9 ms·

Steam is now the de-facto "app store" of the PC as far as games go, which was no small feat. It took them more than 10 years to get to this point and it's now i

Steam is now the de-facto "app store" of the PC as far as games go, which was no small feat. It took them more than 10 years to get to this point and it's now in jeopardy. With Google and Apple already controlling the mobile app stores, various console manufacturers controlling their own ecosystems, and Microsoft attempting to abandon their "open" Windows (so they can run their own app store) - the industry is shifting into a position of hardware/OS manufacturers/monopolies taking massive cuts (30%) from the software market. Valve, without any hardware of their own, but a very large PC app store with a significant user base, really has nowhere else to turn. Gabe himself has expressed quite a bit of dismay over Microsoft's recent decisions. I expect them to use everything in their power to make Linux become a mainstream thing. They're going to port all of their own games to Linux, and I expect at some point there will be Linux-only discounts for their games. I really hope Microsoft underestimated their power, and that Valve is capable of doing this. It'll be better for all of us. The software industry is heading in very bad directions, and this is at least a glimmer of hope.

sharkweek 14y ago
Spit-balling a marketing strategy that could violently backfire here; but if anyone could pull it off, it might be Valve... Ok try not to laugh.... HL3 releases in the next few years.... only available on Linux for the first few months
- philsnow 14y ago
  Don't laugh, it could work -- they could make an argument that, at least at first, doing a "soft release" on Linux first gives them access to a huge group of relatively savvy beta testers. It would just be icing on the cake that they don't have to pay 30% or whatever to anybody else for those early adopters.
Skoofoo 14y ago
I would sympathize with Valve if they didn't completely ignore Linux before acting like the Linux community's best friend when it became apparent that they had nowhere else to turn to [1]. Like many, I'm a fan of their games and their flat management, but they have a history of being as short-sighted and callous as EA and I wish more people would see that [2]. I have a lot more respect for the people behind Humble Bundle/Wolfire, who went out of their way to support Linux long before it was cool [3]. Plus they don't force DRM middleware on you. [1] http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/steamd-penguins/ http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/steamd-penguins/ [2] http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/11/valve-tricked-h/ http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/11/valve-tricked-h/ [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lugaru https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lugaru
- Afforess 14y ago
  What? Humble BundLe totally sold out their integrity after they let THQ sell their games with the Humble Bundle brand, without linux versions and with DRM. [1] http://www.penny-arcade.com/report/article/the-humble-thq-bundle-loses-indie-games-adds-drm-and-is-a-step-backward-for http://www.penny-arcade.com/report/article/the-humble-thq-bu... [2] http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/11/humble-thq-bundle-threatens-to-ruin-the-brands-reputation/ http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/11/humble-thq-bundle-thre...
  - rexignis 14y ago
    I think you're being very hyperbolic. They were very explicit saying the games were Windows only and had DRM (Steam). It was its own isolated bundle.
  - Qantourisc 14y ago
    Technically, and financially it was all good. However marketing wise not a good move. Your post proofs this. And I kinda agree.
  - shmerl 14y ago
    Yes, that bundle was upsetting. I hope they don't continue this kind of stuff.
  - lucian1900 14y ago
    It wasn't named an "indie" bundle and it was marked quite well. I don't think it's selling out.
  - Skoofoo 14y ago
    I was disappointed about this, too; not because it's necessarily bad, but because they had set the bar so high for themselves and then totally missed it with this. On the bright side, it raised a lot of money for charity.
  - scott_karana 14y ago
    Their integrity? THQ was about to tank, and they wanted to flip the games to whoever they could. I'm sure that if there were THQ-internal beta versions for Linux and Mac, they would have happily shipped them.
shmerl 14y ago
> Steam is now the de-facto "app store" of the PC as far as games go I hope GOG will become comparable numbers wise, since it's the only big DRM free alternative as of now. Though they lack Linux releases yet. (Keep voting here: http://www.gog.com/wishlist/site/add_linux_versions_of_games http://www.gog.com/wishlist/site/add_linux_versions_of_games).
- kbenson 14y ago
  I love this company. Since I've bought from them in the past, I get their weekend promo emails every week[1], and they are SO tempting. Wing Commander 1+2 for $2.39? I could buy 4-5 games from that list, spend less than I usually do for the Humble bundle, and actually get a lot more. [1]: http://www.gog.com/promo/ea_weekend_promo_030513 http://www.gog.com/promo/ea_weekend_promo_030513
- csense 14y ago
