What could other Distribution platforms learn from Steam?

[Zyst]

Hello! I've been recently wondering about Steam and why PC gamers love it so much. Maybe it's the sales, or the centralized hub to get your games but I just can't nail it.

So the discussion is as such: What could other Distribution platforms learn from Steam?

The only thing that comes to mind is sales for me, there are some apps or games I wouldn't mind buying (on Android) that carry stupid sale prices, thus I just skip them. Maybe when the games are at a low popularity/buy you should put them on a temporary sale? I am not that knowledgeable so I turn to you, fellow Escapists.

 

[Tombsite]

Easy access and a huge library.

When ever I want to play a game Steam is often the easiest way for me to get it. That is worth a lot to me. Other stores have this as well (gamersgate, gog and more) but steam was first and I am used to steam (this is a first mover advantage that is hard to overcome as a competitor).

Competitive.

While Steam does not always have the best prices, the difference is rarely big enough for me to go else where. This is actually me being a bad consumer but steam knows how people act and have made a successful platform based on my and my fellow consumers laziness.

 

[felbot]

more free games, the reason i got steam was because i got portal with it, so do something like that, also make it fast.

 

[Esotera]

Corporate structure - letting your workers just do whatever they want isn't necessarily a bad thing, and can lead to a load of innovation in the company. I'd say the low price of games is the by-product of this adhocracy.

 

[Tombsite]

Corporate structure - letting your workers just do whatever they want isn't necessarily a bad thing, and can lead to a load of innovation in the company. I'd say the low price of games is the by-product of this adhocracy.

I disagree here. Steam is not necessarily the same as Valve. Steam negotiates with a lot of different companies and does a lot of consumer research and development. It also has to deal with costumers and security breaches.
While I do believe that the somewhat lose structure you find at Valves developing offices does have an impact, I think that Steam and its structure is much more ridged.

Having a company structure that allows you to create great games exclusive to your store that I can see as an advantage.

 

[Prime_Hunter_H01]

Accepting Gift cards. I mean like those Visa Vanilla, those type of gift cards that you can use like credit cards. Steam is the only platform that i have been able to use them on. I'll ad mit my only other attempts have been on GOG and the 3DS eShop. But steam accepts them and that rebate from my gaming laptop can go to alot of content for that laptop

 

[Signa]

The fact that when you buy something, it's as much yours as a DD can be. It's tied to an account, so as long as you have access to that account, you can still access the things you bought, from anywhere. So many other systems seem intent on trying to sell a game to you again if you put a toe out of line. I was on THQ's site a while back and you were only permitted one download of the game, and if you wanted the privilege to keep downloading it up to 6 months later, you could pay an extra $5. Compared to Steam, a system like that is a middle-finger to the face. It builds no loyalty to the service, and punishes those that might already be hurting from an unforeseen accident, like a hard drive crash. My house could burn down tonight, and as long as I still have a PC to access, I can play my collection on Steam.

Hell, I bet the movie industry would make a killing if they jumped on a system like Steam, but instead we have to rely on Netflix which has to remove content once contracts expire. I don't know how iTunes is now, but I wasn't under the impression that your list of purchases is downloadable at will like Steam is.

 

[thesilentman]

Other platforms could learn that Steam is a great place for getting all sorts of games without the hassle. That's my two cents, so off I go.

 

[Moderated]

Sales
Being able to put all of your games without some other form of DRM on it on as many computers as you want
Updating for you
Talking to friends
Sales
Sale
Sal
Sa
S
SALES

 

[Coach Morrison]

Sales
Being able to put all of your games without some other form of DRM on it on as many computers as you want
Updating for you
Talking to friends
Sales
Sale
Sal
Sa
S
SALES

Pretty much everything I was going to say, I would add the fact that they help developers that want to support modding, without the workshop I would probably never have looked at Civ5 mods.