Poll: And so it begins: Subscriptions

[viranimus]

So this is a subject that worries me, but I have yet to see anyone discuss it.

Ive noticed this year on steam a rise in "free weekends" for games. Ive seen it for Modern Warfare, Ive seen it for Civ V, and even this weekend its available for Napoleon total war.

"Thats awesome! You get to play a game for free" you say. But it begs me to ask, Is it?

Because from where I stand on the slippery slope that has collapsed of people saying "Steam wont diminish your ownership of games by turning their service into a subscription" feeling like this is the test pilot for a new way of further pushing games away from being a product and more into being the subscription they desire them to be.

Yes, Allowing people to play for free seems awesome, but this really seems like they are trying to indoctrinate people into thinking its ok to only have a limited time available to have access to content and in the future if this takes off we will see full fledged pricing structure of not buying games on steam but outright renting them.

Yes I do frequently speak ill of steam. But when I see things like this happening, and turn around to see the people not say a single word in protest to this sort of thing, why wouldnt I raise my voice?

So why arent more people discussing this? What do you think about Steam doing this?

 

[Thoric485]

I wouldn't mind as long as it's reasonably priced and doesn't the exclude the option of buying the full thing.

It'd be rather convenient really. For games that I want to try, but know they're not worth the full price.

 

[Esotera]

I think the two are quite distinct in the eyes of Valve - the free trial is simply there to get the game to a larger audience, and get a large percentage of that audience to buy it.

That said, I hate subscriptions, I really hope they don't move in that direction. I don't think they will as a lot of other people won't want to pay for 20+ games every month, and I suspect this would cause them to lose money.

 

[Smooth Operator]

No doubt this will happen but Steam will not be paving the way, what they are doing with free weekends is handing out samples to get you hooked and you later need more -> extra sales, basic drug pushing tactics.

Meanwhile we got MS holding internet hostage until you pay a subscription (they even tried it on PC but got laughed out rather quick), and Sony already does the "free games only when subscribed" deal... I wonder who will be pushing the sub boat first.

 

[Octorok]

I disagree. Don't get me wrong, they're not giving out free trials out of the goodness of their hearts, but simply that they can entice in customers with a free sample.

They take a game which will fall into one of two categories. In the first category, this game either has upcoming DLC/expansions (such as Civ V) or newer, more expensive games ahead of it in the series that you might buy after trying this older one (such as Napoleon : Total War) and they allow you to try it out for free as a way of getting you interested in getting a game that has gone way down in price and sales have trailed off, and as such to get people to get the new and 100% priced DLC/expansions/later games in the series.

In the second category, they take a game with a lot of moneymaking potential (this will generally include hype and DLC/microtransactions) and let you try it free (MMO free trials tend to fit this structure too). Call of Duty and pre-F2P Team Fortress 2 fit this category nicely. By getting you to try out something big-name that you might have heard of, and are therefore more interested in playing, they can get a lot more people yoinked into the game, and make more money, than if they had just ignored these potential buyers who were on the fence.

Both of these categories (and effectively all "free" weekends) fit with that simple original statement - people like free stuff, and you make a lot more money by getting people to try your game free and buying it later than by ignoring these sales entirely (HINT FUCKING HINT, PHYSICAL RETAILERS).

I don't believe it's anything so sinister as what you suggest. Again, not because I think Valve are all cuddly and like to be great guys (although it is great for their PR and their image), but because they have realised that they make a lot more money in sales and lowering prices at a reasonable rate than by price-gouging their customers.

This is why Steam has doubled in profits each consecutive year for almost a decade, and why EA's share price is happily declining.

 

[evilneko]

Y'know, I don't think it'd be so bad if a rental model was available for PC. In fact I've previously advocated for using Steam as a rental platform in addition to a store.

OTOH, turning the entirety of Steam into a subscription service could suck majorly.

 

[teh_gunslinger]

First off, free weekends are not new, nor do I actually think they are on the rise though I have no statistics to back me up.

While I've no doubt you're right in saying that Valve would like nothing better to make it subsctiption based and I've got a metric shit ton of issues with Steam, I don't think that the free weekends are a sign of that.
I reckon the way to see them is as time restricted demos. You'll notice it's mostly older games with, I'll assume, small sales or new DLC coming up, that does them to snag people who have been holding out. I know 3 or 4 people who scooped up NTW on the strength of what they played over the weekend.

A company like Futuremark has repeatedly tried to keep Shattered Horizon alive by free weekends and huge sales. Not that they will succeed. They damn well ruined that game when they listened to the morons who wanted more than one weapon. *sigh*

Captcha: one stop shop. How fitting.