  What about Gamersgate, Desura, or plain old self-publishing?
  - shmerl 14y ago
    These are smaller, and didn't reach the scope of GOG.
    - csense 13y ago
      I'll grant that Desura is definitely a small player. I've thought of GG as being a minor player but legitimately mainstream and big enough to worry, if not threaten, Steam. OTOH I've always thought of GOG as owning a niche (legacy titles) that nobody else is much interested in, its very name sort of denotes how it's restricted.
      - shmerl 13y ago
        I've always thought of GOG as owning a niche (legacy titles) that nobody else is much interested in They started that way to gain the traction, but they definitely don't plan to stay that way - they add new titles and aren't focusing on old games exclusively anymore. I view them as a solid competitor to Steam which will threaten them even more in the future, since they have a resolute DRM free stance. Linux additions would boost GOG position a lot IMHO. They still work on adding old titles though, since that's their original specialty and that's a good thing. I'm not sure about Gamersgate - never used them. Are they DRM free? If not, they aren't really offering anything better than Steam does, and won't compete with GOG here.
spacelizard 14y ago
>The software industry is heading in very bad directions, and this is at least a glimmer of hope. I don't buy this -- Steam is just another walled garden app store with the same conflicts of interest that we're used to seeing, such as giving top billing to their own products on their store, using DRM, promoting itself as an advertising space, etc. The problem I have is: where are all the GPL'ed games? The Torque Engine was just released with a permissive free license, which is good, but it will probably take a really good engine being released as GPL to get people to really start embracing the development of games in a community-driven way, rather than being stuck in the ivory tower like most games are now. There really isn't any other meaningful way for us to oppose these abusive "app stores" rather than shunning them so that we can turn to more community-driven efforts.
- zanny 14y ago
  > The problem I have is: where are all the GPL'ed games? All the id engines have gone GPL. Ogre3d is a popular engine base. A lot of game studios use some derivative of Unreal 3, which Epic will never GPL because they make money selling rights to it. Most other engines, even beyond that, will have some proprietary inclusions that they don't hold licenses over, such as with the JK launch. The lack of community FOSS game engine projects from the ground up is strange to me. It seems it would make a lot of sense for major industry players to band together and develop a really rock solid engine in the FOSS world to minimize the costs of engine development, even if in the short term they lose the benefit of being able to license their engine or profit off specialized graphics or gameplay tech they put in it.
  - wtallis 14y ago
    I suspect the biggest reason this hasn't happened is that the big studios want engines that can also target consoles, which don't have publicly available SDKs. It would be hard for a project to ensure that they weren't constantly breaking the console ports when they might not even be able to run nightly builds and share the logs publicly. And, of course, software patents are a constant threat.
  - james4k 14y ago
w1ntermute 14y ago
I don't think that Valve is at danger at all. The types of games on Steam are COMPLETELY different from what is on app stores, and so are the prices and consumer behavior. People will pay large sums of money on Steam, in a way they won't in a mobile app store. And you can trust that you're getting a quality game.
- chongli 14y ago
  They are in danger should Microsoft ever gain a significant foothold with the Windows Store. Microsoft can turn off "side-loading" of software in Windows and lock everyone into their walled garden. If Valve hasn't successfully migrated away from Windows by that point they will be completely screwed.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
    - Simucal 14y ago
      This is how OSX is by default now. I'm relatively new to Macs but I was pretty surprised when I had to go into my preferences to enable the ability to run software downloaded from the internet (not from the Mac App Store).
      - jmhain 14y ago
        As long as they provide the option to enable it, I actually don't see what's wrong with this. If someone can't figure out how to change that preference, then they are exactly the type of person who shouldn't be running random executables off the Internet.
      - lloeki 14y ago
        > I had to go into my preferences to enable the ability to run software downloaded from the internet Wrong, the default Gatekeeper setting is set so that: - you don't have to if the software is recent and signed by the developer. - you don't have to either for unsigned code: as explained in the dialog that pops up, you can right click instead and choose open, which will pop up a similar dialog alllowing you to whitelist this app only. Threfore, don't ever turn off Gatekeeper in Preferences.
gizmo686 14y ago
Porting to Linux because the other operating systems are getting centralized software management. I never thought I would see the day.

