InXile's Brian Fargo Calls Steam PC Gaming's "Savior"

[synobal]

It's the best thing Valve ever invented and I thank them for it and the Portal series. As a company with only two good games to their credit they've done so much for PC gaming and I believe the main factor is sales. When they have things like their summer or winter sales I think many people, myself included, will even buy games we wouldn't normally because the price drops to something insignificant. I know some companies want those sales to end but I wouldn't doubt if they're responsible for selling a ton of games.

Your "only two good games" to their credit is massively biased. If you look at their games objectively the half-life series, Team Fortress 2, Dota 2, Portal series, Counter Strike series, Left 4 Dead series are all "good games".

Maybe it was only two games you enjoyed but if you look at the reviews and general sales performance of their games in general valve has far more than two good games to their name.

The people that live in The Sticks, Maine actually hate Vavle because they all but destroyed PC gaming because the highest internet speeds are from DSL.

I only have DSL, we are talking 350kb download rate max. I've almost 200 games now on steam. So I dunno are these people on download caps or something?

During the 3 months of the year I am up their with family, yeah, there is a 20 GB cap at our place. Their are other options like unlimited, but that is almost $100 a month from the local phone company.

Wow that seriously sucks I pay 30 bucks a month with no download limit. I've litterally spent 24/7 downloading stuff on my connection and I get no complaints from my ISP.

 

[Schmeiser]

Valve did something for which i will be forever thankful, they made DOTA 2 and pushed it hard into the esports scene and i still can't believe how much it grew in this few years. So thank you valve you are the best

 

[Phlogiston]

Well I will say this, either as a PC person I either spend $300 on a console and then $60 per game that I can't mod, or I spend $500 every 2 years on upgrading my pc but get games for $6 or $20 dollars with steam or the humble bundle. I think I choose the PC if only for the comfortability factor.

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3AH8f

That's all you needed to spend to upgrade a working PC to PS4 levels after 7 years - even with the hugely inflated British prices it's still £30 cheaper than buying the console - I've seen full system builds with those parts for cheaper in the US.

Personally I spent a little bit extra back in November so I could chuckle whenever I walk past a retail store showing those 'next-gen' graphics in the window.

 

[cikame]

I'm not going to pretend Valve and Steam are perfect in every way, there are a few arguments you can have regarding the platform and its future, but i really do believe they saved PC gaming.
Be it through crazy sales, offering older historical titles when no one else was, giving indies a popular marketplace or showing publishers a PC market full of millions of people who want to buy PC games, without them nothing was happening.
With the rise of PC sales came the requirement for better ports, now even the console hardware is based on PC, Valve's support for Mac and Linux has created more ways for people to play PC games.

It's pretty amazing in my eyes what a simple game developer has done for an entire market of our industry.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

sony and nintendo are just opening up, developers, specially indepedent ones usually had a hard time getting their games published on sony's and nintendo's consoles, sometimes even due to hardware problems, like the file size restrictins on the wii which prevented Super Meat Boy from being released in that console

Well than his comment about "[The console makers]" should read simply Xbox if like you say that is now the case. Though reading it seems like it may be in the past tense, but considering the rest of it I'm not not so sure.

also is he now not allowed to have an opinion? one that btw a lot of customers seems to have

Its called being professional in getting that opinion across. The potshot at the big three was bush league, and the fanboyism is not something a developer should be indulging in.

hell in fact, i believe his opinion to be more genuine knowing he has nothing to gain, unlike all those PS3 devs speaking about "TEH POWAH OF DA CELL" last gen

Yeah I'm sure its genuine which is what makes him such an idiot. When you say these sort of things because you were say given a big bucket of cash by Microsoft, or you are just outright owned by Sony than that is perfectly acceptable. Such people aren't marks, they're in on it.

