http://store.steampowered.com/news/3792/
I wonder if this means Brad Wardell will stop working with Civ V.
I just can't support DRM, that while not TOO bad, helps enforce a near-monopoly. This may be a blow to the other DD providers- as this is the biggest game to do this so far.
Hopefully EWOM is everything I want, because now I'm relying on it.
(Note: I do use Steam, I just won't support being forced to use it on non-Valve products)
It's quite possible that big cable will kill DD anyways with broadband caps. Then retail will take over again, as the usage fees for DD will be too high.
I'd say Time Warner and Comcast are bigger threats to Stardock right now then Valve.
I mean, in North carolina right now, Time Warner is trying to ban municipalities from building their own broadband networks like one town did in order to get rid of monopoly Cable.
Actually, the argument was directed towards the "Steam being a monopoly and price gouging" argument from earlier in the thread. If you want a newer game - Left For Dead 2 was on sale earlier this week for $20 (if I remember right).
NO ONE takes a brand new game and sells it for $10 on release day. Good luck finding that deal!
Also, you're right - D2D has Civ4 Complete on sale as well. BUT I noticed they don't have Civilization 3 at all (I searched "Civilization" and "Civilization 3") - which steam has on sale for $1.25 (Complete Edition). Also, what free weekend games does D2D have going on?
D2D had Civ IV on sale first I believe, not "as well". D2D is competing with Steam; they are not the same. Since Steam seems to be the only service that I am aware of that requires the client to be used to play a game, free to play weekends is better suited for the format. It doesn't change the fact that Steam has disadvantages the others don't. They all have advantages and disadvantages that differ from each other.
You're completely missing the point with this though. No one said Steam doesn't have advantages, or doesn't compete, or doesn't have sales. We don't want to see a bunch of titles go exclusive to them. I want a choice, and I say that as someone who uses Steam. I doubt you'd be so happy if 2K came out and said hey, we're only selling this game via D2D and no one else. I am pretty sure you'd be very unhappy with that considering this great love affair you have going on with steam.
Actually I believe they did, and that's what I was replying to.
I'm sorry, but how is impulse/Stardock any different than Steam by your argument? The AFFECT is the same - ie, titles are only available on one service, not allowing gamers to "have a choice" where they purchase from.
Personally, I don't care where a game is released. There are more important things in life, I'm past the point of caring if I have "to click an extra button to set up offline play" or to have one more minor process running in the background of my computer. I rarely play games anymore, but when a good one comes out (such as Sins Trinity) - I'm not letting petty detail stop me from enjoying it. I'm sorry, but I think one must live a pretty boring life if something such as as where a game is being sold is a major event...unless it's your career, such as Brad.
Well I didn't say it. Steam is... in the okay department for me, certainly not great. For me, there is no real difference but I will give a slight nudge towards Impulse at this time. I do not like that there are titles exclusive on any of these platforms however, and I would have the same reaction if Civ V announced they were Impulse only. I can't speak for the others.
The rest of your comment isn't worth addressing. You don't know shit about what other people do with their lives on this forum, and what is important to them. You're not sorry so don't say you are.
Isn't it ironic that the "fair and open market" you talk of led to a situation where Valve's superior product and catalog (in the eyes of consumers) have market dominance. That's just business, and how markets operate. If consumers belief a product is superior, they will use it. Seems that's what's happened with Steam.
Does that mean you don't use Windows because of it's complete market dominance?
Software is far from a fair and open market. It's a system abuses setup by copyright holders to try and strip away consumer rights meanwhile systematically suing each other over the most trivial things and trying to claim rights to things that wasn't even original to begin with. Valve excels because DRM is a royal pain in the ass, and they are perceived as having a more palatable system of DRM than some other schemes. It doesn't change the fact that DRM shouldn't exist in the first place.
Just thought of something you guys could do.
You could design/shape the modding of the game, such that it wouldn't be very hard to make a Civ mod for Elemental, and try to make the Civ mod be better than Civ 5.
I know that's a goal of yours, but with this news, you could make it a higher priority.
Or encourage even more rampant piracy.
