So Valve is not your friend, according to Polygon.

[BloatedGuppy]

Polygon sucks and that article was colored with histrionic prose, but there was nothing overtly false in either the details or the general messaging. Valve isn't your friend, and you're a fucking numpty if you think they are.

Even CDPR and the generous GOG isn't your friend. They just use "customer goodwill" as their method for generating sales. They're certainly a more pro-consumer company, but they go out of their way to make sure you notice that. There's calculation involved.

Valve was pretty smart. They read the tea leaves and got out in front, and now enjoy a locked up monopoly of digital game sales on the PC. Like all monopolies, they can be quite tyrannical.

 

[cleric of the order]

A corporation isn't my friend? Say it ain't so!

Also, it's weird how some people like really hate some pretty harmless and bland websites like Polygon and Kotaku, or is this like an "ethics" thing that I'm just not getting? I dunno. I tend not to get angry about things like that.

I would not categorize polygon as harmless given they had something to do with those sites pushing the "you'll take what you've given" and being generally anti-consumer hacks.
whether people want to dwell on the ME3 controversy or not the gamers are entitled mythos arguably has not helped the fact that a fair bit of corporate games come to us peacemeil and mildly broken on day one.(not a big deal for me because, yah know Monkey island rule, and i mostly play indie anyway)
in fact if I'm not mistaken Colin Moriarty came from polygon and they were the folks that published this nonsense in the first place.

But if you disagree that then they are simply a bunch of corporate centrifuges, people being say "too old" to enjoy destiny, entitlement and the like doesn't really do anything but shit on their consumer base with sophist tripe.
The fact that they remain alive worries me greatly

 

[09philj]

Valve is not your friend, because multinational corporations tend not to be. If there were anywhere better I would take my business to it, but since devs don't give a flying fuck about GOG, neither can I.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

Seems like an odd time to publish this article- this is hardly a new idea. The way it looks to me is that cynicism about Valve and Steam are higher than ever. Valve is famous (or rather, infamous) for it's lack of communication and curation of Steam. Origin is known to have a vastly superior refund system to Valve's. GoG made a name for itself by acting as a DRM free platform. I mean shit, just look at the comments on the recent article containing the Steam sale dates on this website and you'll see how jaded people are even with that.

Valve/Steam were, is, and will be a business first, and quite honestly, that makes sense. A business is not in business to make friends. It does what it sets out to do (mostly) by providing a collected place for almost every game where they can be purchased and updated easily. If anyone convinced themselves Steam was more than that then it's on them.

 

[Pseudonym]

Oh Polygon, you self righteous SOBs, when will you learn? Basically, it's them having a ***** fit over Valve's policies on Steam, but the way they write it, you would think Valve brutally murdered their entire families. To Polygon, I have to say, where was this attitude with companies like Apple or EA's digital service. If anything they come off as a jilted lover. Why do people subscribe to you again? You and Kotaku are the gaming equivalent of Fox News.

I never used Steam, nor will I in the future, but is Steam really the worse when it comes to digital services? No I'd say EA is still far worse from the stories I heard. For those curious, here's the article.

https://www.polygon.com/2017/5/16/15622366/valve-gabe-newell-sales-origin-destructive

The first thing you see when opening your link:

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, Polygon as an organization.

The author has this as their first Polygon article.

But don't let that get in the way of whatever you apparently have against polygon. (Which ones are those again?)

 

[Chaosian]

Of course people used to perceive Valve as a squeaky clean company that put the consumers first. If I'm not mistaken Valve won two March Madness runs here at the Escapist, and it used to pump out content like Doomsday Arcade that was made by self-admitted Valve fan-boys.

The fact that this isn't the case today though isn't newsworthy.

Since around 2012, the 'good guy Valve' impression has been a dying one. There's been a few hits to their reputation with Greenlight, Paid Mods, and some rough AMAs - not to mention Half Life 3, but every company has this. People like Sega now because they're porting exclusives to Steam. People don't like Altus because they still have a consumer embargo on spoilers. FROM was in the dog house after lying about Dark Souls 2 - but people are fellating each-other over Bloodborne 2.

There's an ebe and flow to company reputation. Polygon should be congradulated for joining everyone else in this realizion and have its article put on the fridge.

 

[RaikuFA]

I was linked to this yesterday. I was considering it but knowing this site I'd get death threats for it.

I get what they're saying, which is "Valve has too much of a monopoly compared to Origin and GOG" but it was worded in the worst way. It made them sound like they were murdered by Gabon and their spirit wrote this.

 

[Phasmal]

A corporation isn't my friend? Say it ain't so!

Also, it's weird how some people like really hate some pretty harmless and bland websites like Polygon and Kotaku, or is this like an "ethics" thing that I'm just not getting? I dunno. I tend not to get angry about things like that.

