Microsoft Exec: Valve is not a Console Competitor

[Ralen-Sharr]

I sure hope that he's got clean shoes, because when the steambox comes out he's probably going to have his foot in his mouth.

Steam has facerolled the digital distribution market, and is continuing to grow even as competitors pop up. Ignoring Valve's entry into the console market just sounds like a bad idea to me.

 

[Asuka Soryu]

When asked whether Microsoft would fully open the Xbox platform to third-party developers, Mattrick responded: "There's a certain level of technical and production competency that people have to get through because we're trying to curate great experiences.

"We're trying to make sure that what exists upon our service on our system is done to a quality level and has interest for people who are likely to use it," he said.


Which is PR speak for 'not happening".

 

[weirdee]

I think convenience just denotes convenience, nothing more, nothing less. Certainly many things are more accessible but I can't certainly say they're necessarily higher quality, as much as I could not claim that something of higher quality would definitely be more convenient.

 

[Albino Boo]

Valve is small compared to the console kings. The market values Sony at $ 162 billion, Microsoft at $66 billion and the estimate of value of valve comes in at $5 billion. The big boy already have world wide physical distribution networks setup, Valve use EA to distribute physical media.

Do those market values include Sony's non-Playstation parts? They have fingers in many pies, so their worth is spread across various industries. Microsoft is a similar story, they make software as well as the Xbox. Valve make games and run Steam. They clearly know how to make a profit from that whilst keeping gamers happy and entertained. Also, simply having a high market value doesn't mean you are better otherwise EA's Origin would be a raging success compared to Steam. EA are bigger than Valve and yet Steam is more popular than Origin despite EA being able to throw more money around.

I'm just waiting to see how long it takes for the Steambox to become a huge success so Microsoft can eat their words.[/quote]

Thats the whole point Microsoft and Sony are much bigger companies with much deeper pockets because they have many products The cost to rival the big boys with product development and advertising campaigns is going to be around $250-$350 million. Which basically means that Valve is going to have to bet the house on competing with the big boys who can survive if the product fails The cost distribution drops per item drops with volume, so if you only have 1 product its more expensive to move around the world that 1000s.

The reality is that the steambox is going to be niche product and not a competitor to the console kings because Valve can't afford to spend the same amount of money on developing and advertising as the others.

 

[Colt47]

What is Microsofts target audience? If they are shifting from gaming to streaming movie watchers there's better, simpler, and cheaper ways to do it than having to double dip on subscription costs on antiquated hardware. I think Sony, Nintendo, Valve, and the mini-consoles are going to be the ones competing this next season unless the next box is going to shift the whole overblown marketing on the dashboards issue.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

To be honest I'm not very excited about the Steam Box at this point.

But I do hope they help to knock Microsoft on their arses.

 

[Rellik San]

So those tauting convenience... I think you're missing the point.

The Steambox is being designed to deliver your PC Games in a convenient user friendly manner. I.e. You boot it up, steam loads, your games are there. It's probably a lot more convenient, given your entire PC Gaming catalogue will be there in your living room, you probably already have software for it. It just saves you dragging around your behemoth gaming rig into the living room.

 

[Zeckt]

Why do people keep going on about the convenience of console gaming especially when microsoft is involved when you have to buy their console at least twice? not including the 4 wireless controllers that died on me for no reason. How is that convenient? microsoft should just charge 800$ for a console that comes with 2 controllers that actually WORK and be honest rather then make their products out of whatever they find in the dumpster.

There is nothing convenient about it.

 

[Robetid]

I think the Steam Box will be a large success, They have their pockets covered, constant deals, the convinience of just being able to download games when you want (even from a phone app) but i think one of the largest things they have going for them so far is playbackability. One of the most often asked questions and eventually largest complaints is "Will I be able to play last gen games on the new console?" followed by "I wish i could play my old games on my new console." respectively. Steam allows gamers to play decade old games for nostalgic purposes or to give newer gamers the opportunity to play some of the classics older gamers are still talking about. At the same time they are allowing indie devs to thrive by supporting them which can only help the gaming community and indusrty grow while it sounds like Microsoft only wants to release products from the tried and tested titans of the indusrty. I dont own an Xbox but judging from the screen shots posted by Dexter they don't seem all to interested in gaming at all.

TL;DR
Steam Box seems aimed at hardcore gamers, Xbox seems aimed at casual gamers.

 

[Laughing Man]

Steam has facerolled the digital distribution market, and is continuing to grow even as competitors pop up. Ignoring Valve's entry into the console market just sounds like a bad idea to me.

Not quite they had a good five year head start so while some say they steam rolled it other would say they got themselves so deeply entrenched that you really have no option but to use Steam. Believe me I have looked for ways to not use Steam but with over 80 games on the client it is impossible for me to find ways to launch every game I have without having to also launch Steam. I am now at a point where I have to use Steam because I have no other option. The main question though is given the option, given what I know and if I had to start over would I use Steam? No I wouldn't I would do everything possible to not use it. When new games come out I actively look for other DD systems to use over Steam.

