from Humble Bundles, but if I did routinely buy android apps outside of bundles, I'd probably compare prices between the two services.

PC based DD, though? Let's see here. Steam, Green Man Gaming, Gamestop Digital (formerly Impulse), Gamers Gate, GoG, Origin (although I only ever used it for the BF3 beta), and I think I'm actually forgetting one or two more. Now granted, out of that list, I've only actually spent money at three of the stores (Steam, Gamestop Digital, and Gamers Gate), but I've gotten some sort of benefit from each of those accounts, typically in the form of cheap or free games.

Edit: Just realized, you may not know what I meant by the Humble Bundle app. They have an android app that acts as a download manager, kind of like the PC download manager that GoG uses. It doesn't have the store built in, but it's a part of the service.

Oh, ok. I see it now. I must have missed that part. Green Man Gaming, GameStop Digital, Gamers Gate. Now we're getting somewhere. I kind of get excited when I hear how many options there are that I didn't know of before. It's like when I found out about Amazon Prime and Lovefilm after my free-trial of Netflix expired. I told people who didn't know about them previously and their finance options towards those things opened up. It made me feel like the informed, responsible consumer I want to be.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

-snip-

Okay this is my third question on these forums so far and I've learned a lot already. I really should be clearer in my questions. I don't blame Steam for being a monopoly; I said that in my OP. I don't even blame the other services that much really. Steam made it very clear how great their sales and support were very early on. Some other services at the time didn't have sales of that magnitude and a good portion of the game industry considers them criminal to this day (stupidly of course). More importantly though, consumers just don't know the others exist. They aren't talked about by word of mouth enough. I think that contributes a lot to the problem.

-Snip-

So, you see Best of the 3 I don't feel guilty in a serious way. I feel guilty in the sense that I am hurting good businesses (they are good from what I've heard anyway). It's not plaguing me at night. It's just something I'll think about. I am helping to contribute to the problem with my lack of advocacy for other services. I don't blame the competition's aggressiveness as much as some of you do. I still think they could do more but I don't go so far as to say that is the majority of the problem.

I guess I'll ask a more specific question. What services would you recommend having accounts/clients (prefer not to have multiple clients on my computer though) with alongside Steam? Some of you mentioned some benefits already like games that sell on one service that probably won't sell on others or special deals not offered on Steam (ex. Someone said free games bundled with a preorder and I've never seen free on Steam). I know about Desura, Gog.com, and Origin.

-Snip-

I don't think Google Play Store, the Amazon App Store, or Humble Bundles fall into a similar enough category. I mean Humble Bundles are just bought from a site and can be put on multiple computers and redeemed on Steam. It's digital distribution but I wouldn't call it a digital distribution service.

Well, the Humble Bundle app isn't, which is why I said something to the affect of "if you can count that one as a DD store." The amazon app store, on the other hand, is a full blown DD service. It's geared to supporting Amazon's Kindle devices, but it's available for anything that runs android. I have both because Amazon gives away a free app every day, and occasionally it's worth getting. I don't actually spend much money on Android apps, and what I do mostly comes from Humble Bundles, but if I did routinely buy android apps outside of bundles, I'd probably compare prices between the two services.

PC based DD, though? Let's see here. Steam, Green Man Gaming, Gamestop Digital (formerly Impulse), Gamers Gate, GoG, Origin (although I only ever used it for the BF3 beta), and I think I'm actually forgetting one or two more. Now granted, out of that list, I've only actually spent money at three of the stores (Steam, Gamestop Digital, and Gamers Gate), but I've gotten some sort of benefit from each of those accounts, typically in the form of cheap or free games.

Edit: Just realized, you may not know what I meant by the Humble Bundle app. They have an android app that acts as a download manager, kind of like the PC download manager that GoG uses. It doesn't have the store built in, but it's a part of the service.

Oh, ok. I must have missed or misunderstood that part. Green Man Gaming, GameStop Digital, Gamers Gate. Now we're getting somewhere. I kind of get excited when I hear how many options there are that I didn't know of before. It's like when I found out about Amazon Prime and Lovefilm after my free-trial of Netflix expired. I told people who didn't know about them previously and their finance options towards those things opened up. It made me feel like thr informed, responsible consumer I want to be.

Cool, glad you're enjoying this, and it's always nice to see someone becoming more informed as a consumer. That said, I made a mistake in my post. It's actually Gamestop PC Downloads, not Gamestop Digital. Also, Green Man Gaming is pretty good, I just haven't bought much in the way of PC games since I made my account with them, so I have yet to spend money there. They've got some cool policies, the coolest of which is that they let you trade in games you no longer want for store credit, though obviously not for full price. GoG has good prices and business practices (everything on the store is DRM free), but I don't like giving them money because the vast majority of what they're selling is old games that are no longer owned by the studios that made them -- they've been bought out by major publishers over the years. I've also heard good things about Desura, which focuses on indie games and Linux support (in addition to PC support), but I don't have any first hand experience with it.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

GoG isn't client based, which is a huge boon (considering I tend to find Steam a nightmare and a half to use anymore.)