I would not categorize polygon as harmless given they had something to do with those sites pushing the "you'll take what you've given" and being generally anti-consumer hacks.
whether people want to dwell on the ME3 controversy or not the gamers are entitled mythos arguably has not helped the fact that a fair bit of corporate games come to us peacemeil and mildly broken on day one.(not a big deal for me because, yah know Monkey island rule, and i mostly play indie anyway)
in fact if I'm not mistaken Colin Moriarty came from polygon and they were the folks that published this nonsense in the first place.

But if you disagree that then they are simply a bunch of corporate centrifuges, people being say "too old" to enjoy destiny, entitlement and the like doesn't really do anything but shit on their consumer base with sophist tripe.
The fact that they remain alive worries me greatly

Ok... so ... obviously I've missed a lot because I generally don't know what you're on about.
I'm sure there's probably reasons to legitimately dislike them but I was mostly surprised by the hostility. I generally just stop going to websites I don't like.
Also maybe it's just me but it seems like loads of things get labelled "anti-consumer" when it comes to gaming. Personally I do think the customer base can be a bit sensitive like that.
But hey like I said I generally stay out of that kind of shit so

Spoiler: Meh

 

[Ishigami]

As someone who criticized Valve for Steam since its creation. I read the article and find nothing wrong with it.

The acceptance column hits the nail on the head especially.
Ultimately I too had a choice: Leave large scale PC Gaming or accept Steam.
Back then when I was faced with this choice every new AAA game had a Steam requirement.
Well I still play on PC so yes I too have a Steam library?

Anyway so far everything seems true.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

As someone who criticized Valve for Steam since its creation. I read the article and find nothing wrong with it.

The acceptance column hits the nail on the head especially.
Ultimately I too had a choice: Leave large scale PC Gaming or accept Steam.
Back then when I was faced with this choice every new AAA game had a Steam requirement.
Well I still play on PC so yes I too have a Steam library?

Anyway so far everything seems true.

Except for the melodramatic and snide tone, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the article, especiallyin terms of the points it makes. But this is Polygon, which means that some people on the webz are honorbound to hate anything they put out.

To me, this is nothing new. Valve's dominion over the PC gaming market is problematic for all the reasons that article listed and it has been repeatedly stated for the last half decade or so by a lot of different people. But as long as people are fine with shady business practices from Valve and are more concerned with giving anyone who talks about it shit, nothing will change.

 

[hermes]

Oh CoCage, you self righteous SOBs, when will you learn? Basically, it's you having a ***** fit over Polygon opinion on Valve's policies on Steam, but the way they write it, you would think Polygon brutally murdered your entire families.

My point is this, while you are not wrong, you act like Polygon is the only guilty of this, or Polygon is the worst of the worst.... Polygon has many problems, but once again, they are not the worse of the worst. They ain't my friend, but they are not my enemy either. And you seems really happy in painting them as mustache-twirly villains.

 

[BrawlMan]

The first thing you see when opening your link:

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, Polygon as an organization.

The author has this as their first Polygon article.

But don't let that get in the way of whatever you apparently have against polygon. (Which ones are those again?)

You got me there, I did not know the writer was new. That said, I don't why the writer or whoever else does the writing for articles acts so offended and surprised by Valve policies or action, while saying nothing or being indifferent towards other companies or publishers shady actions. And in some minor cases, outright defending them. See their articles on Dragon's Crown, Bayonetta 2, or Last of Us. The third game I never cared much for, but I could smell bullshit all over them. No matter the article, they act like smug pricks almost every time.

 

[CaitSeith]

snip

A bit sensitive if you read only the complains and not the profit figures from those things. Numbers talk: the consumers like those things. Personally I think the customer base has grown unsensitive to such practices because they are the norm in the industry (even if they didn't use to be before).

 

[BrawlMan]

Oh CoCage, you self righteous SOBs, when will you learn? Basically, it's you having a ***** fit over Polygon opinion on Valve's policies on Steam, but the way they write it, you would think Polygon brutally murdered your entire families.

My point is this, while you are not wrong, you act like Polygon is the only guilty of this, or Polygon is the worst of the worst.... Polygon has many problems, but once again, they are not the worse of the worst. They ain't my friend, but they are not my enemy either. And you seems really happy in painting them as mustache-twirly villains.

I never said that they were the worse of the worst. That goes to IGN, but Polygon is 2nd place.

How about not becoming self-righteous SOBs ourselves, and better discussing the points they wrote there instead? (I'm talking to everyone, not just the OP)

Note at the beginning: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, Polygon as an organization.

I don't define this opinion article as much as self-righteous, but written in a tone full of smugness and condescension. Even so, it's also full of references to events worth discussing.

PS: I agree that this thread sounds more fitting to Gaming Industry Discussion; but why to waste a chance to see if people want to talk about this? (at least more people than just those who'd rather see Polygon disappear from the Internet).

I admit that the SOB part came too strong. It's just frustration on my part. I am tired of seeing such hypocrisy for most of these gaming news websites. Where they say things are not okay, but when they do it, or someone in their favor do it; then everything okie-dokie. And they never admit there mistakes, and looks like they would rather bite off their own tongue than apologize or correct their problems.