The reality is the issues that make Steam a pain in the arse on the PC will no doubt carry over to the console market and console gamers are not the type of folk who are going to sit around waiting for the client to load, sit around waiting for the slow arse updates that Steam has, looking at a message saying the game is not currently available. These are all issues Steam has and have had for the last several years and despite many client updates don't seem to be getting better. It's stuff that PC gamers will put up with because, fuck that's what PC gaming has always been about but console gamers won't and Valve have proven that they just don't seem to be able to sort the problems.

The reality is that the steambox is going to be niche product and not a competitor to the console kings because Valve can't afford to spend the same amount of money on developing and advertising as the others.

This, along with Valve time which I just can't see working in a full on console market war. The Steambox is going to require a lot of word of mouth and more than a little bit of Steam fanboy stupidity to sell.

 

[Stavros Dimou]

Hmm... That's reminding me something.
Back in 2005 after the E3 of that year where the big 3 showed of their consoles,a Microsoft executive went out and said "Wii is not going to be our competitor. People will buy 2 consoles. One will be ours or SONY's and the other one a Wii".
And guess what ? While it didn't directly competed,it got double the sales than xbox360. Hm...
I wonder if Steambox will be another Wii,in the sense of getting multiple sales than the other platforms because it actually doesn't competes them face to face,but instead offers an alternative nowhere else can be found.

 

[SonicWaffle]

They've given me a console which has worked non-stop for over four years and will play whatever game I put into it without giving me the hassle of trying to alter settings or hunt for patches. The fact that they could be doing it better doesn't really matter to me so much when I weigh it against the fact that they're doing it at all.

Yes, because games on XBox don't get patched...ever. The only "hunt" you have to do is usually the good hunt where you find a better or faster software solution to some issues.

On the Xbox, patches are largely automated - an inform pops up as the game opens asking whether you want the patch, you select that you do, and it takes a few seconds you're done. Convenience, see? Again, I'm not saying that the Xbox or consoles in general are perfect, just that they make things very simple for the end user, which to a technophobe like myself is a definite bonus.

Besides that, if we're comparing it to Steam, it updates the game automatically as well. Even when formatting Windows, I still just need to activate/start Steam (it does everything after that, no matter that the registry files have been deleted). And boom, I have all my games available (if they were already on my hdd, I don't even have to download anything).
And after all that I can still make a mod if I want to.

See above. I'm not knocking Steam. I'm not saying that the Xbox is objectively better than PC gaming. There's really no need to compare the functionality, because all I'm doing is pointing out that a console is currently of great convenience for gamers who just want to plug-and-play.

 

[SonicWaffle]

What is Microsofts target audience? If they are shifting from gaming to streaming movie watchers there's better, simpler, and cheaper ways to do it than having to double dip on subscription costs on antiquated hardware.

I imagine the target audience are those who want all of those things to come from one device with the minimum of fuss. There are probably a whole host of better ways to get access to these services, but the fact I can run them all through a device I was going to buy anyway to play games on is certainly a bonus. A lot of people comment on this sort of thing seemingly under the assumption that everyone is as tech-savvy as them, whereas I think to the average consumer the questions are more akin to "Does this work? Can I still play my games on it? Does it involve any extra dicking around on my part? It doesn't? OK, cool, I'll take it"

So those tauting convenience... I think you're missing the point.

The Steambox is being designed to deliver your PC Games in a convenient user friendly manner. I.e. You boot it up, steam loads, your games are there. It's probably a lot more convenient, given your entire PC Gaming catalogue will be there in your living room, you probably already have software for it. It just saves you dragging around your behemoth gaming rig into the living room.

Yes, but we're not just talking about convenience for "serious gamers". We're talking about people who probably don't mentally pigeonhole themselves as gamers, who'd likely never come to a forum like this to chat in the depth we do, and who in all likelihood are scared off by the difficulty (whether real or perceived) of PC gaming.

Those people probably don't have a PC gaming catalogue. What they want is a machine that's simple to hook up to a TV, and will run the games they buy for it. If it does other stuff too, bonus, but the plug-and-play nature is the major selling point IMHO.

Why do people keep going on about the convenience of console gaming especially when microsoft is involved when you have to buy their console at least twice? not including the 4 wireless controllers that died on me for no reason. How is that convenient? microsoft should just charge 800$ for a console that comes with 2 controllers that actually WORK and be honest rather then make their products out of whatever they find in the dumpster.

There is nothing convenient about it.

Why do some people always assume their single bad experience is uniltaerally shared by others?

I've owned my xbox for four-and-a-half years now. I also still own my original wired controller, and while my spare wireless one is on the fritz now, that's less an inbuilt hardware fault and more because a mate was so pissed off about losing Pro Evo he threw it across the room. In these four-and-a-half years my machine has endured near-daily use and run hundreds of different games as well as being used for DVDs and streamed content. I'm sorry you had a bad experience, but it's worth remembering that not everyone will have shared that experience.

