… They’re like the opposite of doing nothing.
MSFT in particular has been essentially utterly out manuevered by Valve and their developements.
Its… its actually rumored (by Moore’s Law Is Dead) that the specific weird custom chip the Steam Machine is using…
… was originally going to be used in something like like a planned Surface Super Duper Pro tablet.
But MSFT cancelled it.
After AMD had already made a bunch of the chips.
… And… then Valve comes along, figures out how to build a PC/Console out of MSFT’s abandoned scraps, which also functionally hammers the final nail into the coffin of Xbox as an actual hardware device.
Valve beat MSFT at large segments of literally their own game.
Proton and Vulkan, both largely funded by Valve, flipped the fucking game table into another dimension, but MSFT did not notice untill it was beyond too late.
… Thinking with portals, you might say.
This is what you can accomplish when you don’t have shareholders forcing you to be an idiot.
Private companies are perfectly capable of self sabotage through growth drivers without shareholders unfortunately…
Execs chasing bonuses and chasing w/e 3rd party “consultancy groups” say they need to do.
Look, failing at selling video games people want to buy, is like failing at selling porn, or running a casino full of machines that tabulate a set amount of winnings before giving back a predetermined amount.
Doing nothing is sometimes the smartest way to make money.
But what if I want to confirm I am rich for being smart and thinking out the box instead of having rich parents and exploiting people like half of those poors think I am?
Well they apparently have people you can pay to whisper such in your ear.
Remember, you are mortal.
Fostering developers to go ham on windows to Linux comparability and now the same for X86/64 to ARM is much more than nothing. Valve have actually been the ones doing the most to pave the way for theirs and anyone who follows’ future.
I’m not too jazzed about their virtual monopoly but that’s sadly because they’ve just been working for consumers in more ways than the others. They’re not the best at everything like GOG trumps then when it comes to actual ownership but it’s sum of all of their parts that puts them head and shoulders above the rest.
They’ve done so much that they’ve paved the way for non gamers to be able to switch over to Linux much easier (I wouldn’t say it’s all on them but they’ve helped foster cross compatible development on Linux in general). I don’t think you could say the others have done as much to affect the space outside of gaming as valve either. Except Microsoft, but their decisions have been much more controversial.
I hate to see myself glazing valve as much as I have here but it is what it is. I’ll criticise them when the context allows and praise them like this in other times.
Stop giving credence to valve being a monopoly. That’s tech bro propaganda. They are literally not a monopoly. There is multiple digital storefronts for PC gaming. There is options. There is choice. Do not further the narrative and get fucking valve antitrusted for no goddamn reason other than Microsoft wants them dead.
I would go further and say that all that they’ve done are “”“merely”“” sound elements in a strategy to avoid that in the era of always-online remote updateable software, Microsoft successfully uses their position as the provider (and, more importantly, controller of some of what runs in pretty much all consumer instances) of Windows to squeeze out Steam as a games store.
Microsoft slowly transforming for Windows applications into the equivalent of Apple for iOS applications (and their move towards signed applications could be part of that) would be a nightmare scenario for Steam and it’s a realistic possibility, especially if you notice that Microsoft is moving towards “everything must be cryptographically signed by Microsoft” to run in Windows.
So it totally makes strategical sense for Steam to invest into getting as many gamers as possible away from the Windows ecosystem, and one path is to get more games to as easily as possible run in the already existing and established alternative to Windows - Linux - the easiest way being to invest in an ever improved Windows-Linux adaptor layer (i.e. Wine/Proton) backed by a Steam store in Linux which just seamlessly uses that layer when needed, whilst another path is to sell their own game machines which do not run Windows and there again using Linux makes sense as the OS, both because it already exists and is mature and because using it on their machines has synergies with their investment in the “make games targeting Windows seamlessly run on Linux without needing changes”.
This isn’t Valve and Steam being nice guys doing nice things because they love their customers who use Linux, it’s just good long term business planning and management of maybe their greatest external risk - Microsoft.
I mean, “Yay for choosing Linux!” and “Respect for their business sense”, but lets not deceive ourselves into thinking they’re good guys because of doing what just makes sense strategically to manage Microsoft as a risk.
They ship one thing every decade and it somehow changes the whole industry.
It’s going to be a very, very interesting series of events once Gabe passes away.
Enjoy him while we’re able.
That scares me. I’ve been a huge steam fan boy since it was in beta. Lots of nostalgia. When the OGs pass away and valve is sold off to Amazon… the end
Optimistic take: Linux gaming might become normal if this works.
