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> The Steam brand and mindshare is second to none in my experience. They've certainly come a long way. I remember when they first tied the release of CounterSt
by AceJohnny2 4y ago
> The Steam brand and mindshare is second to none in my experience.
They've certainly come a long way. I remember when they first tied the release of CounterStrike to installing Steam (CS 1.6, 2002), and that was not received well. Online auth was spotty. People were not happy about having this extra software hogging their memory.
But Valve steadily improved it, and made a worthwhile value proposition.
It's worth comparing to Microsoft's incredibly clumsy and ill-fated "Games For Windows Live". At a macro level, why couldn't they repeat Valve's success? I suppose it's a management problem.
- nfriedly 4y agoHah, I remember that! My friends and I stayed on CounterStrike 1.5 for a good while to avoid having to install steam.
- kabdib 4y agoMicrosoft actively discourages its Xbox employees from talking to customers. Valve actively encourages talking to customers and helping them out. (I've worked in both places. It's night and day in that respect).
- Helmut10001 4y agoJust looked this up. Valve also seems one of the few privately owned companies, not publicly traded as a stock. Maybe there's a connection.
- zamalek 4y ago> At a macro level, why couldn't they repeat Valve's success? Because they lack the simple business mantra. Everyone is trying to copy Valve's monetary success without considering the good will expense. GoG garnered a lot of good will by being DRM-free, which accounts for its mediocre success. Epic? They introduced exclusives to PC and, let me tell you, that shit doesn't fly with the PC gamer culture - Epic is where people go for Fortnite and free games. Microsoft Store? No mods, no interest. Ubisoft? Great if you like Denuvo.
- stubish 4y agoMicrosoft Store and Gamepass support mods now. At least a year I think.