Valve Denies Possibility of Steam Trade-Ins

Tom Goldman

Crying on the inside.
Aug 17, 2009
14,499
0
0
Valve Denies Possibility of Steam Trade-Ins



Valve has responded to Michael Pachter's comments that Steam would soon allow users to trade-in digital games.

Well-known Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter was recently quoted as saying that Valve was "supposedly" going to allow trade-ins [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/104364-Pachter-Valve-Will-Offer-Trade-ins-on-Steam] on digital distribution service Steam. The basic idea sounds odd, and Valve thinks so too, with the company recently replying to the rumor by denying it'll offer these digital trade-ins.

Valve's vice president of marketing Doug Lombardi confirmed to Eurogamer that digital trade-ins aren't happening. "Untrue," Lombardi says of the rumor. "We've never had a meeting with Mr. Pachter. I'm not sure what else there is to say."

Funnily enough, even Michael Pachter is confused that his comments were picked up on by the media, and he doesn't remember making them. "I saw the headlines yesterday, and honestly don't remember saying that Steam would sponsor trade-ins," Pachter said. "I can only surmise that the reporter asked the question that way ('Steam is rumored to be considering taking digital trade-ins') and asked me what I thought. I have not heard this from anybody, and think it had to be the way the question was phrased."

"I am pretty sure it was posed as a hypothetical question, and I was trying to be responsive," Pachter added. His original statement said that Steam would allow for a "trade and exchange," and Valve would take a small fee from each transaction. He's either backpedaling, or his comments were taken out of context somehow.

Making Steam a digital user marketplace doesn't make a whole lot of sense for Valve when digital copies can never really be "used," because in my eyes Valve would only lose out on the deal. Maybe I'm missing something, but I can't see what Valve would have to gain from ever allowing digital trade-ins. Apparently, Valve agrees for now.

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-10-15-pachter-sets-record-straight-on-steam-trade-in]

Permalink
 

Jack and Calumon

Digimon are cool.
Dec 29, 2008
4,190
0
41
Good. This still leaves 1 or 2 surprises left, depending on if the Mann-conomy or DOTA 2 were in that list.

Also, how would this have worked at all? Second hand data fresh from the Steam Server? What is Michael Pachter doing where ever he is?

Calumon: But I just turned the kettle on! What am I supposed to do now?
 

Amnestic

High Priest of Haruhi
Aug 22, 2008
8,946
0
0
He's either backpedaling
That would be my guess.

Can't say I'm really surprised. I'm pretty apathetic to Steam trade-ins. If they do make them, cool, if not, that's fine too. Really not a big deal to me either way :p
 

samsonguy920

New member
Mar 24, 2009
2,921
0
0
Whatever drugs Pachter is doing right now, I wish he would share as there are a lot of things I wish I could forget.
OT: I'm glad Valve got on the ball on this before rumors really got out of control. It is people like Pachter that can ruin companies with stupid ignorant rants as he usually makes. And then denies making like he is some innocent angel which he isn't.
 

Woodsey

New member
Aug 9, 2009
14,553
0
0
How would a trade-in work? There's nothing to f*cking resell.

I'm sick of this man.
 

Tharticus

New member
Dec 10, 2008
485
0
0
Patcher is probably on something because his ramblings on this doesn't make sense.
 

Aidinthel

Occasional Gentleman
Apr 3, 2010
1,743
0
0
GeneticallyModifiedDucks said:
Seriously, can someone explain to me how that would work, hypothetically?
The game would be removed from your library in exchange for store credit. They'd have to depend on their DRM to prevent it from being copied. Green Man Gaming actually does it already.
 

Amnestic

High Priest of Haruhi
Aug 22, 2008
8,946
0
0
GeneticallyModifiedDucks said:
Seriously, can someone explain to me how that would work, hypothetically?
Right click your game, click "Trade-In", pop up telling you get £#/$#/?# in Magical Steam Credits for trading in your game, click okay, you then lose any access you had to that game and get credited some 'Steam Points' or something to spend on other Steam games.

Would be my guess. I can't see why Valve would offer this, but that would be my hypothetical guess as to how it might work.
 

thethingthatlurks

New member
Feb 16, 2010
2,102
0
0
O SNAP!
Maybe that idiot Pachter will keep his stupid mouth shut now. Or he'll liberally use the excuse "I don't remember saying that" to spew even more bullshit. Either way, could you (that's you, Escapist writers) please stop reporting on this jackass? Frankly, just about anything is more deserving of media attention...
 

Covarr

PS Thanks
May 29, 2009
1,559
0
0
And every media outlet that reported on what Pachter said also looks stupid now. That's what you get for treating his words as news. Good work.

P.S. Thanks
 

mjc0961

YOU'RE a pie chart.
Nov 30, 2009
3,847
0
0
Tom Goldman said:
Funnily enough, even Michael Pachter is confused that his comments were picked up on by the media, and he doesn't remember making them. "I saw the headlines yesterday, and honestly don't remember saying that Steam would sponsor trade-ins," Pachter said. "I can only surmise that the reporter asked the question that way ('Steam is rumored to be considering taking digital trade-ins') and asked me what I thought. I have not heard this from anybody, and think it had to be the way the question was phrased."

"I am pretty sure it was posed as a hypothetical question, and I was trying to be responsive," Pachter added. His original statement said that Steam would allow for a "trade and exchange," and Valve would take a small fee from each transaction. He's either backpedaling, or his comments were taken out of context somehow.
At first I'm inclined to say that given his track record of being either completely wrong or right because he stated the obvious, I'd vote backpedaling.

But then I remember all those other times he was completely wrong, and I don't remember any backpedaling attempts for those instances (and there are a lot). So maybe he's telling the truth?

I dunno, but what is for sure is this: I'm still not going to believe any rumor starting with the phrase "Michael Pachter says..."
 

Lillowh

New member
Oct 22, 2007
255
0
0
Am I the only one that Remembers Green Man Gaming [http://www.greenmangaming.com/], which does just what Patcher is talking about (while still giving money to devs) [http://www.joystickdivision.com/2010/01/green_man_gaming_digital_trade.php]?
 

OANST

New member
Aug 10, 2009
140
0
0
You mean Pachter just makes all of this stuff up off the top of his head? Whoah, man! I would have never guessed that!
 

Tron-tonian

New member
Mar 19, 2009
244
0
0
I can actually see this working, to a degree - you surrender your rights to game X, and in return, get a small credit to purchase game Y. The key would to make sure that "exchanged" games can't be used by someone after they trade them in.