Valve “cracked the problem that Netflix was struggling with” using diehard gamers and their backlogs, Steam expert says: “You get access to a bunch of drunken sailors who spend money irresponsibly. The amazing thing about Steam and its player base is that they buy games they aren’t going to play”
47 Comments
I feel very seen by that quote
I swear I’ll play everything in my backlog eventually. Maybe when I retire.
>The reason “Steam makes indies so much money compared to all the other platforms” is that Valve has “built up an audience that is full of super diehard hobbyists” who aren’t necessarily competing in that attention economy because they don’t actually have to *play* the games they buy, Zukowksi reasons.
>”Hobbyists buy stuff not because they actually want to consume it, but because they are collecting it,” he continues. He points to the famous “pile of shame” found in almost all hobbies, and perhaps especially on a platform like Steam where purchases are just a click away. Just as your eyes may be bigger than your stomach, your interests may eclipse the time you can feasibly spend on them. But you can still spend money.
Wtf is a Steam expert
That may be true but they were bought for pennies on the dollar, lol
What the fuck is a “steam expert”?
The amazing thing about steam is convenience. The same thing that Netflix “cracked” before steam, but flushed everything down the drain.
I mean, who here hasn’t gotten blackout drunk and bought a copy of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag on Steam because it was $1.99?
It’s the sales. Yes I will happily buy something I may or may not have time for if it is cheap enough.
i’ll play it soon !
.
.
Oh new sale on that game !
To be fair all of this is mainly possible because sales allow you to get great games for spare change. I doubt Steam backlogs are made up of games bought for 40 dollars or more.
I literally made a commitment to not buy a single new game until I have either cleared my backlog, or the game is less than $5. So far that’s been going swimmingly! Went from ~200 to now ~50!
The difference is when I stop paying Netflix I don’t own anything. A Netflix subscription is €180 a year to have the ability to access movies or series.
Last year I spend about €200 on gaming and I got a bunch of games. I can not buy any game for 5 years and I can still play my entire library.
They look similar, but they really aren’t.
I dont understand what this means in terms of Netflix? What was their problem
Lies I’ll play all of them someday trust me bro
It’s actually pretty simple, we see the games we buy as our collection, even if we don’t play them or have them on another platform. This is nothing more than buying a LP or a physical movie when Spotify/Netflix exists.
The idea of owning games that we collectively consider the best, or games we got on an amazing deal already gives satisfaction. Actually playing them is an afterthought.
I don’t understand what this has to do with Netflix. A storefront and a subscription service are two different business models
The only problem here is Netflix doesn’t sell movies/series.
Meanwhile, I’m collecting free games on Epic and I’ll probably never play 90% of them 😆
I always buy games at discount. I’d much rather get 3 to 10 games for 70 bucks than one single game, even if I only play half of them, the value proposition makes it worth it. Plus, one layoff and I have free entertainment for months
Collector mentalities are very dangerous
I never upgraded from being a “console bro” so this comment section is actually surprising to me.
They also cracked the problem of getting criticised. They cannot be wrong. Every gaming company gets heavily criticised for gambling and here Valve gets no criticism on the scale others get.
And all of this even after they support and encourage gambling and have a NFT like storefront where they also get a cut from the skin people got from loot crates by giving Valve money. Infinite money glitch.
Earn money by selling skins through loot crates -> People Gamba -> Make a store for people to trade skins like NFT -> Get a large chunk of % cut from people who already paid you money to win skins through gambling -> Still gets praises.
Lord GabeN.
We are all that guy from that twilight episode where he just wants to read books at the end of the world, except the glasses are our steam accounts and breaking them is forgetting our password
i don’t get how people buy games just to not play them lol no matter how good the deal is. If the deal is good it’ll get a good deal some time later.
Even after reading the article I have no idea why they bring up Netflix as a comparison/competitor. Netflix sells you a monthly subscription and you have access to everything at that point, the business models have nothing in common.
I still haven’t bought a game i didn’t play but I sure as hell have played games i wish I didn’t buy
[Steam’s new disclaimer reminds everyone that you don’t actually own your games, GOG moves in for the killshot: Its offline installers ‘cannot be taken away from you’](https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/steams-new-disclaimer-reminds-everyone-that-you-dont-actually-own-your-games-gog-moves-in-for-the-killshot-its-offline-installers-cannot-be-taken-away-from-you/)
I have a lot of stuff I bought for 25 cents that’s just padding my library
Nah, I’ll *totally* play all those backlogged games. Absolutely. Eventually. Probably. Maybe. When I have time. If something else doesn’t come up.
Lol hits hard. But in our defense the real difference is this:
When I buy a Netflix or Spotify subscription for a month, after that month I don’t get to watch any shows.