This guy with nothing to gain is making himself look very foolish.

so... you like liars, shills and hypocrites over people that just express how they genuinely feel about the industry?

anyways im no game developer (yet) so i cant really comment on the state of the industry from inside nowadays, but since it has been known for a while console manufacturers put all kinds of restrictions on game devs, it shouldnt be surprising to know they are still doing it, to some extent

he is a game dev, i think there must be some level of truth in his comments

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

also brian fargo is 100% correct, sorry anti-steamers but thats the truth

No hes not. hes factually wrong that PC games were ever at "Dark age".

i disagree man, 2008-2009 were particulary shitty times for PC, and even before that it was always a relatively nich market, i mean compare the number of ports we got from console games then and now

of course, even then it wasnt that bad, PC was no WiiU, but it wasnt the best time to be PC gamer

 

[Rozalia1]

Enjoy perpetuating such asinine notions with your doomsayer judgments. Always makes me laugh a little inside when people wrap themselves up in their bubbles of political correctness so tightly, that they lose touch of the actual reality around them. Want to know the truth? The truth is that Fargo is wildly respected as both a developer and as a game industry advocate. The man can absolutely speak his mind if he chooses to, and his honesty is hand in hand with his motion to move away from the 600 pound gorillas to start pushing out independent projects away from the limitations and pressure publishers offer.

Sure, he has nothing to gain. But if the guy has an opinion, then he damn well has the God-given right to share that opinion, and he should not have to worry about people like you getting so offended and politically correct over every little thing in life. Should not care, but it is the so many people also like that that feeds this line-of-thinking and keeps it alive. What makes it funny, though, is that Brian Fargo will do just fine on his own, just as he always has.

I don't think your endorsement elevates him to "widely respected", in fact if he was than his little potshots will soon see to that. As for restrictions you should know there is a little thing called standards (which Valve apparently doesn't have), so if the big three told him to go peddle his broken mess elsewhere than perhaps he should git gud.

Its business, he should know better.

so... you like liars, shills and hypocrites over people that just express how they genuinely feel about the industry?

anyways im no game developer (yet) so i cant really comment on the state of the industry from inside nowadays, but since it has been known for a while console manufacturers put all kinds of restrictions on game devs, it shouldnt be surprising to know they are still doing it, to some extent

he is a game dev, i think there must be some level of truth in his comments

Who said I like them? I merely stated that when they do it they are in on it, this guy on the other hand is getting played. He could have expressed himself professionally and he chose not to.

So because he is a game dev everything that comes out of his mouth is truth. If so than I have some devs waiting to tell you about what a wonderful company EA is.
He throws up no evidence to back himself up, hell he doesn't even say what exactly they did to earn his ire. You can come back with talk of Microsoft but that wasn't who he was solely talking about was it.

 

[Mezahmay]

I like how the article/interview cited shows its age with "the plug and play ease" of consoles. Honestly, I get fewer hassles with Steam than I had with my 360 before I gave it up entirely, and I hear stories from friends of firmware updates on modern consoles that don't even always run properly.

 

[Somebloke]

The nicest perk of digital distribution, as far as I am concerned, is that "shelf life" is no longer an issue.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

so... you like liars, shills and hypocrites over people that just express how they genuinely feel about the industry?

anyways im no game developer (yet) so i cant really comment on the state of the industry from inside nowadays, but since it has been known for a while console manufacturers put all kinds of restrictions on game devs, it shouldnt be surprising to know they are still doing it, to some extent

he is a game dev, i think there must be some level of truth in his comments

Who said I like them? I merely stated that when they do it they are in on it, this guy on the other hand is getting played. He could have expressed himself professionally and he chose not to.

So because he is a game dev everything that comes out of his mouth is truth. If so than I have some devs waiting to tell you about what a wonderful company EA is.
He throws up no evidence to back himself up, hell he doesn't even say what exactly they did to earn his ire. You can come back with talk of Microsoft but that wasn't who he was solely talking about was it.

let me get this straight

- expressing one likes/dislikes something in a respectful manner (he's no phil fish), unprofessional
- getting paid behind doors to endorse a product, professional

im sorry but i disagree 30 thousand times, there was nothing unprofessional about his opinion



as for nintendo and sony, just a few years back nintendo called, despectively, indie devs "garage developers"

http://www.wired.com/2011/03/nintendo-garage-developers/

as for sony i legimately dont know, im trying to find articles on Sony's stance with indies before his recent change of mind but most search results are clogged with the new stuff



still we can see things werent so great back in the old days, just compare the amount of indies the Xbox360 got compared to the PS3, and as we discussed microsoft was actually a dick to those indie devs, however since im not a game developer, unlike brain fargo, i dont know exactly all the details

big console manufacturers barely acknowledged the existence of indie games before, their attitude towards them are just begining to change and we arent exactly sure to what extent

and i never said his word was infallible, but i say someone with over 20 years of experience in the industry and over 40 games under his belt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Fargo#Works

knows a thing or two about the video game business

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

Was PC gaming really that bad though? I only took a brief break from PC gaming when the original Xbox came out and I couldn't afford both, but it seems to have died and come back to life in those few years.