sharkweek 14y ago

Spit-balling a marketing strategy that could violently backfire here; but if anyone could pull it off, it might be Valve... Ok try not to laugh.... HL3 releases in the next few years.... only available on Linux for the first few months

philsnow 14y ago
Don't laugh, it could work -- they could make an argument that, at least at first, doing a "soft release" on Linux first gives them access to a huge group of relatively savvy beta testers. It would just be icing on the cake that they don't have to pay 30% or whatever to anybody else for those early adopters.

Skoofoo 14y ago

I would sympathize with Valve if they didn't completely ignore Linux before acting like the Linux community's best friend when it became apparent that they had nowhere else to turn to [1]. Like many, I'm a fan of their games and their flat management, but they have a history of being as short-sighted and callous as EA and I wish more people would see that [2]. I have a lot more respect for the people behind Humble Bundle/Wolfire, who went out of their way to support Linux long before it was cool [3]. Plus they don't force DRM middleware on you. [1] http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/steamd-penguins/ http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/steamd-penguins/ [2] http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/11/valve-tricked-h/ http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/11/valve-tricked-h/ [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lugaru https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lugaru

Afforess 14y ago
What? Humble BundLe totally sold out their integrity after they let THQ sell their games with the Humble Bundle brand, without linux versions and with DRM. [1] http://www.penny-arcade.com/report/article/the-humble-thq-bundle-loses-indie-games-adds-drm-and-is-a-step-backward-for http://www.penny-arcade.com/report/article/the-humble-thq-bu... [2] http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/11/humble-thq-bundle-threatens-to-ruin-the-brands-reputation/ http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/11/humble-thq-bundle-thre...
- rexignis 14y ago
  I think you're being very hyperbolic. They were very explicit saying the games were Windows only and had DRM (Steam). It was its own isolated bundle.
- Qantourisc 14y ago
  Technically, and financially it was all good. However marketing wise not a good move. Your post proofs this. And I kinda agree.
- shmerl 14y ago
  Yes, that bundle was upsetting. I hope they don't continue this kind of stuff.
- lucian1900 14y ago
  It wasn't named an "indie" bundle and it was marked quite well. I don't think it's selling out.
- Skoofoo 14y ago
  I was disappointed about this, too; not because it's necessarily bad, but because they had set the bar so high for themselves and then totally missed it with this. On the bright side, it raised a lot of money for charity.
- scott_karana 14y ago
  Their integrity? THQ was about to tank, and they wanted to flip the games to whoever they could. I'm sure that if there were THQ-internal beta versions for Linux and Mac, they would have happily shipped them.

shmerl 14y ago

> Steam is now the de-facto "app store" of the PC as far as games go I hope GOG will become comparable numbers wise, since it's the only big DRM free alternative as of now. Though they lack Linux releases yet. (Keep voting here: http://www.gog.com/wishlist/site/add_linux_versions_of_games http://www.gog.com/wishlist/site/add_linux_versions_of_games).