When I buy a game on Steam (yes even though I don’t “own” it) I can reasonably expect to play it anytime I want in the foreseeable future. Even if my PC breaks, I can play for hours once I get a new PC.
The difference I see is that Netflix and other streaming services thought that they could nickel and dime us every month with a subscription. What they didn’t realize is that we would nickel and dime ourselves if we had guarantee that we can watch the shows anytime anywhere without further payment.
I’ll get there when i get there. >,>
I don’t feel like I started getting stuff I didn’t want till I started buying humble bundles back in the early days. Like there would be one game I wanted on the list.
Other than that I haven’t purchased anything I didn’t want to play.
Ironically. Most of the steam games I have are free from one source or another.(some paid. )
Went to nearly 400 unplayed games when I was working, thinking that I will find the time to play them all someday. Had to quit my job, spent almost 6 years mostly unemployed and gaming most of my time.
Well, I’ve only eaten half the pile, still more an hundred games to go. That’s the bane of playing strategy / soloRPG, I guess… Each one is a hundred hours or more.
*shudders while thinking of my 3k+ wishlist*
Hell, I bought physical PS5 games I didn’t played yet.
Hey I just started Nier Automata which I bought like 5 years ago. I will play my other games too at some point. Shut up!!!
Reminds me that I need to look through the sale again before it goes away.
These are two entirely different business models.
When Netflix came out movie and tv pirating took a big hit in popularity because Netflix was so affordable and convenient. Now that the streaming wars are turning into IP monopoly carveouts, and all the fun price increases, forced advertising, and always-rotating license owners that comes along with it, pirating is back on the rise.
Steam has kept the same business model for what…15-20 years? They found a balance in pricing and convenience with their customer *and* supplier (game studios) base…and they’ve just stuck to it. Steam is sort of like a “benevolent monopoly” in that they definitely have the lion’s share of the market, but they’re not pressing that advantage to the point of killing their business model.
And someone else said the other huge difference – if I stop my Netflix subscription I lose access to everything. Hell, even if I keep paying my subscription I still lose access to things because Netflix chooses to not renew the license for that IP *as a business decision*. If I don’t buy another game on Steam, I keep everything I have bought. Steam doesn’t charge a subscription fee for continued access to my game library.
We already know but they shouldn’t have spelled it out….
>Hobbyists buy stuff not because they actually want to consume it, but because they are collecting it
I loved collecting games, I have many hundreds from Sega Master System through Xbox 360.
I have no interest in collecting digital licenses.
I’d rather buy something on Steam for under $5 and play it when I want than spend $20 a month for Netflix and feel like I need to get to it within 30 days.
The thing is – getting customers to do that requires a LOT of trust, which no other company will ever have.
Steam refunds games that are bad, they will even break their “rules” once in a while and side with the customer. They keep improving the experience, even when the improvements don’t correspond to an immediate increase in revenue.
No other company will have the “patience” to develop the customer relationship Steam has.
The gimmick works cause they ACTUALLY HAVE REAL GODDAMN SALES.
We all have games on Xbox, Nintendo or PlayStation storefronts we looked at often and held in our wishlist only to see it stick forever to a specific price point that we refuse to pay. Then you just remove it and move on. Interest will always valley at some point. An exception is $20 games that go to $15 like Cuphead or 1000xRESIST which gain a following of their own and the low cost point means their sale price can be minimal.
Most of a new games sales are within the first week. You can give a bump to the first sale price too. After that everyone that wanted it, bought it. So the continued same sale price for a year is diminished returns. Steam has shown you can make bank doing actual sales rather than continually offering the same $49.99 price or cutting the price of you super ultra legendary edition in order to force that high price purchase.
Steam wise I’m fine buying 2-3 titles on sale and spending decent coin. On PS, Xbox or Switch I’m extremely conservative cause the ONLY time worth buying is summer sale (which is worse now), Mid September and holiday season. The increased game price is only going to widen this gap.
I think what helps is:
1. There’s no entry fee to get in to the service
2. Valve doesn’t take down games after a set amount of time. So I can keep that game that I bought 10 years ago without any worry of it disappearing. It’s partially why I don’t have a gamepass membership.
I can attest to that and I’m not even drunk
i have every intention of playing those games, thank you very much…….
What a weird conclusion.
I didn’t buy humble bundles because I wanted to collect games… it was because they used to be good deals… Id get 1 20-40€ game for 5€ and like 19 other games I couldn’t care less about.
I bought tons of software on humble bundle in the same way, got like 20 different versions of rpg maker, Photoshop and sony Vegas for like 5€.
I dont doubt theres a minority who buy games to collect, I mean people collected physical copies, but they are the minority, not the majority