"[The console makers] put al sorts of guns to our head," said Fargo. "Valve has all this power but they don't wield it. They let us work in an open system. So for that I can't say good enough things about them."

Not sure I agree there. Consoles do impose a lot of restrictions but Valve are hardly angels. I like to think they're the good guys in this industry but they did bring in DRM for starters. Plus they kinda do exercise their power - not happy about the state of Steam's QA (or total lack thereof)? Tough. same goes for guarantees. You can't really turn away from Steam now as you're completely invested in it and most games are only available there.

Whilst I've never heard of this guy or his studio, a quick search show's he's selling a game in early access for AAA price. Call me ignorant but it hardly looks like it's got a AAA budget and the first review says that it was unplayable at launch. I'm sure this is the open system that devs dream about but it's hardly good for the consumer. Even if this stdio is ok, there are 10 shitty rip-off merchants for every honest dev on Steam these days. I just wish they'd exercise a little of that power they have on developers.

steam didnt bring DRM dude, DRM has existed almost since the inception of PC gaming, remember serial numbers?

plus steam sells DRM-free games too, they dont really force devs to use steamworks


as for the price of the game, is the classic kickstarter problem of "my backers paid 60 dollars to have early acess to my game, i cant sell early access to my game below that"



i dont agree with valve exercising power over the devs, that cant do much good, there must be another way

 

[Sight Unseen]

It's the best thing Valve ever invented and I thank them for it and the Portal series. As a company with only two good games to their credit they've done so much for PC gaming and I believe the main factor is sales. When they have things like their summer or winter sales I think many people, myself included, will even buy games we wouldn't normally because the price drops to something insignificant. I know some companies want those sales to end but I wouldn't doubt if they're responsible for selling a ton of games.

Only two games...?

Half Life
Half Life 2
Portal
Portal 2
Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead 2
Dota 2
Team Fortress 2
All the Counter Strike games

...?

I know they're not the most prolific games developer but they've made more than two good games.

 

[Danjal Veskandar]

The only real issue I have with Steam is all the shovelware that's been getting released on it lately and the fact that Early Access is being used by several developers in what is frankly an insulting way, but at the end of the day the goods far outweigh the bads and my game collection would not be even close to being as large as it is if it wasn't for Steam. We can only hope that some day Origin may be half as good as it.

So what if it has a bunch of crap on it? You're not forced to buy it.
And you can still find the games you want through other means.

Does this crap prevent you from getting the good games? Does it in some way tarnish your library if you choose to ignore it?
Granted, I'd love for Valve to give Steam some better front page sorting (I'm not interested in software, I don't want DLC to clog the front page and sometimes I'd want to see new releases only instead of early access titles - so some checkboxes like that on the front page would do wonders...)

Other times, I just use the search box to find that which I need. So really. I'm no fussed.
If anything, I'd be more worried of sticking all my eggs in one basket. If Steam were to go belly-up one day you risk losing it all. Though I'm not saying physical is better, disks also break or get damaged just the same.
Its a risk I'm willing to take - perhaps one day I'll see if I can collect all the install files and make a physical backup of my library. =)

steam didnt bring DRM dude, DRM has existed almost since the inception of PC gaming, remember serial numbers?

plus steam sells DRM-free games too, they dont really force devs to use steamworks

"Digital" rights management - not sure if serial keys fall under the exact same definition.
Though I agree with the sentiment, software protection has always existed, the coming of the fully digital era just increased its prominence.

There's still a lot of hate towards piracy - claiming that every pirated copy is a "lost sale" - something that doesn't fly since not everyone who would pirate a copy is also willing or able to buy the game if they would not have pirated it. But thats a different discussion.

I'd say, if anything, Steam has resulted in a far greater number of sales. What is needed now is for the business world to catch up and realize that they can't keep charging $60 now that the retail aspect (and the associated costs) are cut off.
They need to stop hiding behind the "but thats unfair competition" argument.
Digital goods can be sold for 33~50% cheaper without ever losing any of the profits due to lowered costs.

 

[TerribleAssassin]

then again it's not like I can look at the front page and shop to my hearts content, I used to be like that maybe 3-4 years ago

I definitely feel this way.

