Underwhelmed with Steam

Calhoun

Is it just me or is anyone else feeling very underwhelmed with steam of late. It used to be that around the usual gaming release season (Feb/Oct) that there would be a few must have buys but its been quite a while since i bought something on it at full price.

I think the over priced store front, the growth in green light (many games being released in beta), dilution of content from competitive market places (origin) have contributed greatly to this.

Maybe its just myself but i just remember a time loading it up on a weekly basis you would see something of interest, now it has like money management tools ect pitched at people. I also get the impression they weight their top sellers to try and shift product, normally what they are shifting is crap.

5uspect

We're between console generations so there is a bit of a drought all round. The only consolation (!) is that the more PC like architecture of the new boxes should improve ports.

Yeti Beast

I've been using Steam on and off for over ten years now, and I don't think I've ever bought a game there at full price!! It has always been ridiculously overpriced, and it still annoys me that they use a static exchange rate which ensures people paying in euro get constantly ripped off (thought there are ways around that too, wink wink).

Steam Greenlight isn't a great system at all and I'd like to think they're looking at making significant changes to how it works. Far too much crap is getting through, and that's where I agree that Steam is culpable in any quality vs quantity discussion. In general though, I do think there's a need for some kind of early access platform, where crowd funded or independent titles get just as much coverage as the big publishers.

But the lack of "must-haves" from those big publishers is hardly Steam's fault? The lack of those titles will be just as apparent on uPlay, Origin, GOG etc.

ShadowHearth

Rule of PC gaming - Dont buy games from steam itself unless it is on sale.

In Ireland steam is just stupidly overpriced. I remember going to gamestop and buying physical copies of games for 39.99eu when they were 59.99eu on steam.
Good few times I even asked my buddies from north to buy games and gift me. I would just send them money by paypal.

Game wise. I have more on my plate then I can ever eat. I just got Tropico 5 and that thing is even worse then Civ games. Played till 2:00 last night.

degrassinoel

I've felt like that for a long while about games on the pc, and steam. The last really meaty game i got wasn't even on steam.

That's notto say that steam is crap, i have hundreds of games on it and use it regularly, moreso than origin or even the blizzard launcher thing. It does have some cracking games, and a whole heap of crap greenlit games and the occasional absolute pile of shyte masquerafing as a AAA. In short, Steam has it's little issues, but on the whole it's a great platform for seeing what your friends are interested in, playing and the steam sales are brilliant. Particularly at christmas

ShadowHearth

To be honest, Steam is not a gaming platform, its a DRM for PC. A DRM that everyone loves and want even their non DRM games be on it!

There are games, which did not made it on Steam and nothing stops you from playing them too. I play the living jaysus out of World of Tanks right now. There is always something going on on PC, just need to look for it.

Calhoun

ShadowHearth wrote: »

To be honest, Steam is not a gaming platform, its a DRM for PC. A DRM that everyone loves and want even their non DRM games be on it!

There are games, which did not made it on Steam and nothing stops you from playing them too. I play the living jaysus out of World of Tanks right now. There is always something going on on PC, just need to look for it.

Steam used to be so much more for me regardless of where I bought a game it was the centre of pc gaming, it used to be a shining example of a marketplace/platform.

I agree you can find things else where but at one point you found a hell of allot on steam. I have even stopped giving a crap about the sales .

Sarky

Calhoun wrote: »

I have even stopped giving a crap about the sales .

Whoa, let's not say things we can't take back.

Yeti Beast

Sarky wrote: »

Whoa, let's not say things we can't take back.

In all seriousness though, the Steam sales have had their gloss removed somewhat by the rise of sales from, well, everyone else! Amazon, GOG, GMG, Get Games etc etc all have great sales timed at around the same time.

Of course, I'd personally make the argument that these sales wouldn't even exist if it were not for the huge successes Steam have had in the past with their own holiday sales. Basically, more competition means better bargains for us, the hoarders of huge game catalogues we'll never ever play players.

