3 ms·

> Valve was great 10 years ago, but they are now facing competition from GoG, Discord, independent distribution, bigger gaming companies, mobile gaming, etc. "

> Valve was great 10 years ago, but they are now facing competition from GoG, Discord, independent distribution, bigger gaming companies, mobile gaming, etc. "Facing competition" as in they are now taking in only 90% of the revenue as opposed to 100%? That's just healthy. > Is this why Valve hasn't released anything but mediocre hardware and steam updates? Valve is still supporting and updating successful titles like TF2, DOTA2 and CS:GO. >Where's the vision? What are they actually trying to do as a company? Are they just a place where people come and go and do whatever they want? If you read the handbook, the idea is that you allocate yourself to what you perceive to be the most valuable thing for the company. It's supposed to be self-organizing, just like the economy in the real word, which doesn't have a "vision" either. The thing with games studios is that a lot of projects get canned (preferably early) before anybody ever hears about it. It's the same for Valve. They're not actually that big. Other publishers have dozens of studios working for them, going in and out of business all the time. Nobody really pays attention to that, but when the guys at Valve don't release anything for years, people notice. > Don't get me wrong, I do most of my gaming through Steam. But I don't play Valve games. And I sometimes chat on steam, but mostly Discord. And my favorite games, Factorio and Rimworld, can all be purchased independently (minus Steam's cut I might add!). With cloud computing in full swing, indie developers don't need a store to distribute with. Discord is irrelevant to Valve's business, that's not where the money comes from. Valve is a store front, no indie can afford to just self-publish on PC without being on Steam. Factorio and Rimworld got popular through Steam.

jbob2000 8y ago
> Facing competition" as in they are now taking in only 90% of the revenue as opposed to 100%? That's just healthy. Wrong, that is a loss of 10% market share. In other markets, a drop like that would put you out of business. Valve isn't dead, they're just a bit ill and if they don't go to the doctor and get their head checked, it will kill them. > It's supposed to be self-organizing, just like the economy in the real word, which doesn't have a "vision" either. This only works because billions of people participate in the economy. At that scale, it's mathematically probable that someone will do something great. Valve is too small for this to work, they need focus and vision. > Factorio and Rimworld got popular through Steam. False. Both of these games reached popularity before they were on steam. Valve's moat is eroding. Between these games, Fortnite, and other mobile entrants, they are slipping.
stonith 8y ago
> "Facing competition" as in they are now taking in only 90% of the revenue as opposed to 100%? That's just healthy 90% of what though? The big publishers are moving away from Steam presumably because the terms are crap and indies now have many more options. > Discord is irrelevant to Valve's business, that's not where the money comes from. Valve is a store front, no indie can afford to just self-publish on PC without being on Steam. Factorio and Rimworld got popular through Steam. Discord announced a storefront last month, they're absolutely a competitor. The obvious counterpoint to indies needing to be on Steam is League of Legends, though I'll also point out that I bought Rimworld well before it was on steam. Most indie circles talk about the tradeoff today for steam being pretty bad - you give 30% for almost nothing, and still have to do a ton of marketing because market saturation means just being on steam isn't enough. If you're already doing the marketing yourself, the storefront is much less of a factor.

jbob2000 8y ago

> Facing competition" as in they are now taking in only 90% of the revenue as opposed to 100%? That's just healthy. Wrong, that is a loss of 10% market share. In other markets, a drop like that would put you out of business. Valve isn't dead, they're just a bit ill and if they don't go to the doctor and get their head checked, it will kill them. > It's supposed to be self-organizing, just like the economy in the real word, which doesn't have a "vision" either. This only works because billions of people participate in the economy. At that scale, it's mathematically probable that someone will do something great. Valve is too small for this to work, they need focus and vision. > Factorio and Rimworld got popular through Steam. False. Both of these games reached popularity before they were on steam. Valve's moat is eroding. Between these games, Fortnite, and other mobile entrants, they are slipping.

stonith 8y ago

> "Facing competition" as in they are now taking in only 90% of the revenue as opposed to 100%? That's just healthy 90% of what though? The big publishers are moving away from Steam presumably because the terms are crap and indies now have many more options. > Discord is irrelevant to Valve's business, that's not where the money comes from. Valve is a store front, no indie can afford to just self-publish on PC without being on Steam. Factorio and Rimworld got popular through Steam. Discord announced a storefront last month, they're absolutely a competitor. The obvious counterpoint to indies needing to be on Steam is League of Legends, though I'll also point out that I bought Rimworld well before it was on steam. Most indie circles talk about the tradeoff today for steam being pretty bad - you give 30% for almost nothing, and still have to do a ton of marketing because market saturation means just being on steam isn't enough. If you're already doing the marketing yourself, the storefront is much less of a factor.