Origin.... isn't terrible, but it's usually far cheaper to buy EA games from a store than their proprietary distribution platform.

Can't speak for others, since the products are largely the same.

 

[Snotnarok]

-snip-

Okay this is my third question on these forums so far and I've learned a lot already. I really should be clearer in my questions. I don't blame Steam for being a monopoly; I said that in my OP. I don't even blame the other services that much really. Steam made it very clear how great their sales and support were very early on. Some other services at the time didn't have sales of that magnitude and a good portion of the game industry considers them criminal to this day (stupidly of course). More importantly though, consumers just don't know the others exist. They aren't talked about by word of mouth enough. I think that contributes a lot to the problem.

Okay, how do you get word of mouth around? You have an insane sale, you do something that gets people to TALK about your store. There's a subreddit dedicated to gaming deals and people on FB & Twitter chat these things up too. If Uplay did something like buy Farcry 3 and get Assassins Creed 2 FREE, they'd probably see sales fly up a bit, especially if there was a discount on top of that.

But they don't, like I said Facry 3 was on sale on steam for 40% off and on Uplay it was full price so it's not even a thought. I went on FB and Twitter and said "hey Farcy 3 is on sale on steam!" to spread the savings around.

^ More word of mouth for steam, had Uplay done it, they'd have gotten people talking and buying. The problem is the companies running them want you to buy games for 60 bucks, they don't want to give discounts on new games so they don't get the same attention. Even though this has proven to drive PROFIT up to 1200% vs sticking to the $60 dollar roof.

 

[DoPo]

I guess I'll ask a more specific question. What services would you recommend having accounts/clients (prefer not to have multiple clients on my computer though) with alongside Steam?

Well, Owyn_Merrilin already mentioned some, here are some more things:
- Green Man Gaming has it's own client called Capsule but it's pretty much only for download of their games - doesn't have many extra features, so it's really light. Also, should be noted that GMG sell Steam keys for many of their games, others use Origin - just look under requirements for a game and it'll say which client would it use. GMG has some of the best deals I've seen - keep an eye out - they frequently (even now) give out codes for discount on digital games - GMG20-FDSCL-AQQXD (it's on their front page) would give you 20% off, even works with other sales and deals they may have. You can use it for one game per purchase but you can also use it as many times you like, so just purchase games separately with it.
- GameFly is one that wasn't mentioned - it was formerly known as Direct2Drive but...I've got no clue what happened. At any rate, they also sell Steam/Origin keys but also have their own client (I think it's just called GameFly client, could be wrong, though). From what I've heard, some describe the client as tolerable, others as obnoxious and frustrating. I've not used it myself, so I can't say but as I said, the feedback is from neutral-ish to negative - I've heard very few positive things. They are still OK for Steam keys.
- GOG just lets you download games straight from their website - that's all. You get an .exe with the whole installation and no DRM on it or anything.
- Amazon - you can also buy digital download games from there, which are just Steam keys.

 

[Bigsmith]

I don't want to get rid of Steam and lose the games I have and I certainly don't want to try Origin for obvious reasons.

Huh people are still against Origin aren't they.

Here's a little bit of advice for you, it works fine, hasn't let me down - 't's the only way I was able to play Mass effect 3 so I've had to use from pretty much the beginning. Trust me, it's better then what they used to use to manage digital content.

I have accounts on both Steam and Origin, it's hard to not have an account on both if you play a lot of games on P.C. now a days. I was going to pick up Fallout 2 on GOG until I realized steam did it.

What your essentially asking is 'why should I shop at more then one shop,' I mean I bet you shop around online on sites like Amazon, Ebay, Play, Ebuyer, Game, Gamestation.. etc and chances are high you have accounts for all of these.

My point is if you have different accounts for each website, why not use different DD software - it's the same thing.

 

[Phlakes]

You're overthinking this a bit. Just buy what you want from wherever you want. It's not like you have to sign a binding contract to get one game off GMG or whatever.

 

[jamail77]

You're overthinking this a bit. Just buy what you want from wherever you want. It's not like you have to sign a binding contract to get one game off GMG or whatever.

I'm not staying up late at night writing out plans how to best go about this with so much paper scattered all over my room I've had to resort to writing on my wall. So, I think I'm good. I'm jumping into a new financial investment towards my gaming. Getting advice and having a discussion about the market isn't that crazy. Seeing images of all the options pass my eyes like those people who see numbers might qualify me as crazy though, schizophrenic (correct usage?) even.