Music and Movies on Steam Later This Year?

[DigiQ8]

In an interview on TomGames, Doug Lombari talked about Steam's evolution and growth, as well as forthcoming Valve titles and the future of PC gaming, at GDC 2008 this week.

Rob Wright: So what's next for Steam this year? Are you looking at different types of content?[br]

Doug Lombari: We're looking at more casual games and international games. And we're also looking at other types of content like video and music. We're definitely having those conversations and meetings, and we're reaching out to folks with other types of digital entertainment. I think before the end of the year, you'll probably see some pilot programs with other digital entertainment on Steam.

Valve is now looking beyond games at other digital entertainment such as video and music. Read the full interview here.

 

[Sneaki]

Sounds very promising :bounce:.

 

[Xendance]

That was very interesting to read.

 

[Rossell]

Rob Wright: When can we expect Half-Life 2: Episode Three?

Doug Lombari: We're not going to rush Episode Three. In retrospect, the idea of getting a Half-Life 2 episode out every year was too much. We don't want to crank out content. And actually, it's getting to the point where calling them episodes may not be the best thing. Episode Two was longer than Episode One by a few hours. So the content is getting bigger, and the design times are getting longer. We'll be working on Episode Three sometime soon, but there's no specific roadmap yet for the game's release.


^^I think this is quite significant.

 

[AciD]

Zombie movie anyone?

 

[99.vikram]

Diversification isn't always good. This could actually hurt Steam's status as a PC game distributor, by shifting customer focus elsewhere.

 

[Sneaki]

Rob Wright: When can we expect Half-Life 2: Episode Three?

Doug Lombari: We're not going to rush Episode Three. In retrospect, the idea of getting a Half-Life 2 episode out every year was too much. We don't want to crank out content. And actually, it's getting to the point where calling them episodes may not be the best thing. Episode Two was longer than Episode One by a few hours. So the content is getting bigger, and the design times are getting longer. We'll be working on Episode Three sometime soon, but there's no specific roadmap yet for the game's release.


^^I think this is quite significant.

2009 anyone? :hmph:, oh well if they need to take longer then it'll be better than if they rushed it.

 

[Crispy]

Video: Hopefully Machinima?
Music: Hopefully Game OSTs?

I don't really want Steam to turn into Amazon...

 

[Absinthe]

I'd love to the ability to purchase/download video game OSTs.

Also, does this mean the end of episodic content from Valve after Ep3?

 

[DrDevin]

Maybe it shouldn't be Steam itself that does it (although I see no reason why not either) but I've always dreamt of a Steam-like service where I could purchase music (lossless), have it stored on my account and access it wherever I like, just like I currently do with my Steam games.

Nothing else would offer you the ease of reformatting your computer, installing Steam and then having instant access to all of your games, movies and music. It would get rid of a lot of the hastle of backing things up too.

 

[CyberPitz]

I'd love to the ability to purchase/download video game OSTs.

Also, does this mean the end of episodic content from Valve after Ep3?

Agreed.

I believe so. They didn't do as well as they were wanting on the episodes idea. At least they gave it a shot, lol.

 

[Asuka]

Very nice interview. Cant wait to see what Valve brings us.

 

[PvtRyan]

Maybe it shouldn't be Steam itself that does it (although I see no reason why not either) but I've always dreamt of a Steam-like service where I could purchase music (lossless), have it stored on my account and access it wherever I like, just like I currently do with my Steam games.

Nothing else would offer you the ease of reformatting your computer, installing Steam and then having instant access to all of your games, movies and music. It would get rid of a lot of the hastle of backing things up too.

This. I always hoped Steam would do something like this. Music that you purchase (or the right to download it) should be tied to an account, not a one-time download.

 

[ríomhaire]

I would have no problem with them adding music/films/tv/ebooks to Steam as long as they sorted out a better way to organise everything first rather than just having two lists, favourites and non-favourites, that can get quite huge if you purchase a lot of steam stuff.

 

[leib10]

I'd love to the ability to purchase/download video game OSTs.

Also, does this mean the end of episodic content from Valve after Ep3?

Probably. The idea of putting out short installments every few months failed spectacularly, as the actual episodes are close to full-size games in length, and they are not coming anywhere near their projected release dates.

 

[Lucid]

Looks like Steam will be turning into iTunes.

 

[Planetary]

That pretty much confirmed my suspicions no more Gordon for over a year, not that that's a bad thing. Still a nice interview.

 

[Intamin]

Looks like Steam will be turning into iTunes.

My thoughts exactly--except, Valve wouldn't be stupid enough to try and take on iTunes at this point, I think they have too much to do to bother with such an endeavor.

Instead, I think they'll market it more to gamers--like the OST's, etc...makes more sense. As for movies...well, that they could maybe handle...

Who knows?

 

[ríomhaire]

What's wrong if they try to take on iTunes? I doubt they stand to make a crippling loss if they fail. Also, for some reason I'd be far more inclinded to buy music off of Steam, if it was available, than iTunes. I guess I just trust Steam more.

 

[Cormeh]

Also, does this mean the end of episodic content from Valve after Ep3?

That's exactly whats been turning over in my head. On one hand, the episodic content for Half Life 2 has been excellent and affordable, but on the other hand development time has still been lengthy (not that I complain about it because we're the ones that reap the benefits).

I'm not sure episodic content will work for many more games outside of Half Life. Prove me wrong obviously, but episodic content is a step forward for story driven SP mods.

 

[Deleted member 56031]

Interesting read and I wouldn't be surprised at stopping episodes after ep3

 

[Kadayi]

Maybe it shouldn't be Steam itself that does it (although I see no reason why not either) but I've always dreamt of a Steam-like service where I could purchase music (lossless), have it stored on my account and access it wherever I like, just like I currently do with my Steam games.

Nothing else would offer you the ease of reformatting your computer, installing Steam and then having instant access to all of your games, movies and music. It would get rid of a lot of the hastle of backing things up too.

Seconded. My main complaint with Itunes is that it's all too easy to loose your mp3s (I've had a drive fail on me) and there's not much you can do. I'd definitely go for a music model that followed the steam approach.

 

[leib10]

Same here. I think it's a real shitty move by iTunes that you can only download your music that YOU PAID FOR once. Steam's method is much better.