Calhoun

Sarky wrote: »

Whoa, let's not say things we can't take back.

To be fair there was a time when i would spend at least 50 euro and at max i cant say as this is a public forum and i might be killed.

Skerries

The sales don't hold the same appeal as they once did for me as I think I have all the games I want

ShadowHearth

Skerries wrote: »

The sales don't hold the same appeal as they once did for me as I think I have all the games I want

That, and cd key websites make sale almost every day. I think I haven't spent a penny on steam sale two last times.

moc moc a moc

There are people who pay full price for games on Steam?

degrassinoel

moc moc a moc wrote: »

There are people who pay full price for games on Steam?

Shockingly, i do, I've bought lots of new releases on steam. Getting a cheaper physical copy not guaranteed to be there at precisely the release time bugs me something fierce. I also dont entirely trust some of the steamkey sites, certainly not as much as i have faith in steam.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Rule of PC gaming - Dont buy games from steam itself unless it is on sale.

In Ireland steam is just stupidly overpriced. I remember going to gamestop and buying physical copies of games for 39.99eu when they were 59.99eu on steam.
Good few times I even asked my buddies from north to buy games and gift me. I would just send them money by paypal.

Game wise. I have more on my plate then I can ever eat. I just got Tropico 5 and that thing is even worse then Civ games. Played till 2:00 last night.

Remember when steam was priced in USD? And we here in the EU could get really good deals on their games. They copped onto this and simply changed from $ to € and didn't change the actual digits. So something worth $49 was now worth €49 which was a massive difference taking the exchange rate into account. Overnight Steam went from a go to place for games, to an overpriced "GAMESTOP" competitor. If it was raining and I didn't mind a digital download, then I would purchase from Steam.

Steam has only been good for sales since then, and even at that, it's not always great.

degrassinoel

Always a good policy to shop around, even with Steam Sales.

gizmo

I was going to reply with a piece talking about this article from last week (factoring in the re-releases being lumped in with the new releases) but to be honest, it's part of a wider problem that was addressed rather well in this blog post from indie dev, Jeff Vogfel.

Shiminay

Jim Sterling and TotalBiscuit have been making a lot of noise about this lately - Sterling in particular. Their argument, and I think this is a perfectly reasonable and sensible one, is that Valve needs to set some minimum standards in the same way that GOG (for example) do. Everything you buy on GOG has been tested to work. Things you buy on Steam can be broken as all hell - and they don't mean Early Access/Greenlight titles, they mean full releases. The re-release of games being classified as "new" is shockingly poor and anti-consumer and needs to end.

The real killer is that they could let the community police it for them but pulled the plug on that when it became abundantly clear that their customers were using the tags system to warn the Steam community off bad games - a move that shows whoever is in charge of this particular corner of Valve values money over customer satisfaction. They even removed the "Nano machines son" tag because gods forbid people use a system for a bit of completely harmless fun too.

What I guess is happening is that non gaming people are making financial decisions based not on what maximises gamer satisfaction, but what looks on paper to be the most profitable course of action. The 2 don't need to be mutually exclusive at all, this is what has made Steam the king of the game platforms.

Skerries

they really need to change the layout so that you can check for games by genre as it is a nightmare for me trying to find a particular genre that I want to play without going through the massive list individually

Shiminay

ummm, mouse over the "Games" tab and you get to sort by genre immediately....



Or do you mean in the library?

ScumLord

I hated steam at first because I was forced to use it with half life 2, I avoided it for years. Then I had to use it but never bought anything on it. I came around to the benefits of steam and started adding games to the wanted list and thats when it got it's claws into me.

Every so often you'd get a message saying some game you want is on sale for next to nothing and you'd feel stupid for not buying it. Next thing you know I'm checking in on the weekly sales. Now I've got a backlog of games to play.

I think I'm over the worst of it now. I should be safe from sales for a while.

