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why physical media is ESSENTIAL for a healthy games industry - Danny Odwyer - noclip2 (i.ytimg.com)
submitted 4 months ago by to c/pcgaming@lemmy.ca
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why physical media is ESSENTIAL for a healthy games industry

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[–] 5 points 4 months ago (14 children)

Is it tho? Steam works just fine without it. I wound argue at this point even better, since I wound have a hard time still finding CDs etc. from 20 years ago with key, in working order AND have a drive to actually read it too.

What we need is an easy way to sell/buy used. Seems like the EU is the only driver of development in that regard.

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  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago (9 children)

    Steam works because Valve is a private corporation with a leadership who actually like video games.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (8 children)

    Which is why they're a part of Video Games Europe the group against Stop Killing Games?

    Or why Steam has been selling slop even before AI?

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago (7 children)

    Not my point. They aren’t saints, but Steam is still a far better steward for a digital storefront than most.

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  • [–] 0 points 4 months ago (6 children)

    By doing the same as every other company?

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago* (5 children)

    Valve doesn’t try and lock in exclusives on their platform like the Epic Store or delete your account with games on it like Origin did. Steam provides plenty of notices about invasive DRM and anti-cheat that other stores don’t. Steam also has an easy refund process that doesn’t require you to call an agent. Valve does a lot to support gaming on Linux while all of the other platforms are almost exclusively Windows only.

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  • [–] -1 points 4 months ago (4 children)

    Valve grew Steam's market share by locking in exclusives.

    There were multiple digital distribution platforms in the early days, IGN even had one.

    Then Valve forced exclusivity to starve out the competition.

    Steam has its Most-Favored-Nation clause to prevent publishers selling games for cheaper on other platforms.

    Valve fought against refunds for years until the EU told them to wise up.

    Valve only started supporting Linux when needed to sell consoles. They just like most other companies saw Linux gaming as an extreme niche.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago* (2 children)

    Steam didn't employ forced retail exclusivity.

    You also don't seem to be fully aware of Valve's contributions to Linux gaming.

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  • [–] -2 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Steam didn't employ forced retail exclusivity.

    They did though by patterning with publishers. Forcing physical releases to go through Steam as DRM. Killing the physical pc gaming market.

    They also have their Non-Favoured-Nations clause, meaning a game can't be sold for cheaper off Steam.

    Valve's contributions to Linux gaming

    Only as they geared up to sell their own consoles.

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  • [–] 0 points 4 months ago

    They did though by patterning with publishers. Forcing physical releases to go through Steam as DRM. Killing the physical pc gaming market.

    Not only does this not describe forced retail exclusivity, it's three different statements that are all false in their own ways. Distribution agreements aren't exclusivity agreements, Steam only deals in digital copies not physical copies, DRM implementation is optional, and there are no stipulations barring publishers from making or distributing physical copies.

    We've gone from one incorrect statement about Steam to five.

    They also have their Non-Favoured-Nations clause, meaning a game can’t be sold for cheaper off Steam.

    You mean the Most-Favoured Nations clause that five people filed a suit over, based on a a Tim Sweeney tweet from 2019? Not only was that suit silly, it doesn't even make sense as this sort of clause is extremely common in retail and not at all unique to Steam or Valve compared to other storefronts.

    Only as they geared up to sell their own consoles.

    You also don’t seem to be fully aware of Valve’s contributions to Linux gaming.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago*

    Valve grew Steam’s market share by locking in exclusives.

    By exclusives you mean their own games? Or are you referring to the time before Steam Greenlight?

    There were multiple digital distribution platforms in the early days, IGN even had one.

    Yeah I remember D2D, it had awful DRM and they deleted my account one day without refunds.

    Then Valve forced exclusivity to starve out the competition.

    No the competition died because they were trash. I used D2D, Origin, Impulse, they were all horrible compared to Steam.

    Steam has its Most-Favored-Nation clause to prevent publishers selling games for cheaper on other platforms.

    No, Steam doesn't let you sell Steam keys to your game on other platforms for cheaper. That's very different.

    Valve fought against refunds for years until the EU told them to wise up.

    I refunded things multiple times for the policy changes. As long as you gave a good justification and weren't abusing the system then they have always been quite reasonable.

    Valve only started supporting Linux when needed to sell consoles. They just like most other companies saw Linux gaming as an extreme niche.

    No this started because of the Windows Store initiative back in 2012 where Microsoft was trying to consolidate the sale of all software to their proprietary platform. Supporting Linux was Valve's way of hedging against that future.

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    You are not planting trees that you will never sit in the shade of.

    There will ALWAYS be inherent risk with digital that they hold the keys to. Digital is a nice supplement, if a physical copy is owned. You give them an inch though and they'll grind your grandma up to make animal feed so they can get eggs from the chickens and collude to price fix you out of your omelette.

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  • [–] 5 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    GOG shows you can actually own your digital games with downloadable fully offline installers.

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  • [–] 0 points 4 months ago

    Across all products , including physical media but also any connected hardware devices, they need to be shipping and maintaining a minimum viable experience that can't be altered or disabled. That would require legislation or a standards org they have a need to comply with. No more remote bricks for HW and SW, full stop.

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