kbenson 14y ago
I love this company. Since I've bought from them in the past, I get their weekend promo emails every week[1], and they are SO tempting. Wing Commander 1+2 for $2.39? I could buy 4-5 games from that list, spend less than I usually do for the Humble bundle, and actually get a lot more. [1]: http://www.gog.com/promo/ea_weekend_promo_030513 http://www.gog.com/promo/ea_weekend_promo_030513
csense 14y ago
What about Gamersgate, Desura, or plain old self-publishing?
- shmerl 14y ago
  These are smaller, and didn't reach the scope of GOG.
  - csense 13y ago
    I'll grant that Desura is definitely a small player. I've thought of GG as being a minor player but legitimately mainstream and big enough to worry, if not threaten, Steam. OTOH I've always thought of GOG as owning a niche (legacy titles) that nobody else is much interested in, its very name sort of denotes how it's restricted.
    - shmerl 13y ago
      I've always thought of GOG as owning a niche (legacy titles) that nobody else is much interested in They started that way to gain the traction, but they definitely don't plan to stay that way - they add new titles and aren't focusing on old games exclusively anymore. I view them as a solid competitor to Steam which will threaten them even more in the future, since they have a resolute DRM free stance. Linux additions would boost GOG position a lot IMHO. They still work on adding old titles though, since that's their original specialty and that's a good thing. I'm not sure about Gamersgate - never used them. Are they DRM free? If not, they aren't really offering anything better than Steam does, and won't compete with GOG here.

spacelizard 14y ago

>The software industry is heading in very bad directions, and this is at least a glimmer of hope. I don't buy this -- Steam is just another walled garden app store with the same conflicts of interest that we're used to seeing, such as giving top billing to their own products on their store, using DRM, promoting itself as an advertising space, etc. The problem I have is: where are all the GPL'ed games? The Torque Engine was just released with a permissive free license, which is good, but it will probably take a really good engine being released as GPL to get people to really start embracing the development of games in a community-driven way, rather than being stuck in the ivory tower like most games are now. There really isn't any other meaningful way for us to oppose these abusive "app stores" rather than shunning them so that we can turn to more community-driven efforts.

zanny 14y ago
> The problem I have is: where are all the GPL'ed games? All the id engines have gone GPL. Ogre3d is a popular engine base. A lot of game studios use some derivative of Unreal 3, which Epic will never GPL because they make money selling rights to it. Most other engines, even beyond that, will have some proprietary inclusions that they don't hold licenses over, such as with the JK launch. The lack of community FOSS game engine projects from the ground up is strange to me. It seems it would make a lot of sense for major industry players to band together and develop a really rock solid engine in the FOSS world to minimize the costs of engine development, even if in the short term they lose the benefit of being able to license their engine or profit off specialized graphics or gameplay tech they put in it.
- wtallis 14y ago
  I suspect the biggest reason this hasn't happened is that the big studios want engines that can also target consoles, which don't have publicly available SDKs. It would be hard for a project to ensure that they weren't constantly breaking the console ports when they might not even be able to run nightly builds and share the logs publicly. And, of course, software patents are a constant threat.
- james4k 14y ago

w1ntermute 14y ago

I don't think that Valve is at danger at all. The types of games on Steam are COMPLETELY different from what is on app stores, and so are the prices and consumer behavior. People will pay large sums of money on Steam, in a way they won't in a mobile app store. And you can trust that you're getting a quality game.

chongli 14y ago
They are in danger should Microsoft ever gain a significant foothold with the Windows Store. Microsoft can turn off "side-loading" of software in Windows and lock everyone into their walled garden. If Valve hasn't successfully migrated away from Windows by that point they will be completely screwed.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
  - Simucal 14y ago
    This is how OSX is by default now. I'm relatively new to Macs but I was pretty surprised when I had to go into my preferences to enable the ability to run software downloaded from the internet (not from the Mac App Store).
    - jmhain 14y ago
      As long as they provide the option to enable it, I actually don't see what's wrong with this. If someone can't figure out how to change that preference, then they are exactly the type of person who shouldn't be running random executables off the Internet.
    - lloeki 14y ago
      > I had to go into my preferences to enable the ability to run software downloaded from the internet Wrong, the default Gatekeeper setting is set so that: - you don't have to if the software is recent and signed by the developer. - you don't have to either for unsigned code: as explained in the dialog that pops up, you can right click instead and choose open, which will pop up a similar dialog alllowing you to whitelist this app only. Threfore, don't ever turn off Gatekeeper in Preferences.

gizmo686 14y ago

Porting to Linux because the other operating systems are getting centralized software management. I never thought I would see the day.