 

[Distance_warrior]

I'm having trouble following you train of thought. Steam makes them a bucket load already through charging companies to put their games up if they introduce subscription and subscription would just cause everybody to switch to free online distribution.

As for the free weekend its not to let us play games for free its so people will be encouraged to play it and a percentage that do will enjoy and buy it. Its advertising, its just a demo that is based around time not content. What makes you think they let you play games for free to be nice to you, its like saying that they put the sales on so its easier for you to pay your rent.

 

[JoesshittyOs]

This is the very definition of "jumping the gun".

That does not in any way foreshadow that they are going to start a subscription service. I'm assuming they do it because it gives people a chance to try the games.

It's a nice thing. People like nice things.

 

[Thaliur]

I wouldn't mind as long as it's reasonably priced and doesn't the exclude the option of buying the full thing.

It'd be rather convenient really. For games that I want to try, but know they're not worth the full price.

That, and MMOs could use that function for their monthly fees so you do not need to leave your payment info all over the internet. While probably not especially dangerous, it is insanely inconvenient if anything needs to be changed.

 

[vrbtny]

Free weekends are to introduce people to game that they may be unfamiliar with, or not wanting to splash the cash out on games they may not want to buy casually. It's a very good ploy for both parties, for instance it got me interested in Nuclear Dawn, a game i likely wouldn't have even looked at if not for a free weekend that they offered. And it also put me off buying MW3, when i played its free weekend and got final confirmation that it was indeed, shit.

Steam should do more free weekends, not less. And, no, I don't think it's the beginning of the slippery slope to subscriptions.

 

[Naeras]

I disagree. Don't get me wrong, they're not giving out free trials out of the goodness of their hearts, but simply that they can entice in customers with a free sample.

Thank you, that was exactly what I was going to write.

 

[jklinders]

There is nothing saying that they are moving in this direction at all. At worst, it will become an option. At best, status quo. These free weekends are more like an extended demo than anything. The point being to get people hooked more than they might from a half hour of limited gameplay.

They make their money by moving volume. If anything, a subscription model would be a risk as their existing (huge) userbase might very well revolt over such a change.

Lacking insider info, I would suggest that these free weekends are extended demos. Nothing more. They have been doing them for years, the industry is in a slump right now and they are trying to drum up more sales by using them more. Nothing more.

 

[nu1mlock]

As many have already stated, the free weekends is not the beginning of subscription based Steam, it's simply a way for Steam (and the developers) to get some extra income. People will try the game and some of those people will buy it.

With most developers not releasing a demo for PC (but often for consoles) this is a great way to try out games you've yet to play and decide for yourself. Not everyone wants to pirate games as a kind of demo.

So no, I do not think this is the beginning of Steam going subscription based.

 

[Elate]

No, no and I doubt they will ever tread that water. Subscription can work on consoles, because they have no choice in using Sony/MS, it cannot work on PC, because I have Origin, Desura, and GoG to go to instead.

Valve wouldn't be cutting their own nose of if they did this, they would be stabbing their own damn eyes out. And if me, some punk on the internet can garner THAT, I'm pretty sure that (the proven, gamer savvy) almighty Valve can too.

 

[Bob_F_It]

You seem to be interpreting the free weekend for a different purpose. What publishers/developers see in a free weekend is allowing people who don't own the game to have a taste of the full cake before they decide they want to buy it in full.
This is especially more prevailant in today's market as developers are no longer bothered with releasing demos. Hell, a lot of console demos are walled in portions of the full download.

Also, remember that Valve continues to put work into games that have visible HP; the only newschool thing they've done is to make TF2 free-to-play (and that also had free weekends, so the hell with the rental plan).

 

[ResonanceSD]

Dude, do you not recognize a demo when you see one?

 

[MortifiedPenguin]

Free weekends are about publicity and money.

It makes a game that would've otherwise flown under radar for some people stand out, especially if they didn't realease a demo or if it was a bad demo, in the hopes that once the time limit has run out they would've sufficiently enjoyed the game enough to warrant a purchase.

 

[ChildishLegacy]

They've always done free weekends alongside some of their offers, just because you haven't noticed it before doesn't mean it is implying something the moment you noticed it.
They make shit tonnes of money off of their current model and have gotten heaps of new users over the last year.

They WILL NOT change that model and force people to change the way they use steam, everybody that uses steam likes it for what it is, why on earth would they attempt to force this down every user's throat when they have a lot of loyal, paying customers?

The only thing I could ever see them doing is offering an optional/additional "Steam Plus" service, which allows you to subscribe for certain games etc.
They will never in a million years attempt a transition like that, they have their market nailed.