Thank you CaitSeth, I don't mind the topic staying up if everyone still wants to talk about it, but I'll make sure to come up with a more positive topic. Once again, on the Game Industry Forum, I though about it, but almost nobody goes there anymore, and it's filled with tired Gamer Gate/Anti-Gamer Gate trite. If it fits the sub-forum, I'll make sure to put it there. You have a great one.

 

[CaitSeith]

I don't why the writer or whoever else does the writing for articles acts so offended and surprised by Valve policies or action, while saying nothing or being indifferent towards other companies or publishers shady actions.

Maybe because it's an opinion article about Valve, and not an analysis about shady practices from different companies in the industry. If you talk about how your city isn't fixing the potholes on your street, it doesn't make sense to call out the potholes from the city in another state.

EDIT: But that doesn't stop us from discussing the negatives from other companies here. Or if the positive things that Valve has made outweigh the negatives the writer is accusing them of doing.

 

[Silvanus]

Posting clickbait racist games themed BS to try and bring in audience for ads instead of providing news on games?

If you're trying to insinuate here that advocating diversity is somehow racist, then at least I know I can safely ignore the original post, safe in the knowledge that there wasn't a valid point to be made in it.

 

[darkrage6]

Oh Polygon, you self righteous SOBs, when will you learn? Basically, it's them having a ***** fit over Valve's policies on Steam, but the way they write it, you would think Valve brutally murdered their entire families. To Polygon, I have to say, where was this attitude with companies like Apple or EA's digital service. If anything they come off as a jilted lover. Why do people subscribe to you again? You and Kotaku are the gaming equivalent of Fox News.

I never used Steam, nor will I in the future, but is Steam really the worse when it comes to digital services? No I'd say EA is still far worse from the stories I heard. For those curious, here's the article.

https://www.polygon.com/2017/5/16/15622366/valve-gabe-newell-sales-origin-destructive

Comparing them to Faux is laughable.

Also keep in mind Polygon's opinion pieces do not represent the site as as a whole.

I think the article makes some good points, I blame Valve for how crazy DRM in PC games has gotten, as after Steam got popular publishers knew they could get away with putting DRM in their games on PC.

Also considering a judge admonished Valve for their actions, I think there is reason to be wary of Steam.

 

[darkrage6]

Weren't they also ones claiming COD WWII is not diverse enough?

If so then they're bunch of chauvinists and bigots in their death throes,
trying to get any attention to their crumbling platform
or given their target maybe just bunch of spineless twat's on EA's leash, smearing hit pieces on demand?

Neither option being worthy source of news on gaming industry.

You do know how Polygon does opinion pieces right? Different people on the site have different beliefs.

 

[darkrage6]

Posting clickbait racist games themed BS to try and bring in audience for ads instead of providing news on games?

If you're trying to insinuate here that advocating diversity is somehow racist, then at least I know I can safely ignore the original post, safe in the knowledge that there wasn't a valid point to be made in it.

Anyone thinks that making games more diverse is "racist" is incredibly ignorant.

 

[darkrage6]

Oh Polygon, you self righteous SOBs, when will you learn? Basically, it's them having a ***** fit over Valve's policies on Steam, but the way they write it, you would think Valve brutally murdered their entire families. To Polygon, I have to say, where was this attitude with companies like Apple or EA's digital service. If anything they come off as a jilted lover. Why do people subscribe to you again? You and Kotaku are the gaming equivalent of Fox News.

Jeez dude, the way you say it, you would think Polygon brutally murdered your entire family.

It's not a particularly well written article and the language is needlessly melodramatic but it presents some solid points and you haven't put forward a fucking thing to refute any of them.

My point is this, while they are not wrong (Steam Greenlight, lack of a refund policy before 2015), Polygon act like Steam is the only guilty of this, or Valve is the worst of the worst. My biggest problem with Polygon is that they pretend be good people, who are nothing more than a bunch of self-serving assholes who only do things to benefit their own agenda. Steam has many problems, but once again, they are not the worse of the worst. Valve ain't my friend, but they are not my enemy either. And Polygon seems really happy in painting them as mustache-twirly villains.

I notice you don't actually reply to their points and then overreact, much like they did.

Not really, I am just giving my perspective. I have overreacted to some things in my life, but I put my foot down when crap like this posted on the net like it's something "new", "groundbreaking", or "controversial".

You know, there's a subforum for topics like these here:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/index/663-Game-Industry-Discussion

That said, of course Steam is not my "friend". But unlike Polygon, at least it's not my enemy.

I thought about it, but barely anyone talks on that sub-forum anymore, and most of the time it's some guys talking about tired topics of GamerGate/SJW/Anti-SJW nobody cares about anymore.

I think Polygon are good people and one could argue Valve themselves are "self serving assholes"(which else would they let CS:GO gambling go on for so long?)