Poll: Will Steam take over the world?

[Exius Xavarus]

Snip

At my GameStop, if you buy a brand new game and it turns out to be broken in any way, they take your broken copy and exchange it with another brand new copy.

 

[SnowBurst]

YES all things will be super cheap during summer and christmas. Like Pineapples and Monkeys.

It will be awesome!

But seriously they are on top because they provide a decent service and don't treat their customers like garbage. It's not like they have a total monopoly, just look at most kickstarters people ask for GoG.com or physical copies.

Origin isn't too bad I would just never buy online off EA as their customer service sucks if something goes wrong.

thats another reason to a games will be cheaper when physical copies die out cuz u dnt have to pay for the shipping or the actual hardware cuz u just download it

 

[SnowBurst]

I sure hope they don't take over. Competition will only benefit the consumers and while a theoretical monopoly might not seem bad for some people, that only works in theory. For all we know the only reason Valve and Steam aren't more invasive and annoying might be because they have competition and therefore can't do whatever they want.

And as long as GoG lets me wear slippers in their store I'm going to support them over Steam if I ever have to choose. If you wear slippers around the Steam store everyone just looks at you funny.

well steam allready pretty much owns the pc market for it origin a close second id imagine

 

[SnowBurst]

No, but it will become a solid 99 percent if all that tries to oppose is f***ing Origin. I don't like monopolies at the best of times, but really, it's like having the most wonderful generous king in the world and then Hitler comes along and wants you to join his cohort. Well EA can take their toothbrushes and combs back to Ricitelland.

Basically, someone has to be better than Steam. And no-one is going to be any time soon, because Steam is already the service that would break down a larger service. We missed the part where the profit-first morons run the place. We got the perfect counter-service as the default.

steams been about since like 2003 so valve have the most experience by far and steam is pretty much all you could want for gaming on a pc cuz it puts all the games in 1 neat place you can get into communities and game with friends its overlay is well done and the store is nice the deals are brilliant at times and the news section is pretty good to steam = 100 bazillion times better then origin (even though i got bf3 and it didnt work so ea gave me bad company 2 free and then i got bf3 working somehow rofl)

 

[SnowBurst]

I'm pretty sure steam is only interested in taking over the digital distribution end of the gaming industry, and I'd say they succeeded in that a while ago. At least they aren't like google and don't try to expand into all sectors of our daily lives.

i like google tbh android is best mobile os by far ios is far too restrictive and windows phone 7 or w.e it is is just laughable imo and valve are only interested in digital because its easier to do and physical media is becoming obsolete cloud is fueling it as well

 

[SnowBurst]

Every single game I have on Steam has a cracked copy on a backup drive and a DVD.

good man its legal to cuz u own it lol but why not just back up the entire library onto a HDD?

 

[Warped_Ghost]

Unless origin picks up its game (and PR) Steam will probably remain supreme in PC distribution.

 

[SnowBurst]

So I voted yes, what do I win? What if I actively want Steam to take over the world?

you win the fact you have foresight lol

 

[SnowBurst]

tbh if steam does take over the gaming market it wouldnt be a bad thing in my eyes because they dont do a half assed job of stuff they make good stuff

Monopolies are never good news.

Except in the game Monopoly.

Would be a decent word in scrabble too.

OT: I'm in a love/hate relationship with steam, so I'd hope not.

im in a love hate relationship with valve love steam though lol

 

[talker]

not if i can help it.

"We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender."

i don't use steam because it is, frankly, a load of bullcrap.

also, that is a great speech.

 

[SnowBurst]

Unless origin picks up its game (and PR) Steam will probably remain supreme in PC distribution.

EA wont make origin work simple as cuz theyd have to copy steam which is illegal

 

[Yopaz]

Snip

At my GameStop, if you buy a brand new game and it turns out to be broken in any way, they take your broken copy and exchange it with another brand new copy.

That is how it is legally supposed to work, I am aware of that. The retailer is not allowed to sell a product that doesn't work. I don't know how they manage to get away with it here, but it has happened too many times for me to consider physical safer than digital.

I guess in a way it's GameStop I don't trust though.

 

[Rariow]

I think Steam will be to digital game distribution what WoW is to MMOs. It will reign supreme for a looooong time, but it's inevitable that it'll eventually be debunked by a competitor doing something complete and utterly new and which we probably couldn't imagine beforehand.

 

[vun]

well steam allready pretty much owns the pc market for it origin a close second id imagine

Yeah, but as long as they have competition they've got to make sure they stay in the lead.

 

[TheDrunkNinja]

It better not.

I prefer the days when buying hardcopies of PC games meant not having to deal with Steam and Origin.

 

[Something Amyss]

Only time I've ever seen anyone get picked up for it is when companies have basically blackmailed people they think have done it. And that itself is a legal grey area at best.

Well, if you've never come across it....Then it must be safe.

And it's not a legal grey area, but that's a different story.

What's fair and what's legal don't always match up.

In this case, what you're arguing hardly falls under "fair."

I mean, we are consumers, we're allowed to argue against things that negatively impact us as consumers.

By all means, argue. But you're advocating piracy to get you access to games when you do not have the right to. That's not really much of a consumer issue.

If you decide to argue we should have the right, I'll support you. Go make a petition or something. Fight city hall. Just don't bother to say that piracy is a viable alternative here.

 

[Woodsey]

Only time I've ever seen anyone get picked up for it is when companies have basically blackmailed people they think have done it. And that itself is a legal grey area at best.

Well, if you've never come across it....Then it must be safe.

And it's not a legal grey area, but that's a different story.

What's fair and what's legal don't always match up.

In this case, what you're arguing hardly falls under "fair."

I mean, we are consumers, we're allowed to argue against things that negatively impact us as consumers.

By all means, argue. But you're advocating piracy to get you access to games when you do not have the right to. That's not really much of a consumer issue.

If you decide to argue we should have the right, I'll support you. Go make a petition or something. Fight city hall. Just don't bother to say that piracy is a viable alternative here.

No, blocking people from playing things they've paid for and then saying "oh, well fuck you, you paid full-price for an indefinite license" is unfair.

As apparently they now do anyway, the correct response if someone fucks with their Steam account is to disable the benefits of their Steam account. Buying anything else, getting auto-patches, accessing their friends list, what have you. NOT to prevent them playing the shit they have paid for.

 

[Biodeamon]

They could possibly consume the online market but not real life. China already has dibs on the world.

 

[dancinginfernal]

I hope so.

I for one welcome our new Valve-centered overlords. Gabe would be a lovely God-Emperor.