Calhoun

That genre tab is crap, they mix them way to much for my liking which means the store front is not as clean as i like.

Skerries

Shiminay wrote: »

ummm, mouse over the "Games" tab and you get to sort by genre immediately....



Or do you mean in the library?

yeah in the library, the need another column for genre to sort it by
I am using depressurizer but it is still too messy

gizmo

I look forward to seeing Valve's response to this atrocity and how it managed to make it to the Storefront.

Jim Sterling has done a review of it here too. Needless to say, it doesn't go very well.

Sierra Oscar

gizmo wrote: »

I look forward to seeing Valve's response to this atrocity and how it managed to make it to the Storefront.

Jim Sterling has done a review of it here too. Needless to say, it doesn't go very well.

There have been a few games that have made it onto the Steam store that are dubious to say the least. Greenlight is a great concept, but far too many joke development projects are being put on the store. It wasn't great that they required an outcry from the Steam community before being addressed. The old Q&A could do with being looked at.

Wetbench4

gizmo wrote: »

I look forward to seeing Valve's response to this atrocity and how it managed to make it to the Storefront.

Jim Sterling has done a review of it here too. Needless to say, it doesn't go very well.

That must be some sort of joke/experiment. Its made by "killjoy games". Why would you want to associate your game with the killing of joy??? Why would you even call that horrible thing a game??

wyrn

Still, a better platform than Origin.

No, I completely get where you are coming from. I find myself using it less and less. I think I scaled back when they introduced badges, it's a bit too much for me. It's not where I thought Steam would go (although I can understand why they've gone in that direction).

I've started buying less and less in the store. I was surprised when I didn't pre-purchase Thief, that was a big warning signal that I'm not as engaged with it.

I feel so disappointed with the Steambox as well. Thought it had huge potential and dare I say it, I secretly wished and hoped for the release of HL3. I know, I know!

ShadowHearth

wyrn wrote: »

Still, a better platform than Origin.

No, I completely get where you are coming from. I find myself using it less and less. I think I scaled back when they introduced badges, it's a bit too much for me. It's not where I thought Steam would go (although I can understand why they've gone in that direction).

I've started buying less and less in the store. I was surprised when I didn't pre-purchase Thief, that was a big warning signal that I'm not as engaged with it.

I feel so disappointed with the Steambox as well. Thought it had huge potential and dare I say it, I secretly wished and hoped for the release of HL3. I know, I know!

I dont understand how can you do that, when still PC gaming. Its a DRM system and almost all games are bind to Steam. The very few that are not: Origin EA stuff, Blizzard and some Free to play stuff. Edit: Gog and some Humble bundle DRM free stuff.
I understand buying less and less from steam it self, but I dont see how can you use steam it self less and less.
I have not bought a thing directly from steam in ages too, but I use it daily and Steam keeps all my games that I play. not Blizzard games and World of tanks though!

I am not sure what this thread is about. Is it disappointment in Steam as a sales platform, or Steam as a game DRM system, because I am really doubting anyone is disappointed in it as DRM platform.

Calhoun

ShadowHearth wrote: »

I am not sure what this thread is about. Is it disappointment in Steam as a sales platform, or Steam as a game DRM system, because I am really doubting anyone is disappointed in it as DRM platform.

Well as the OP let me clarify it, i meant more from a sales platform and i think that comes across very clearly in my original post. So yah the DRM is great but that's not what i had in mind for the spirit of this thread.

This also isn't a go at PC gaming either as believe me i have been doing it for nearly 15 years its my main platform.

Calhoun

wyrn wrote: »

Still, a better platform than Origin.

No, I completely get where you are coming from. I find myself using it less and less. I think I scaled back when they introduced badges, it's a bit too much for me. It's not where I thought Steam would go (although I can understand why they've gone in that direction).

I've started buying less and less in the store. I was surprised when I didn't pre-purchase Thief, that was a big warning signal that I'm not as engaged with it.