Religious gamers should be praying really hard to their Deity/Pantheon for Gabe not to have a traffic accident and exercise a lot and eat healthy food so as not to have a heart attack, because after he dies many if not most of the games you “licensed” from Steam via a button in their app which says “Buy” might simply disappear from your account with some shitty excuse and you’ll have no effective recourse unless you have a couple of millions of dollars to sue them for it in whatever court their EULA says you have to sue them on.
Other companies running game stores/platforms must think like this which is why their stores end up competing with a 2008 Steam. Does nothing is incredibly incorrect
Made large contributions to Linux gaming compatibility
Also platformed independent game developers.
Monopolized a market by offer good services to both end users and buisness clients.
Lets not forget the evil though : helped set the 30% cut for apps/games that became the standard across all digital spaces, arguably started online gambling and microtranactions in gaming.
The very first instance of microtransaction began with Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. You know the one, the horse armor for $2.50. That was in 2006.
Team Fortress 2 didn’t come out until 2007.
Online Gambling has been a thing for quite a while beforehand. You can’t entirely blame Valve, here. Inspired? Perhaps, but it took them quite a time to even start giving in.
Just a side note:
TF2, released in 2007, hasn’t had lootboxes till 2010. Valve was not even the first game to have them.
spoiler
FIFA was 1 year ahead, but not the first one either.
Also, TF2’s lootboxes are not the same as Dota2 and CSGO/CS2. TF2 weapons have an actual change of gameplay to them while Dota/CS has just skins. Not to mention, you can get all weps in TF2 by just playing the game.
I agree with your sentiment, but you’re wrong.
Horse armor was nowhere close to the first microtransaction. Maple Story released in 2003 and is widely considered to be the first videogame with micro transactions. You could make a strong argument that arcade games were the origin of micro transactions even.
Part of what made the horse armor so egregious was that it was for a full-priced game. And it’s also worth pointing out that Microsoft was involved in that mess too. They had purchased times exclusivity for Oblivion on Windows and Xbox. An unnamed Microsoft executive allegedly went to Todd Howard and compared the pricing to things like Xbox system themes or iPhone ringtones, when at the time a 30s crappy quality version of your favorite song might cost $5.
Gambling has existed for thousands of years. I don’t blame Valve. I don’t really play their FtP games much, but my understanding is that the micro transactions are mostly cosmetic and not pay-to-win. There were times in my life when FtP games were a great boon and I had the discipline to not buy micro transactions, but today I prefer games that are just one purchase. Still, just because I don’t like FtP games doesn’t mean they shouldn’t exist or that I hate Valve for having some.
Online gambling existed well before Steam.
How did they start microtransactions?
Selling loot boxes, where you pay 2-3 currency units to “unlock” a box that definitely won’t have something of value the vast majority of the time. TF2 cosmetics, CS:GO gun/knife/glove/player model skins
And is still effectively DRM even if it’s fairly non-invasive
i guess i’m the only one excited as hell to buy a steam machine.
I am not gonna buy it. But fuck man, I am exited as hell for what is going to happen with PC gaming and OSes. I feel that thanks to Valve we going to finally break MS’ iron grip on OS market.
Same here.
Whilst I don’t necessarily think Steam are doing it because of being good guys (I just think it makes good business sense for them to move gamers away from Windows), that doesn’t mater for the outcomes for gamers, what maters is that what they’re doing helps us all out to escape the ever tightening clutches of Microsoft which nowadays is basically an Evil Tech Corp.
A few years ago? I would have said “oh that’s near for laypeople, but I am better off building my own PC”.
With the prices of GPU’s, RAM, and SSD’s… The Steam Machine might legit be a better value than building it myself.
I’m considering one to swap out the Xbox in the living room, but I also have a Lenovo Legion Go that I rarely use so I may just use that.
Valve could’ve legitimately done nothing and still be winning in comparison to the big three, but instead they’ve slowly and steadily been helping the gaming community to give Windows the middle finger by making huge contributions to Linux gaming.
Honestly, its downright shameful how many companies have forgotten that a good way to make money from customers is simply to treat them nicely while they’re buying your goods.
Valve’s big business strategy seems to be just wait for your competition to shoot themselves in the foot
Helping the gaming community by popularising not owning your games, lootboxes and child gambling, early access and asset flips as well as being the first to cave when visa and MasterCard started pressuring companies to stop selling certain games?
You never owned your own games, you just never read the documentation that came with your discs and cartridges before.
Even GOG, who pays lipservice to “owning” your win games, just sells the same “license to access” the software that everyone else does. You can’t re-sell it, you can’t reverse-engineer code or modify most games, you can’t leave these “possessions” in your estate. You don’t own them.
