EA Gets Ready to Throw Down With Steam - UPDATED

[sleekie]

Hahaha.....kill yourselves, EA. You are a plague on this industry.

 

[Azaraxzealot]

valve DOES have a monopoly on the digital distribution side of sales when it comes to PC games. and it's nice how if EA does it then they're a bunch of money-grubbing soulless baby-eaters, but if valve wants to keep prices of their games at 49.99 forever they're still considered the paragons of the gaming industry...

So what's Amazon's download service, Impulse, GOG, Direct 2 Drive Gamersgate and a handful of other digital distribution to Valve if not competition? Maybe they are all in some sort of secret cabal and Gabe Newell is the it's Leader, they all dance around their cauldron of video games and hexing anyone else who tries to launch their own service?

valve DOES have a monopoly on the digital distribution side of sales when it comes to PC games. and it's nice how if EA does it then they're a bunch of money-grubbing soulless baby-eaters, but if valve wants to keep prices of their games at 49.99 forever they're still considered the paragons of the gaming industry...

You clearly have no idea what you're talking about. You can buy and download PC games from Direct2Drive, GOG, GamersGate. Valve most definitely does not have a 'monopoly'. And since when do they keep their prices at 49.99 forever? Steam's reputation is literally built on the fact that Valve regularly offers discounts on just about everything.

they do. and you'd be naive to think that they don't. how many pc gamers use anything OTHER than steam for the majority of their purchases? and with their stranglehold on the digital distribution market they can keep prices at whatever they want. no impulse buying or renting for those who have no credit cards or want used games from bargain bins thanks to Valve.

 

[PettingZOOPONY]

valve DOES have a monopoly on the digital distribution side of sales when it comes to PC games. and it's nice how if EA does it then they're a bunch of money-grubbing soulless baby-eaters, but if valve wants to keep prices of their games at 49.99 forever they're still considered the paragons of the gaming industry...

So what's Amazon's download service, Impulse, GOG, Direct 2 Drive Gamersgate and a handful of other digital distribution to Valve if not competition? Maybe they are all in some sort of secret cabal and Gabe Newell is the it's Leader, they all dance around their cauldron of video games and hexing anyone else who tries to launch their own service?

valve DOES have a monopoly on the digital distribution side of sales when it comes to PC games. and it's nice how if EA does it then they're a bunch of money-grubbing soulless baby-eaters, but if valve wants to keep prices of their games at 49.99 forever they're still considered the paragons of the gaming industry...

You clearly have no idea what you're talking about. You can buy and download PC games from Direct2Drive, GOG, GamersGate. Valve most definitely does not have a 'monopoly'. And since when do they keep their prices at 49.99 forever? Steam's reputation is literally built on the fact that Valve regularly offers discounts on just about everything.

they do. and you'd be naive to think that they don't. how many pc gamers use anything OTHER than steam for the majority of their purchases? and with their stranglehold on the digital distribution market they can keep prices at whatever they want. no impulse buying or renting for those who have no credit cards or want used games from bargain bins thanks to Valve.

No they do not, go read up on what a monopoly is before you spout off.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

they do. and you'd be naive to think that they don't. how many pc gamers use anything OTHER than steam for the majority of their purchases? and with their stranglehold on the digital distribution market they can keep prices at whatever they want. no impulse buying or renting for those who have no credit cards or want used games from bargain bins thanks to Valve.

You seem to be confusing 'large share of the market' with 'monopoly.' I suggest you invest in a dictionary. Also, Valve CAN keep their prices at whatever they want, but the fact remains that they don't. And how exactly can you blame Valve for people who don't have credit cards not being able to buy games? Last time I checked physical stores still exist...

 

[Azaraxzealot]

I think perhaps 'grow our audience' might be code for 'grow our wallet'.

I'm not signing up to another bloody digital distribution service just because EA wants to grab every last penny they can.

and you think valve doesn't with steam? i know that people like to look at EA and Activision as big "evil" corporations, but this is someone just trying to challeng Valve's monopoly. I don't know why everyone looks at them as some sort of folk hero when they're SWIMMING in cash.

Valve don't have a monopoly. Unless you're talking about TF2, Portal and their own titles which as far as I know you can only download through Steam. Otherwise, last time I checked Direct2Drive and GameTree were all operating fine. The reason Valve have such a high market share and everyone's love in the digital distribution market, which I think is what you were getting at, is that Steam does its job, is not intrusive, and they so regularly do discounts on most titles that you rarely have to pay full price beyond release week. It's a system that works.

