Dave Perry Cautions Against the Looming Threat of Steam

[Andy Chalk]

Dave Perry Cautions Against the Looming Threat of Steam

iTunes [http://www.gaikai.com/]-like behemoth and that someday, game makers could regret "giving away their customers" to Valve's digital platform.

When Steam debuted back in 2003, it was little more than a way to ensure that nobody could play Valve [http://www.amazon.com/Half-Life-2-Pc/dp/B00006I02Z/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1290454560&sr=8-2] may wield an awful lot of power over other developers.

"When you outsource your digital strategy you are giving away your customers. Like iTunes, Steam has made it so easy and they have lots of users. So if you give them your product then you will start receiving checks from them. And that's very convenient," he told MCV [http://www.mcvuk.com/news/41926/Perry-warns-of-Steam-danger?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mcvuk%2FoXMK+%28MCV%3A+games+industry+news%29]. "But now people are starting to think about their own digital future. How long do you wait before you take control of your own digital strategy? Would you say, 'Here, take my digital customers, and I'll see you later?'"

"Like with iTunes, at some point it is going to be too late. Just try and negotiate your royalty rates now with Steve Jobs," he continued. "At some point I think the same thing is going to happen with Steam. Steam is growing and it is growing fast, and they are making it easier and easier. But it'll be interesting to hear what the publishers do."

Now let's be fair: Perry is the big brain behind Gaikai, a different type of online gaming platform that will nonetheless be competing, to some extent, with Steam. That fact alone makes it easy to dismiss his remarks as self-serving, but does he have a point? It's impossible to argue that Valve doesn't dominate the digital PC market while other platforms battle it out for the scraps. But is a concentration of resources an inherently bad thing? And how many customers are small studios really giving away when they're coming up with them mainly thanks to Steam in the first place? I don't see Perry's comments as entirely self-serving but I'm not convinced that the situation is quite as dire as he portrays it, either.


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[Irridium]

I really wished some games didn't solely use Steam. I'm against forcing consumers to choose between either something they don't want to be a part of(in this case Steam), or to give up a game they've been looking forward to.

Its just a punch in the stomach to fans of said game who don't want anything to do with Steam.

 

[KSarty]

You mean developers are doing with Steam what you want them to do with Gaikai?

Steams dominance really isn't negatively affecting the market right now. Despite having competition only in the strictest of terms, Steam continues to evolve and offer new features. I should also point out Steam doesn't actually have that many exclusives, if a consumer doesn't want to use Steam for whatever reason they can find a lot of those same games elsewhere.

Maybe down the line Steam's monopoly will hurt the industry, but it certainly isn't right now.

 

[Reveras]

Steam also saved a truckload of little indie developers through their discount system so I wouldn't call it the behemoth that crushes souls yet.

 

[Azhrarn-101]

Steam has the potential to turn into an iTunes-like institution, except for one big difference. Valve isn't run by a megalomaniac like Jobs.

I don't mind Steam, it's convenient, has great sales, Steamworks isn't intrusive, all-in-all I don't mind Steam being a big player. They became that way by being good to their customers.

 

[Reaper69lol]

Cant say I ever heard of "Gaikai" or Dave Perry, but I can see what his problem is. Steam is creating a monopoly on a market, and its competitors are not very happy with that, simple.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

I really wished some games didn't solely use Steam. I'm against forcing consumers to choose between either something they don't want to be a part of(in this case Steam), or to give up a game they've been looking forward to.

Its just a punch in the stomach to fans of said game who don't want anything to do with Steam.

Pretty much all of this.

If I can buy my games through any source other than Steam I generally try to... and DRM free is always a big plus.

 

[Buccura]

Call me a fanboy but I'd feel more comfortable with Valve having control over a platform that Microsoft, or Apple for that matter.

 

[Woodsey]

To be honest, the exact same comment was made by another industry figure; oh yeah, the guy in charge of D2D.

I know there have been a few comments else where, but these guys are warning people about what their platforms are a lesser version of.

Make something to compete with it and I'll use it; the more people fighting over my money, the better.

 

[Canid117]

BURN THE NON BELIEVER! STEAM IS YOUR MASTER! STEAM IS YOUR LORD! STEAM IS GOD!


*wakes up*

Whoa I just had the craziest dream guys.

 

[SachielOne]

The main problem with every company having their own digital distribution system is that, invariably, it will mean a different program being installed on your computer for each of those systems. I, for one, welcome Gabe Newell as our new gaming overlord.

 

[Eri]

While Valve could technically try to screw us at some point, The revolt would be massive. I'd dare say they wouldn't dare try.

 

[rsvp42]

I think it's on of those things where either things will become terrible and we'll wonder how we let it go so far, selling our souls to Steam, or Steam will remain the quality service that it is and we'll all be better off for it. That's a pretty big difference though, so I can understand why smaller players would be wary. That being said, the music industry has done alright even with iTunes, unless I'm mistaken there.

 

[Aptus]

Most of my newer games in my library come from steam, collecting hard copies got boring when most games stopped with the big boxes. I currently have close to 200 games on steam and the only two issues I have had so far is that steam can be a bit slow with patches on the more obscure games, for example Sacred 2 that cut me off from multiplayer for I think it was a whole month since the steam version was one patch behind. The other issue being the whole $=? thing that causes at least newer games to be a bit too expensive, they make up for it with ridiculous sales though. Between Steam, GoG and Impulse I have just about every game I could ever want within a mouseclicks reach.

 

[Therumancer]

I don't like digital distribution in general as I've mentioned many times.

I see the big danger from things like STEAM being if the "Brick and Mortar" stores go out of business, or if it succeeds in taking everything over so even buying physical copies requires you to go through STEAM. Once that happens I imagine STEAM will start raising it's prices and there won't be any real competition for them, which is going to be bad for us consumers.

Originally digital distribution was supposed to cause games to become a lot cheaper for us gamers, in reality all it did was put more money into the hands of the industry, while costing us any kind of physical ownership of our purchuses.

Right now STEAM seems like the good guys, with their periodic sales and such, but will that remain, or is it going to be like with Wal*Mart where it lasts until the competition is gone, and then those great bargains end.

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That said, I wouldn't be too concerned about what is said in this article. Largely because there are anti-monopoly laws in the US at least. If STEAM becomes big enough, and gets the attention of the goverement, while having no real competition, then your going to see the goverment crawling all over them. How that will turn out remains to be seen, sometimes you have long, drawn out battles like with Microsoft. Sometimes things come to more drastic and sudden resolutions like what happened to Ted Turner when he tried to pretty much become the god-emperor of all media.

 

[Something Amyss]

Also in this week's news: Sky is blue, weather forecasters shocked.

 

[Daemascus]

So what, Steam is popular so it mmust be evil?

 

[TimeLord]

I sense a hint of jealousy in that statement!

So because something works really well. It should be stopped to save the world?
I don't see the comparison to iTunes. iTunes is only need for the iPod/iPhone. Every other MP3 player in the world uses something else. It isn't like every MP3 player is tied to iTunes.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Any rapid degree of success inevitably moves towards corruption and takeover.
It's part of human nature, and society.

If you have power, it's only natural to want to wield it in such a way that you maintain it.

Steam will inevitably fall prey to this. Perhaps not today, or tomorrow, or next year. But somewhere down the line if they continue to expand.