Comments on: The last barricade has been smashed: the future belongs to gaming portals

By: Fili

Fili — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 18:49:31 +0000

I still have 2 old computers (one of them antique :D) to run old games I like. So I worry about my games and I avoid buying online games as much as possible.
I could get Civ City Rome on steam for a few buck but I wanted it on a disk so I paid more than double on it from ebay.

By: Jake Birkett

Jake Birkett — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 06:55:32 +0000

Don’t forget that Jeff and Cliff first sell each game at full price on their own sites to loyal customers BEFORE going on Steam to get extra sales from that crowd. If they launched a brand new game on Steam, then I’d think the portals have won.

By: Juuso

Juuso — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 05:31:18 +0000

I don’t worry such things ;)
I feel compatibility of games will be bigger issue. Steam will be here after 5 years, but I wouldn’t trust Windows Vista compatible games to be compatible then…

By: Simon

Simon — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 04:57:30 +0000

Juuso,

Of course Steam let you download your games if your HD breaks down, and you dont need to be online to play the games beacose of their authentication system installed on your computer. But what if they closed down, and your HD fails…. You still dont have your games anymore. What if in a few years they decide not to support your games on their servers anymore….

I read somewhere that if they were to close down, they would release the key to unlock everyones copy… But who would take care of that if they close down someday?

I do understand the value of DRM. But It’s the distribution system I dont trust. I way prefer the old “buy the registration key” system. I sleep better at night.. ;-)

By: Juuso

Juuso — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 04:12:24 +0000

No DRM is good, but Steam let’s you download game anytime when you want, even if your computer harddrive breaks down or something. Also, you don’t need to be online to play most games. I also have no need to have one game on all computers.

I do agree that DRM sucks, but I hardly think that’s issue with Steam..

By: Juuso

Juuso — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 04:09:13 +0000

Here’s one blog post about “why no steam”:
http://notch.tumblr.com/post/9550850116/why-no-steam-notch

By: Juuso

Juuso — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 04:08:15 +0000

good attitude there too :)

By: Juuso

Juuso — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 04:08:02 +0000

either way… it means that portals are getting more customers/power. And when more and more developers join, certain portals just keep getting bigger audience…

…and when that happens, “directly from dev site” purchases diminish.

Possibly :)

By: Juuso

Juuso — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 04:03:42 +0000

good attitude

By: Porter

Porter — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 19:05:08 +0000

While I don’t like any one person having too much power, I actually feel pretty good about Steam growing big. They’ve got good morals, great games, and it seems like an overall good business.