As good as Steam has done showing how profitable Digital Distribution is and offering every developer an equal platform, it's also fallen victim to it's own devices. Back in 2011/2012 I could casually open up Steam and mark out a 5 or 6 indie games for purchase for next time I get cash, now I wait until sales so that I'm not trailing through shovelware and making sure I can find games I want because everyone gets an equal opportunity, even if it doesn't deserve it.

 

[Rozalia1]

It's the best thing Valve ever invented and I thank them for it and the Portal series. As a company with only two good games to their credit they've done so much for PC gaming and I believe the main factor is sales. When they have things like their summer or winter sales I think many people, myself included, will even buy games we wouldn't normally because the price drops to something insignificant. I know some companies want those sales to end but I wouldn't doubt if they're responsible for selling a ton of games.

Only two games...?

Half Life
Half Life 2
Portal
Portal 2
Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead 2
Dota 2
Team Fortress 2
All the Counter Strike games

...?

I know they're not the most prolific games developer but they've made more than two good games.

Ever thought its his opinion? I mean to me Valve has never made a good game, you can't say I'm wrong.

let me get this straight

- expressing one likes/dislikes something in a respectful manner (he's no phil fish), unprofessional
- getting paid behind doors to endorse a product, professional

im sorry but i disagree 30 thousand times, there was nothing unprofessional about his opinion

Respectful manner? What was the need for him to bust out the potshots? What does the big three have to do with PC gaming, Valve, or himself? Its amateur if he doesn't realise his mistake, and a pathetic desperate call for attention if it was intentional so the story would get picked up more.

And yes they are professional, its business. Business whenever you like it or not is about being in on it all, not being a mark for another entity that gives no craps about you.

as for nintendo and sony, just a few years back nintendo called, despectively, indie devs "garage developers"

http://www.wired.com/2011/03/nintendo-garage-developers/

And you're the same person who wants Valve to stop filling itself to the brim with garbage correct? Sounds to me like you should be applauding Nintendo for that statement. Besides like how he should he did state that are good gems amongst everything else, and his statement isn't exactly wrong.

 

[cypher-raige]

Or its no DRM (GOG style)

GoG is a niche service. Not a serious competitor to Steam.

Give it some time. When it got the rights to Alan Wake, the floodgates creaked open a bit.

And yes, if gog.com has something that Steam does, gog.com gets my dollar every time (unless Steam undercuts it by five dollars or more).

OT: He's not wrong.

Most publishers aren't going to accept no DRM whatsoever.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

let me get this straight

- expressing one likes/dislikes something in a respectful manner (he's no phil fish), unprofessional
- getting paid behind doors to endorse a product, professional

im sorry but i disagree 30 thousand times, there was nothing unprofessional about his opinion

Respectful manner? What was the need for him to bust out the potshots? What does the big three have to do with PC gaming, Valve, or himself? Its amateur if he doesn't realise his mistake, and a pathetic desperate call for attention if it was intentional so the story would get picked up more.

And yes they are professional, its business. Business whenever you like it or not is about being in on it all, not being a mark for another entity that gives no craps about you.

its funny you call that professionalism, because in any other business thats called being a shill

maybe you should stop and reconsider what means being a professional

plus those werent potshops, that was the simple truth, and it has been made very evident with the number of games released on Steam compared to any other gaming platform, and even Sony, they got a lot of games relesed on their platform after they opened their doors to indies

also what does it have to do with anything? hes comparing the current situation of PC to the "dark ages" and comparing PC to the console scene, explaining why he feels PC is such an ideal place for projects like his

as for nintendo and sony, just a few years back nintendo called, despectively, indie devs "garage developers"

http://www.wired.com/2011/03/nintendo-garage-developers/

And you're the same person who wants Valve to stop filling itself to the brim with garbage correct? Sounds to me like you should be applauding Nintendo for that statement. Besides like how he should he did state that are good gems amongst everything else, and his statement isn't exactly wrong.

considering a huge chunk of my games library are made by "garage developers" some of them literally being made entirely/almost entirely by 1 single guy, and considering in my most delusional moment i hope to develop my own games someday, no i dont applaud this attitude, its short sighted, disrespectful and egocentrical


the fact steam has more garbage nowadays does not stop me from enjoying the good stuff, and just because id support some curation in the store doesnt mean i think Valve should close its doors to potential developers

 

[cypher-raige]

How many devs aren't even bothering to port games to PC anymore? You can thank Valve for that.

Name me a developer or publisher who left the PC for this reason.