Stardock should accept retail or digital CD keys without any region restriction. If they can make new contracks with the publishers they can survive,if not Stardock's Impulse will dissapear within 3 years.
I didn't know Valve could magically eliminate the brick and mortar PC game market, as well as the console gaming market, too.
Digital distribution for PC gaming is not the only channel for games. Even if Impulse, D2D and gamersgate ALL went out of business, Valve would still have to compete. And unlike Ps3, X360, etc., if you are an indie developer who wants to self publish on the PC, you can always do so. No one will stop you, Steam dominance or not.
MW2 price is Ubisoft's decision, no more, no less. ALL Ubisoft games are $60 on the PC now, Steamworks or not. Don't know why people keep pinning that on Steam.
Invalid statement: I won't support Steamworks because it will make Steam a monopoly!
Valid statement: I won't support Steamworks because it might put Impulse out of business, and I love Stardock too much to let that happen.
From reading this thread, there's a lot of people talking past each other. If I might summarize the objections and issues:
You basically have 3 groups from as far as I can tell.
Group 1: Doesn't like Steam.
Myself, I don't belong to this group. I like Steam. I have never had any problems with it except when it first came out. Steam got a big head start because of Valve's own games but I can tell you that it is the market leader because it has earned it.
Group 2: Doesn't like Steamworks.
I have concerns over this but I tend to see this as a developer issue than a problem of Steamworks. SecuROM has an undeserved bad reputation because some publishers made use of draconian features they make available. Steam and Steamworks can certainly lock down a title so that all players have to have the same CRC but it doesn't have to be that way. This is an issue that people, I think, should wait and see on.
So I don't belong to group 2 either.
Group 3: Doesn't want PC gaming to become a closed platform.
I belong to group 3.
As a game developer, I want to be able to sell my PC title however I want with the knowledge that I have multiple options to make money on it. It's the biggest single reason why we're able to make the kinds of games we make and publish. If we had to hand a third of our revenue to a third party to sell it digitally that would be a quick end to us making the kinds of games we do. It's one of the reasons it's rare to see new IP in the PC market now. It's all Game IV or remake of Game Z now as a first person shooter.
Group 3 doesn't have an issue with Steam, Steamworks (other than it forcing anyone who uses it to bundle a third party store) or Valve.
It's the concern or consolidation on the PC platform and the consequences of that. I'll say it again, use archive.org, don't rely on "some guy"'s forum post and look at digital distribution sites. It wasn't until Impulse showed up that these aggressive Weekend sales (i.e. for those who insist on being obtuse, no one is claiming that there was never a sale in digital distribution history before Impulse) became a consistent, weekly thing. That's competition in action. You don't see it on closed platforms.
frogboy wins.
course... there should be an "all of the above" group. (hi)
Sorry, who is forcing you to use Steamworks? Is Valve going to go to your house and stop you from compiling a game without Steamworks? Are they going to force companies like Ubisoft to use Steamworks instead of Ubisoft DRM? Are they going to force you to develop for their platform only? The only future in which everyone uses Steamworks, is if Steamworks is the best solution.
MODERN WARFARE 2 IS $60 BECAUSE UBISOFT PRICED IT THAT WAY.
Edit: MW2 publisher is Activision. Ubisoft published AC2.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/33230/http://www.amazon.com/Assassins-Creed-2-Pc/dp/B001TOQ8R0
AC2 has no Steamworks, but is still $60 on PC originally.
Sorry, Activision is the publisher. But you can see that Ubisoft followed suit with AC2. MW2 was an experiment, and it succeeded wildly.
Also, Just Cause 2 and Civ 5, the very game of the topic, both use Steamworks and cost... $50.
Sometimes, when someone uses such a brain fart argument, I get a brain fart, too.
And I assume MW2 and Splinter Cell Conviction would cost you 60€
SC C normal 49,99€
SC C deluxe 54,99€
CoD MW2 ( without this week's discount ) 59,99€
Speaking of overpriced games. Impulse: http://impulsedriven.com/products/ESD-IMP-W569
Actually, you'll notice MW2 is $49 on steam while at retail (Gamestop, Bestbuy) it is still $59...
Yep.
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