"Two major British retailer" in the UK threatening to stop selling Steamworks games

[ríomhaire]

http://kotaku.com/5687187/valve-is-killing-the-pc-market-apparently

According to a report on trade site MCV, two "big-name digital retailers" for the PC market are staring down the barrel of financial ruin, while two major British retailers are reportedly considering a ban on games that include Steam integration.

Listen to this great reasoning here:

"Publishers don't give a shit, they don't care what happens to the customer. Which is the crucial point, because Steam do," the director of "a fledgling Steam rival" told the site.

Goddamn those bastards at Steam, giving a shit about the customers! IT SHOULD BE STOPPED!

http://kotaku.com/5687187/valve-is-killing-the-pc-market-apparently

 

[Shakermaker]

lolol dumbasses. Doing this will have the reverse effect of what they are trying to accomplish.

 

[Asknoone]

Two this, two that facing "financial ruin" - criticism of their competitor that can be translated into "Steam is killing my profit income!"

 

[Stigmata]

LOL. That'll put a stop to Valve.

 

[StarBob]

Edit: Psh... didn't see that they were digital sales companies.

Oh well I guess have fun trying to beat a company that's really realy good at what they do and that everyone loves dearly.

 

[Lobster]

It does feel like a final sling of mud, to give them an excuse to get rid of that last dusty PC games shelf, in the back room with the dodgy lightbulb and funny smell. Thing is, surely people who still hold out for the box and manuals, will continue to do so, so all they are doing, is handing that money over to other retailers, or online stores.

 

[VirusType2]

It does feel like a final sling of mud, to give them an excuse to get rid of that last dusty PC games shelf, in the back room with the dodgy lightbulb and funny smell. Thing is, surely people who still hold out for the box and manuals, will continue to do so, so all they are doing, is handing that money over to other retailers, or online stores.

Lol

I order retail online.

 

[StarBob]

Wonder when they'll stop making physical PC games? Probably never because there will still be that guy holding on... like the guy that still uses floppy disks or the guy that listens to records.

 

[<RJMC>]

I think this is more due to the possible lack of used games sales since once you buy digital you cant resell it and form what I know used games sales are the main income of the stores

 

[StarBob]

Who resells PC games? Especially now that you're up to your eyeballs in DRM?

 

[CptStern]

this is like Blockbuster attempting to save itself by emulating netflix; way too little too late. go **** yourself video game retailers; you've been shitting on pc gaming for years, serves you right

 

[Gargantou]

"I've fought hard for my customer, and never before have I had to give my customers away. Steam is killing the PC market and it is no wonder digital retailers are failing"

What?

Also, I have to point out, I kinda laugh when they say Steam cares about the customer, given that there are a few games for sale on Steam that just will not work well with modern PCs, such as Commandos 1 for example.

Not to mention that new titles on Steam over here cost 20% more than if I buy them retail.

 

[ríomhaire]

"I've fought hard for my customer, and never before have I had to give my customers away. Steam is killing the PC market and it is no wonder digital retailers are failing"

What?

Also, I have to point out, I kinda laugh when they say Steam cares about the customer, given that there are a few games for sale on Steam that just will not work well with modern PCs, such as Commandos 1 for example.

Not to mention that new titles on Steam over here cost 20% more than if I buy them retail.

I have a fix for that if you need it. Bullshit that it needs one though. I blade Eidos more than Valve for that, but Valve should also do quality control.

 

[Gargantou]

I have a fix for that if you need it. Bullshit that it needs one though. I blade Eidos more than Valve for that, but Valve should also do quality control.

A fix for the inability to save games etc?

As well as not having to use a CPU slow-down util(which makes the game run in a very jagged-way)?

If so, PM me it pl0x!

And certainly, I blame Eidos more than Valve for that as well, but I do feel Steam has a certain responsibility when they sell a title and clearly mark it as being fully compatible with Windows XP to ensure that is truly is.

 

[VirusType2]

Wonder when they'll stop making physical PC games? Probably never because there will still be that guy holding on... like the guy that still uses floppy disks or the guy that listens to records.

I don't like/use Steam. So as long as I have the choice, I will continue to buy retail.

Who resells PC games? Especially now that you're up to your eyeballs in DRM?

Used PC games were huge here until the latest consoles came out in '05 or '06. Now, you'll be lucky if they carry any PC games at all.

But it's not an issue for me, since I can order them online for less than half the price of brick and mortar stores.

 

[Laivasse]

By 'killing the market' they mean 'killing the competition, including us, by being much better than us'. Not the same as killing the market.

See, I might have had sympathy for the bricks-and-mortar retailers if they had started saying this years ago, when Steam still sucked, and if they had used the argument that mandatory Steam integration interferes with the trading of used games, as well as with certain consumer rights. They didn't say anything, of course, because they didn't give a crap about their consumers and they were too shortsighted to see Steam as a market competitor. They're only saying it now, motivated by sheer, transparent greed, when Steam has long ago improved to the point that it (arguably) compensates for its shortcomings. The horse has bolted. Any chain which refuses to stock Steam games for such spurious reasons now should be boycotted themselves.

 

[Ren.182]

They're going to stop selling Steamworks games in shop? I didn't even know my local had a PC section! The PC section in any game shop I walk into these days is so tiny I don't see why they bother stocking them.

Also, lol at babies crying because Steam is doing a better job than them.