EA wanting to set up their own digital downloads is just the same as Activision wanting to find a way to get a cut of Xbox Live's monthly fees for playing CoD. They don't like the idea of anyone making any money out of their products that they themselves could be making, so they want to mess with a system that works perfectly fine and force people to do things their way, which will probably be far less pleasant in its user friendliness.

valve DOES have a monopoly on the digital distribution side of sales when it comes to PC games. and it's nice how if EA does it then they're a bunch of money-grubbing soulless baby-eaters, but if valve wants to keep prices of their games at 49.99 forever they're still considered the paragons of the gaming industry...

Keep in mind VALVE dosen't set Steam prices. The publisher of the game or the developer sets a blanket price for both brick & mortar stores as well as online retailers. VALVE has no say in a game being cheaper at launch due to cost cut in shipping and product. Hate that you buy a 60 dollar game for just the digital bits? Blame brick and mortar retailers that throw a temper tantrum when it is even entertained that STEAm and direct 2 drive might sell for cheaper due to that cost cut; and blame publishers that don't even feel like shaving a dollar off since they don't need to produce that case and disk.
Besides EA is a faceless, soulless, money grubbing, baby eating monstrosity and that's common knowledge.

okay, that right there is outright slander against the company and you know it. i've never felt EA was a "big, bad corporation" your attitude reminds me of that guy from team america: world police when he goes off on corporations for being all "corporation-y". you've never run a huge, international publishing company for electronic arts, so you have no right to make that judgement

they do. and you'd be naive to think that they don't. how many pc gamers use anything OTHER than steam for the majority of their purchases? and with their stranglehold on the digital distribution market they can keep prices at whatever they want. no impulse buying or renting for those who have no credit cards or want used games from bargain bins thanks to Valve.

You seem to be confusing 'large share of the market' with 'monopoly.' I suggest you invest in a dictionary. Also, Valve CAN keep their prices at whatever they want, but the fact remains that they don't. And how exactly can you blame Valve for people who don't have credit cards not being able to buy games? Last time I checked physical stores still exist...

valve is popularizing the move towards digital distribution, if people can call EA a money-grubbing, soulless, baby-eating, big, scary corporation, then i can blame valve for the industry shift towards digital distribution that's going to make used game sales impossible and put the act of actually being able to hold a physical copy of a game in your hands in the past. This whole moving towards digital distribution bothers me since games that game out 4 or 5 years ago cost the same now as they did then (ex: XBLA, PSN, STEAM, Valve games) and i hate it.

 

[Godhead]

As long as I can get Battlefield 3 and ME3 on Steam I frankly don't care.

 

[Sandytimeman]

Sigh, now I'll never get to see how ME3 ends!

 

[shrekfan246]

Snip

valve is popularizing the move towards digital distribution, if people can call EA a money-grubbing, soulless, baby-eating, big, scary corporation, then i can blame valve for the industry shift towards digital distribution that's going to make used game sales impossible and put the act of actually being able to hold a physical copy of a game in your hands in the past. This whole moving towards digital distribution bothers me since games that game out 4 or 5 years ago cost the same now as they did then (ex: XBLA, PSN, STEAM, Valve games) and i hate it.

I was going to leave you alone until you put in that edit to your last post, because you clearly have no clue what you're talking about. All games that are being released on digital platforms for download cost exactly the same as a NEW physical copy from a brick&mortar store. Yes, you can't get a used copy from a digital download, but that's kind-of the point.

And yes, I will give an example. Infamous, a game that came out 2 years ago, costs at the most $25.00 on the PSN now. I think it might actually be down to $20 by now, but I'm not sure. As it has been pointed out many times before in this thread, Steam constantly has sales and discounts for many of the items in their library. And I'm relatively certain that services such as GOG.com are selling digital downloads for the same price as physical copies (Though I can't speak because I don't use it).

TL;DR: You're full of yourself. Stop trying to make it out like EA is the stalwart hero of this tale. No game publisher can claim a moral high ground in my eyes, but when you compare a company like Valve to a company like EA Games? Yes, Valve is the paragon of all that is good in the world. To make this TL;DR a bit long, have you even seen what they did to Darkspore? It requires a constant internet connection at all times to even play. So you know what that does to anyone with a bad wireless connection? Oops, your internet cut out, you can't play anymore. And yes, that is all because of EA.