Because if there is one thing that every human is good at other than turning food to dookie, it is deceiving themselves :>

Hey, I resent that remark!

I also make a pretty good shepherds pie :-(

 

[WickedFire]

One thing that a people also seem to missing about the Steam Box is that if it does become popular, it will become the baseline for developers. They'll make sure it works on the Steam Box, which will remove the traditional PC problems of games crashing and being difficult to fix because of conflicting drivers or other component based issues. What this meas for the rest of the PC space is anyone's guess.

 

[Rellik San]

Yes, but we're not just talking about convenience for "serious gamers". We're talking about people who probably don't mentally pigeonhole themselves as gamers, who'd likely never come to a forum like this to chat in the depth we do, and who in all likelihood are scared off by the difficulty (whether real or perceived) of PC gaming.

Those people probably don't have a PC gaming catalogue. What they want is a machine that's simple to hook up to a TV, and will run the games they buy for it. If it does other stuff too, bonus, but the plug-and-play nature is the major selling point IMHO.

Granted, but with the new consoles likely lacking backwards compatibility anyway, existing catalogue isn't going to be a contending issue. I often find with a little coercion, the promise of mods, or even just a better gaming experience (One of my friends bought both KOTORS twice when we were discussing experiences I mentioned despite waiting longer a load of stuff that wasn't on the XBox version).

If Valve can market this as what it is, a plug and play device and if they can undercut the competition by pointing out things like; "Oh look, tired of shitty launch titles costing £55, come with us, we have all the best new games for £30 on a games console, don't have a credit card? Just go to Game and get some Steam Credit, no mystery points system here." I gaurentee interests will pique, especially with the mainstream tech media getting wind of just what this device is gonna do.

 

[FloodOne]

The gamer community is schizophrenic.

You do realize there will be no physical media on the Steam Box, right? No used games, and decent internet connection with a solid bandwidth cap will be requirements. Everything that people have slammed the console makers for will be default settings for the Steam Box.

So yeah, go ahead and root for the Steam Box to be a wild success, but in ten years time, when you can't buy used games or trade in crappy games to recoup some of your cash, remember that you had a hand in changing the market in a bad way.

Captcha- Instantly Skip

You know, I think I will...

 

[SonicWaffle]

If Valve can market this as what it is, a plug and play device and if they can undercut the competition by pointing out things like; "Oh look, tired of shitty launch titles costing £55, come with us, we have all the best new games for £30 on a games console, don't have a credit card? Just go to Game and get some Steam Credit, no mystery points system here." I gaurentee interests will pique, especially with the mainstream tech media getting wind of just what this device is gonna do.

Sure, that's got to be the end-goal if they're pursuing financial success. The problem is going to be the gamers.

You can bet your balls (if you have balls. If you're one of these "ladies" I've read about, you can bet your boobs) that if Valve do the smart thing and aim for the casual market, there are going to be fuckwits - probably on this very forum - who kick up a stink about how they've been betrayed and how the Valve console is worthless because it only appeals to the filthy, filthy casuals.

Obviously, as the Wii proved, this doesn't matter a damn when it comes to shifting units. I just hope that if the box truly is a simplified, plug-and-play system so easy that even an idiot like me can use it, it doesn't end up being pilloried by gamers who're bitter about other people enjoying their hobby :-/

 

[SonicWaffle]

The gamer community is schizophrenic.

You do realize there will be no physical media on the Steam Box, right? No used games, and decent internet connection with a solid bandwidth cap will be requirements. Everything that people have slammed the console makers for will be default settings for the Steam Box.

So yeah, go ahead and root for the Steam Box to be a wild success, but in ten years time, when you can't buy used games or trade in crappy games to recoup some of your cash, remember that you had a hand in changing the market in a bad way.

That's...actually an interesting point. I hadn't even considered it.

My longstanding love for physical media notwithstanding, I intensely dislike the idea of being unable to trade or buy second-hand games. Though the rumours I've read (some, anyway - there are a billion different rumours flying around at this stage) claim I won't be able to do that with the new major consoles either. It's a pretty massive cockslap to the consumer, certainly.

 

[mechalynx]

Valve is small compared to the console kings. The market values Sony at $ 162 billion, Microsoft at $66 billion and the estimate of value of valve comes in at $5 billion. The big boy already have world wide physical distribution networks setup, Valve use EA to distribute physical media.

Oh, crap. Is that true? Well, if they're only distributing...

 

[Zombie_Moogle]

"There's a certain level of technical and production competency that people have to get through because we're trying to curate great experiences.

"We're trying to make sure that what exists upon our service on our system is done to a quality level and has interest for people who are likely to use it,"

"Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor" is all anyone needs to say in response