What's the point of Steam?

[Barso]

THE SALES!!!!
I picked up borderlands and all the DLC for £20.
I nearly bought it for my xbox360 but on PC I am playing at 1920x1200 60fps with the config tool that makes it look fantastic.
I have over 60 games on my steam list and they all cost me about £200.
There's enough gameplay to last me the next 5 years.
That's why I laugh at the PC gaming is dead threads.
I will still be completing these games when the next gen of comsoles come.

 

[MeMeMeMe]

Why can't play, amazon, hmv offer a digital download service? That way they can undercut steam so in theory steam will have to lower their price as well.

Most likely because they are dinosaurs. As with music, and movies, they resist digital downloads - in both music and movies sales, the successful estores like itunes came from outside the industry.

It makes sense. The big retailers have too much to lose if it fails, and too much to protect if it succeeds. What will happen if those big retail chains produce a digital download service that succeeds? They might very well lose sales from their high street stores, and find it hard to justify keeping them open. It changes the nature of their business, and they will cling to the business they understand.

 

[PapaLazaru]

Steam is far more than a digital download service.

It is like the Facebook for gamers. I cannot imagine not using it tbh.

 

[Evilsod]

My idea would increase competition and drive down pricing. Unless they price fix.

Steam is only good during sales, and sometimes the sales only bring the price down to the DVD price on amazon/play anyway.

I like the concept of steam but it can be pricey, combine that with my mega slow internet, I look to buy DVD's over steam when I can.

Price isn't Steams decision. The same goes with sales, it seems Steam still aren't responsible for the discount.

We'd all love there to be competition but its not gonna happen. Until such a time Steam (or another DDS) can be used to supply console games, something that won't happen anytime in the near future, retail stores will always have a big say in prices.

At the end of the day even if Amazon, Play, HMV, GAME and every other store has a digital service, they aren't in the same league as Steam and never will be. Steam with its social network, community features, unlimited downloads, anti-cheat system, achievement monitoring, etc. The closest thing is GFWL and thats couldn't be less user friendly if they tried.

 

[franco_22]

so buy the cd for cheaper, add the cd-key to your steam account and throw the box away. lol

 

[apatia77]

I like the idea of Steam and the easy of use however I like to buy/sell second hand games if possible.

Having said that I've bought about 10 games on Steam already.

 

[Evilsod]

I like the idea of Steam and the easy of use however I like to buy/sell second hand games if possible.

Having said that I've bought about 10 games on Steam already.

Considering all the big name publishers are pushing systems that render the second hand market obsolete, that probably won't be a consideration for much longer....

 

[EdwardTeach]

I have bought a lot of games on steam since i built my pc a few months ago.

I wouldnt buy any games at the full price, but the sale prices can be amazing.

For example i got dirt, dirt 2, grid & Toca 3 for ~ £10 combined.

I also got the THQ pack, containing all the dawn of war games + expansions, metro 2033, all the red faction games, Stalker and many other all for just £26.

i know have far more games than i can practically play, including a whole bunch i haven't even bothered downloading yet.

 

[Noto]

Why can't play, amazon, hmv offer a digital download service? That way they can undercut steam so in theory steam will have to lower their price as well.

because they dont have the games developers on board. Dont have the back bone to do it, and dont have the experience to deliver 'the experience'.

Steam has proved it can do it with first, its own titles... then others. And with its HUGE player base and start to negotiate.

Some do offer digital dl, but tbh steam allows multiple dl's of games on different PCs as long as you log in the game is yours (bar some lame DRM games that i wont play)

 

[ro55o]

It's been said already, but steam is more than just a download service for games, it's a whole gaming community. Chat with your friends, then just jump in and out of games with each other. A complete backup of your games, which in my case is 110, couldn't imagine having anywhere near that amount of cases and not worrying about scratching discs, or losing them Then the convenience of downloading them where and whenever you want. The games receive automatic updates as soon as steam is running, I don't even notice them happening. If you buy the games during the sales (especially around Christmas time) then you can pick up fantastic bargains, of which the majority of my games have been bought. So for me, steam has been a lot cheaper than buying online and in store and again has been instant, only an hour later I'm playing the game

I honestly couldn't imagine gaming without steam.

 

[barmyllama_jnr]

id say personally the point in steam is it allows easy communication with friends over the game and u can buy games from other websites and tie them to your steam account, steam is like a gaming chat window that you can occasionally buy on offer decent games i buy anything on sale got over 100 games from buying big packs of games worth over £50 and got them for £4, in a nutshell though i only use it for talking to friends while im ingame and with that i dont have to alt tab out the game or just quit in the middle of something

 

[FishFluff]

Steam is awesome as far as I'm concerned. I really can't be arsed to go to the shops or order a game online when I can buy it with a couple of mouse clicks and have it installed an hour or so later (go go 50mb Virgin internet).

I only installed it about 6 months ago and have spent about £200 on games in that time. Before installing Steam I probably spent about the same over 4 years.

 

[pearce64]

Since I got a debit card at about 17 (Nearly 4 years ago), I think i've only bought one retail game (Bad Company 2). I buy everything on Steam and i'm totally happy with it, although I really want Empire and Napolean Total War right now which are way overpriced on steam. Thing is, I just don't buy them.

I try and support Steam as much as possible, because I love Valve and love Indie devs, and by purchasing games on Steam I can support both.

I totally agree

 

[Squark]

Since I got a debit card at about 17 (Nearly 4 years ago), I think i've only bought one retail game (Bad Company 2). I buy everything on Steam and i'm totally happy with it, although I really want Empire and Napolean Total War right now which are way overpriced on steam. Thing is, I just don't buy them.

I try and support Steam as much as possible, because I love Valve and love Indie devs, and by purchasing games on Steam I can support both.

Napoleon is a steamworks game though, so you may as well buy it retail as it will tie to your steam account anyway

 

[pearce64]

I also think Steam is excellent. I shop around any buy not just from Steam but aloso from retail, depends on the deals and the prices..

 

[bledd]

not needing to patch games is awesome too, TF2 for example has had over 130 patches, I can't imagine doing all of them manually