You never owned your own games, you just never read the documentation that came with your discs and cartridges before.
??? You think Nintendo was going door to door to pull nes cartridges away from people for violating their tos???
No, they didn’t break down the doors of individual gamers. They targeted retailers and producers instead. They introduced DRM in their hardware. And with the rise of the internet they HAVE been breaking down the doors of people who make tools to extract the software from their cartridges. Even after emulation was established as legal in the Sony vs Bleem case, Nintendo continues to use their money and lawyers to bully emulator developers. They famously sent DMCA takedowns to people who made Let’s Play videos or streamed the game, or even speedrunning videos.
Speedrunning events have had to cancel or ban Nintendo games because of their legal actions. Nintendo has taken legal actions against tournament organizers for competitive multiplayer games.
Here’s another website dedicated to tracking Nintendo’s bullshit.
Abd that makes steams licencing bullshit ok?
What licensing bullshit are you referring to?
>made their own linux distro
>develop Proton and Lepton
>all that in Valve-Time™
>Windows gave up
Microsoft practically handed it to Valve. Microsoft wanted gamers off the PC and on to the xbox so they ignored the PC platform they were already dominant on. This gave free reign to Valve. One of the biggest mistakes in PC history if you ask me.
Yeah. I wanted to play Midtown Madness 3, after loving and modding the first two. But it was Xbox exclusive. I refused to save up for one, or ask for one as a gift. I was eventually gifted one, with MM3, and it is the only game I have for the Xbox.
When Halo 2 for Vista dropped, and they tried to force players to Live Gold bullshit for voice chat, but we were all using Xfire. Eat shit, I’m not paying $10 a month to do something I can for free that my friends all have already. And I wouldn’t play another Halo title until the MCC dropped on steam - fuck locked down hardware and arbitrary limitations on the software and os. And they want money for that shit? Lmfao.
My deep… ‘loathing’? For the dumbass decisions ms made regarding gaming for windows from 00 to 16, arguably longer. With ms driven by greed, and most folded for the games and series they loved… but I’m an absolute pain in the ass, never forget, never forgive kinda guy. I have a couple series of ms titles I like and buy, but they can fuck off with trying to get another red cent from me. Their slow sinking into stagnation and failure is… closure, for all the debates and arguments about how fucking stupid it is to pay for the ability to play with others, after already buying their box, and after already paying for internet. And then they can kill the servers at any time, and nobody seems to bat at eye. Yet I have games that are 20+ years old that I can run a server for and boom, me and friends can play. No money, no limitations, no bullshit.
They fucked themselves. I’m just watching the ship sink. 🍿
Valve was responsible for creating the gambling mania in gaming. Remember that!
Fifa ultimate team. Magic the Gathering cards. Both older
Source: you made it up
cs
Actually the trigger for Valve to build a focus on Linux was that Microsoft was planning to lock down Windows so that only apps from the Microsoft Store could be installed. If Microsoft woul have went through with that, it would have killed Steam.
I mean, Valve still could have easily stopped once it became clear that the Microsoft Store was a complete failure, but they didn’t.
It’s still a risk (unlikely as it seems) and Valve realized they can’t just be at the mercy of someone else.
Yeah but then one of the things you have to remember is there’s a lot of people who may enjoy PC gaming but don’t actually want to PC game. My cell included. And I’ve been in the IT industry for 20 plus years and I can’t be bothered to build a PC to play my hundreds of steam games that I own. Hell I keep buying humble bundles yet I still haven’t put together a PC for probably the last 5 years. The only PC I actually own is a laptop that I use just for work that I don’t have it customization done on and it’s used for my clients to be able to connect remotely to sites so I don’t care what goes on it and what stays on it. I enjoy my Xbox because I don’t have to do any tinkering with it I literally just turn it on and play on my nice big tv. I enjoy my switch because I just turn it on and play it on my TV or in my hand. I enjoy my phone because I just use it and play on it when I need to. Same with my tablet. However owning and maintaining a PC is quite a bit more work. Not only that but if I wanted to put it in my living room I’d have to either build a small form factor PC to fit in my living room and then connect it up and maintain it, or I’d have to go into another room to game on a desk where it’s specifically set up.
i also work in IT and agree wholeheartedly. it’s tiresome to see the rampant denial that building and maintaining a PC is a lot of work.
Whilst I’m on the other side of the fence, I can very much understand this.
I figure this is the sort of market Valve are gearing towards, with the Steam Deck and soon the GabeCube.
