"i am angry at the company who’s killing physical distribution on console. to comfort myself i’ll glaze the company who killed physical distribution on pc"
??????
This is the shit that makes me laugh about this. Fucking people simping for a billionaire, because they think he's their billionaire.
This is just kind of moronic. Valve didn't kill physical PC games it was the Internet....
Why didn't the internet kill console games sooner?
Valve isn't in charge of CD production, they're just providing a digital storefront. Game publishers choose digital because it's more profitable when you can ignore logistics.
I don't know about others, but as an end user, I hates having to deal with physical media. Being able to just download any game in twn minutes is great.
(I know that there are lots of potential drawbacks with that situation, but it's really convenient, unless you're in a third world country with no bandwidth, in which case it probably sucks)
10 mins? Well lar dee dar mr fancy pants :)
For something like a PC or main console I don't mind it but I've never been one to sell or trade. Something ostensibly portable, like the Switch, that I'm more likely to take somewhere without an internet connection? Sucks.
I admit I've never used a non pc platform, the deck was the closest I went to a console. I would possibly change my mind if I ever did, although it's probably a bit late for that.
It's nice for retro gaming too but the original storage media is falling apart so emulation is the inevitable future.
I’m gonna agree with the other guy. That was the internet.
When Valve released Steam back in the early-mid 2000’s internet speeds were like 1-3mbps. A 4GB download (less than a single layer DVD) would take ~3-8 hours. I bought a physical copy of HL2(2004) to load it onto the computer in Steam for that reason alone. I also had the Orange Box(2007) on disc.
There's two main reasons why I like physical media:
Steam meets both of those in different ways.
They are both ultimately in it for greed, but a different kind of greed. Sony wants the short term make most profits this quarter every quarter, even if this quarter's strategy hurts next quarter, that's a problem for next quarter.
Valve seems to at least understand that not taking its users for granted and forcing shitty options on them to make a quick buck will mean they are more willing to continue spending money on their shit.
Also, Valve didn't come in trying to end physical media, they were a digital service from the start. Similarly, I had no problem with some games on the PS store not having physical releases and I've even bought a few. My issue is that the physical disc drive is one of the main reasons I even have a ps5, so saying they won't be doing them anymore mostly just means that the ps6 won't be as interesting to me. I'm not even really mad, just disappointed and moving on.
To be fair physical media for PC has always been a bit different than the "insert disc, play game" you get on consoles.
For modern PCs most don't have optical drives anymore and it'd have to be USB sticks and there's no guarantee if It would outlast an optical disk. Kind of a tough situation for archival purposes.
And to be fair, there are so many games on steam or GOG that I want to play, we can wait until they are on sale. Usually for a fraction of the original price.
Yesh if you ignore the massive slap that is the steam machine.
Valve got so good at doing nothing for a decade they forgot how to do things again lol.
My gripe would be the trackers steam uses. I'm sick of that.
The Steam machine would've been amazing if it was affordable. You can hardly blame Valve for the AI bubble and current RAM pricing though.
Turns out if you don't have shareholders to report to, you can focus on making things better for consumers rather than squeezing every last penny out of them.
Yeah just squeezing every penny from developers instead.
You don't afford a fleet of yachts without stealing something from someone.
Barely related whataboutism, but okay.
Right? Damn. That's why private companies are better
Whooaahhhhhhhhh there, bucko, let's slow the fuck down there. There are PLENTY of terrible private companies out there! OpenAI, Anthropic, Pulte, and Kiewit come to mind.
That sounds like most of the terrible private companies are just companies that want to go public.
This is peak Gaben simp meme. Steam were the pioneers of "you don't own the game, you just own a licence to play it" model which has caused massive amounts of enshittification of the gaming industry. Not to mention all the other bullshit they've pushed over the years.
But valve always gets a pass because dumbass games think "lord Gaben" is their best friend because he sells other peoples games for 90% off some times.
I hear this more frequently nowadays, but it really is kind of misplacing the blame for this change. Steam went for this model precisely because many of the bigger game companies to this day refuse to sell their games as anything but a heavily restricted license. And Steam as a storefront does have to cater to them in that regard, especially back then. Even physical disks as others pointed out were technically not something you owned, but rather that resale and such was not enforced or enforceable. (You would definitely get some stern letters if you started copying and selling those games at larger scale, even if you 'owned' the original copy).
People do still sell DRM free games on Steam that you can copy and distribute to essentially your hearts extent without Steam ever getting involved. The license you have is for Steam to provide you the download service so you can get your digital copy (and a bit more). If you care about people owning games, then it's up to you to support and buy from the kinds of companies that don't provide you a license or (more likely) where the license is unrestricted enough to fit your description of ownership. The middleman like Steam you buy it from shouldn't matter if they don't exert undue control beyond that. And at least being on PC if you really must buy something with DRM you have options to remove it.
Idk man. I remember someone recommending spec ops: the line a few weeks ago, but said it's not available on steam any more. I bought it eons ago and had no problem besides controls getting it on my deck.
This meme is my pet peeve, it annoys me so much. It cannot be further from the truth.
Valve doesn't do nothing. They intentionally operate their platform in ways that keep customers satisfied, while making long term investments into hardware and OS development. That's not "nothing". That's doing a lot of things right.
You can't stop selling physical copies if you never sold physical copies in the first place
invest in open ecosystem
maintain and develop platform for user
70/30 cut to offer thing on market
run gambling system
"nothing"
'doesn't make there products intentionally shit' and 'competition shoots themzelfs in the head'. I think I know why they are winning the race
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