I feel so disappointed with the Steambox as well. Thought it had huge potential and dare I say it, I secretly wished and hoped for the release of HL3. I know, I know!

I totally agree with you, its like "buy our over prices and poorly tested crap and have a badge". Quantity of titles on our store front seems to be valued over quality.

As for usage i also use it less for purchases, i used to buy some titles at full price as its such a convenient tool but now i find myself moving towards resellers or not at all.

wyrn

ShadowHearth wrote: »

I dont understand how can you do that, when still PC gaming. Its a DRM system and almost all games are bind to Steam. The very few that are not: Origin EA stuff, Blizzard and some Free to play stuff. Edit: Gog and some Humble bundle DRM free stuff.
I understand buying less and less from steam it self, but I dont see how can you use steam it self less and less.
I have not bought a thing directly from steam in ages too, but I use it daily and Steam keeps all my games that I play. not Blizzard games and World of tanks though!

I am not sure what this thread is about. Is it disappointment in Steam as a sales platform, or Steam as a game DRM system, because I am really doubting anyone is disappointed in it as DRM platform.

It was just when I saw the OPs thread, I realise I don't use Steam as much as I used to. This is for a variety of reasons that I hadn't put much thought into until today. I've always been a PC gamer and I do love Steam. I even have the app for my Kindle! I've started though playing my consoles more and more. Not sure what that has to do with Steam, just an observation.

Likewise I've taken Steam off auto-start. I used to pop into the store and see what was new. Only time I really use the store is when there's a sale on. Before I used to pre-order games and now I'm just not that bothered. I've also turned off auto-updates. I was in the mind of "I'll have everything updated in case I want to play x game". Now I'm just not that bothered. In fact I had to delete TF2 because of all the updates. The only thing I absolutely adore is the auto-sync feature. Very handy when switching between desktop and laptop.

What I'm trying to say (in a horrendously roundabout way) is that I'm just not engaged with using Steam anymore. It's lost its appeal for me, especially with the gamification of badges. It's not just any one thing that I can point to. I'm not disappointed in Steam as such, I've just become apathetic towards it. If I could play my games without, I would.

Yeti Beast

Valve have updated the Steam Early Access FAQ;

When will these games release?

It's up to the developer to determine when they are ready to 'release'. Some developers have a concrete deadline in mind, while others will get a better sense as the development of the game progresses. You should be aware that some teams will be unable to 'finish' their game. So you should only buy an Early Access game if you are excited about playing it in its current state.

That's pretty much the first time Valve have acknowledged this. In other words, caveat emptor.

Shiminay

It's also Valve completely washing their hands of the entire thing. Cowardly and horribly anti-consumer and continues to fly in the face of European consumer law.

ScumLord

Shiminay wrote: »

It's also Valve completely washing their hands of the entire thing. Cowardly and horribly anti-consumer and continues to fly in the face of European consumer law.

I don't know, buying into an early access is a gamble. Having a situation where it's easy to start selling means it's easy for anyone with an idea to see if they can get support to make the game. Of course it allows allows for chancers but that's the side effect, I would say the possibilities outweigh the negatives if your cautious about how you spend your money.


Plenty of the early access developers have a good track record and have regular updates to their software and it works out great. I've bought into the Assetto Corsa and goat simulator early access, Assetto Corsa has been the best money I've spent on a game probably ever, I can see that I'm going to get years of enjoyment out of that title, although, that company has a track record of making decent games. Goat simulator I didn't really have much expectations from, I bought it drunk one night, had fun, wish the developers well but I'm not going to get upset if it doesn't progress to much further.


Steam do need to make it blindingly obvious to anyone considering buying into an early access that it's a gamble, the game might not come out or might turn into something different. It would be nice if the developers had some sort of rating or you could easily track their previous work so you could get some idea how likely the project is to get to a finished stage in a timely manner.