 

[VirusType2]

I guess about a year ago I was next door so I went into a Gamestop. The ever-shrinking shelf of PC games was replaced with other crap. "What happened to the PC games?", I asked. "We generally don't carry them anymore. Most people are doing digital downloads now.", was what she said.

I loathe those chain game stores anyway. You save, what %7 over new--which wasn't a good price there to begin with, so you essentially pay the new price for used. And your trade-ins are worth absolute shit.

 

[Krynn72]

Steam is ruining our sales! So we'll stop being a useless middleman, THAT'LL TEACH 'EM!

 

[<RJMC>]

I guess about a year ago I was next door so I went into a Gamestop. The ever-shrinking shelf of PC games was replaced with other crap. "What happened to the PC games?", I asked. "We generally don't carry them anymore. Most people are doing digital downloads now.", was what she said.

I loathe those chain game stores anyway. You save, what %7 over new--which wasn't a good price there to begin with, so you essentially pay the new price for used. And your trade-ins are worth absolute shit.

yeah I once went to sell world in conflcit that costed like 30 euros and thought I would get like 10 as minimun,but they only offered 2 so I said "**** that" thought it wasnt a big chain store but still

 

[Nabobalis]

Hopefully the other competitors step up their game.

But I buy retail games online since it is cheaper than steam.

 

[kineaesth]

Wonder when they'll stop making physical PC games? Probably never because there will still be that guy holding on... like the guy that still uses floppy disks or the guy that listens to records.

Vinyl has its niche, it won't die for a while.

this is like Blockbuster attempting to save itself by emulating netflix; way too little too late. go **** yourself video game retailers; you've been shitting on pc gaming for years, serves you right

Interesting you bring that up

The obvious reason for all this is the Internet; Blockbuster’s demise, for one, was inextricably linked to the success of Netflix. But this raises a deeper question: why didn’t the category killers colonize the Web the way they colonized suburbia?

And, unlike the new Internet companies, they’d be able to offer customers both e-commerce and physical stores—“clicks and mortar.” It seemed like the perfect combination.
The problem—in Blockbuster’s case, at least—was that the very features that people thought were strengths turned out to be weaknesses. Blockbuster’s huge investment, both literally and psychologically, in traditional stores made it slow to recognize the Web’s importance: in 2002, it was still calling the Net a “niche” market.

Actually a fantastic article - http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2010/10/18/101018ta_talk_surowiecki#ixzz150v0Omm8

I see Steam's success as mirroring this; they've been somewhat at the cutting edge, and providing a service that almost no-one else is willing to emulate. For example, the huge investment Steam must surely have made in global content servers - many companies wouldn't be willing to do that, but Steam took the gamble, and it paid off.


Did some more reading

The head of sales at a big-name digital service provider agreed: “At the moment the big digital distributors need to stock games with Steam. But the power resides with bricks and mortar retailers, they can refuse to stock these titles. Publishers are hesitant, but retail must put pressure on them.”

Ha!

 

[Uriel]

Steam is tits and Valve is incredible. Post some shit on forums, and no kidding, you will see a response. If I wasn't so lazy, I'd link my complaint about L4D2 and the bots. Not shitting you, a short while after, an update was released for L4D2 that addressed nearly all the issues I posted about.

They care about you. Hope they choke EA out one of these days.

 

[Gargantou]

Steam is tits and Valve is incredible. Post some shit on forums, and no kidding, you will see a response. If I wasn't so lazy, I'd link my complaint about L4D2 and the bots. Not shitting you, a short while after, an update was released for L4D2 that addressed nearly all the issues I posted about.

They care about you. Hope they choke EA out one of these days.

Yes, there is no doubt they released that update specifically due to your complaints!

Also, EA aren't the worst big game company these days, Activision takes that prize by far.

 

[StarBob]

Steam is tits

If only it were this easy.

 

[Deleted member 56031]

well i could say steam is killing retail pc gaming....and quite frankly it won't be missed.

**** you GAME (they're definitely one of the 2 and an all around detestable shop)

 

[JMan]

I suspect the other is Gamestation. It's a stretch to call these 2 companies considering they are both part of the same group and are only kept separate to fool consumers into thinking there is competition.

 

[Bob_Marley]

Meh.

The problem that they have is that by including Steam integration, they're essentially selling thier competitor's marketing capacity. If a game includes Steam, it means every time that customer opens steam they're going to be bombarded with advertising about whats on sale, whats new and so on. Which means the customer they just sold the game to is now more likley to buy a game from Steam rather than them. Which is bad business, for them. Same reason there was that hoo-hah from other digital retailers over DoW 2 requiring Steam and some chap saying "We won't sell a game that includes trojan software".

If they want to stay competitive they need to come up with a system that integrates sales & support as seamlessly as Steam. But that would be hard, its easier to complain about it and accuse them of unfair trade practices than make real progress.

 

[ríomhaire]

They didn't give a shit when they (and still are) selling games that include GFWL or Battle.NET, which have their own stores. They're only complaining now because they've realised that they're already dead. This isn't a matter of principle. It's a matter of not realising where the market was going and complaining now that they've been left behind.

Everyone on this website knew that PC game sales were going this way, but apparently the CEOs of GAME and every other games retailer didn't see this coming. And now they're claiming that Steam is killing PC gaming when each and every one of them has been decreasing their PC game shelf space year on year for a goddamn decade. They've already ruined their own business and they should have the grace to shut up and just focus on consoles, which is what they've been doing since 2000 anyway.