 

[quhouv vhqwiufv qwiu]

valve DOES have a monopoly on the digital distribution side of sales when it comes to PC games

This statement is unjustifiable. To begin there are other digital distributors such as Direct2Drive which ensures that right now Valve does not have a monopoly. Also Valve nor any other online distributor has ever released statistics regarding their market share, however it is estimated at 70% for Steam, which is not a monopoly.

 

[Azaraxzealot]

valve DOES have a monopoly on the digital distribution side of sales when it comes to PC games

This statement is unjustifiable. To begin there are other digital distributors such as Direct2Drive which ensures that right now Valve does not have a monopoly. Also Valve nor any other online distributor has ever released statistics regarding their market share, however it is estimated at 70% for Steam, which is not a monopoly.

then what makes a monopoly? because i'm sure microsoft doesn't have THAT many people using their PCs when i see plenty of ironic 20-somethings using macs.

 

[Setch Dreskar]

As long as I can get Battlefield 3 and ME3 on Steam I frankly don't care.

Prepare for a heart breaking reality... I am already crying myself to sleep at night... thank you EA... thank you for Mass Effect 3 and Battlefield 3 being Origins exclusive...

 

[shrekfan246]

valve DOES have a monopoly on the digital distribution side of sales when it comes to PC games

This statement is unjustifiable. To begin there are other digital distributors such as Direct2Drive which ensures that right now Valve does not have a monopoly. Also Valve nor any other online distributor has ever released statistics regarding their market share, however it is estimated at 70% for Steam, which is not a monopoly.

then what makes a monopoly? because i'm sure microsoft doesn't have THAT many people using their PCs when i see plenty of ironic 20-somethings using macs.

mo·nop·o·ly
   /məˈnɒpəli/ Show Spelled[muh-nop-uh-lee]
?noun, plural -lies.
1.
exclusive control of a commodity or service in a particular market, or a control that makes possible the manipulation of prices. Compare duopoly, oligopoly.
2.
an exclusive privilege to carry on a business, traffic, or service, granted by a government.
3.
the exclusive possession or control of something.

If Steam had a monopoly over the digital distributors, GOG, D2D, and even Amazon.com would not exist.

 

[zehydra]

As much as I love Steam, I think this kind of competition will only benefit gamers. I mean, it's not like you can't have an Origin account AND a Steam account.

It'll also force Steam to make sure it's on top of it's game.

 

[Azaraxzealot]

valve DOES have a monopoly on the digital distribution side of sales when it comes to PC games

This statement is unjustifiable. To begin there are other digital distributors such as Direct2Drive which ensures that right now Valve does not have a monopoly. Also Valve nor any other online distributor has ever released statistics regarding their market share, however it is estimated at 70% for Steam, which is not a monopoly.

then what makes a monopoly? because i'm sure microsoft doesn't have THAT many people using their PCs when i see plenty of ironic 20-somethings using macs.

mo·nop·o·ly
   /məˈnɒpəli/ Show Spelled[muh-nop-uh-lee]
?noun, plural -lies.
1.
exclusive control of a commodity or service in a particular market, or a control that makes possible the manipulation of prices. Compare duopoly, oligopoly.
2.
an exclusive privilege to carry on a business, traffic, or service, granted by a government.
3.
the exclusive possession or control of something.

If Steam had a monopoly over the digital distributors, GOG, D2D, and even Amazon.com would not exist.

well its the most prominent, to be sure, and since even microsoft, ea, and a few other high-profile companies have called steam out as being a monopoly, i'm inclined to believe it.

now if you'll excuse me, i have a wedding to plan.

 

[Merkavar]

going off past expirence with EA this service will be unavaliable half the time and not working properly the other half.

 

[Worr Monger]

There... fixed it.

 

[CD-R]

As much as I love Steam, I think this kind of competition will only benefit gamers. I mean, it's not like you can't have an Origin account AND a Steam account.

It'll also force Steam to make sure it's on top of it's game.

Exactly. Just like the whole Call of Duty vs Battlefield thing. EA would not have put nearly as much effort into Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3 if Call of Duty hadn't over taken Battlefield as the number one online military shooter. Plus if EA put's their entire back catalog on this Orgin thingy then it might just give Steam a run for it's money. EA has made a lot of innovative games over their long history. They weren't always a Madden factory.