The State of Steam

By Chris Evans

Ah, Steam. Simply mentioning the digital distribution platform in some circles can lead to people either singing its praises or claiming it to be the work of the devil. It’s a program with more users than World of Warcraft yet seems to be more divisive than the legendary MMO.

It seems there are several key areas in which Steam succeeds, and others in which it fails to adequately support its user base. Broadly speaking, these issues cover the pricing of games, the types of games available, and the role of dreaded DRM.

//The price you pay
The most obvious failing of Steam seems to be the pricing of games on the service, and the apparent imbalances between games from different developers and even across continents. Titles such as Call of Duty 4 are more expensive on Steam than they are on Amazon. The process of pricing games on Steam is one that is shrouded in mystery – various sources have made different claims – however it seems most likely that developers and publishers pitch a price to the guys at Steam which is in line with standard price brackets. Arguments can be made that games should be cheaper on Steam than at retail because there is no need for floor space and people staffing stores, though server charges and company staff are still required. What is clear, though, is that there is at times is a great variety in the price of releases on Steam compared to retail, which has caused frustration among its users.

A pricing issue that seems to finally be resolved is the $1/1€ saga, which came about when localised currencies became available on Steam. This problem arose when a game sold in countries using the Euro was being charged the same as if the game was sold in the US, regardless of what the exchange rates were at the time. This often led to European customers paying significantly more for a game on Steam than US customers. Whilst this issue has been resolved in most cases, it caused great damage to the reputation of Steam in Europe.

The length of time it has taken for $1/1€ problem to be solved and the differences in Steam and retail prices does not fill me with confidence that Steam is the best value place for purchasing games. Why then did the problem take so long to be solved? The most likely explanation is changing exchange rates and the influence exerted by third-party publishers who sell their games on Steam. The nature of business says that companies will often look to make more money at the expense of their customers; this goes some way to explaining why the $1/1€ saga was so protracted.

Importantly, whilst the issue may have caused many customers to turn away from Steam, it isn’t all doom and gloom when it comes to the price of games there. If we look at the platform as a whole we see that it allows publishers to boost massively boost sales. Valve released figures a couple of months ago which showed that through a combination of a half-price sale and a free weekend deal the number of people playing Unreal Tournament 3 increased by 2,000 per cent. This is an aspect of Steam that makes it a very attractive platform for developers and publishers as well as consumers to use.

Perhaps the free weekends are the best example of where Steam succeeds. Giving players the chance to play a game for an extended length of time with others means they can really test the game to see if they are willing to pay for it. These free weekends often coincide with big discounts, meaning you can pick up a game that can be quite costly on Steam for next to nothing.

//The old faithful and indie games
If you look at the list of games available on Steam, you’ll come face to face with a gargantuan amount. Most of these are games released in the past five years or so, and they comprise AAA titles, indie titles and a whole lot of filler. There is something missing though: the lack of classic old games on Steam seems a missed opportunity for Valve and the vast array of developers and publishers that use Steam. You just have to look at somewhere like Good Old Games to see that the old-school titles are still very popular and have a place in the hearts of many.

But perhaps it may have been wise for Valve to avoid picking up older games. Game updates are notoriously fickle things on Steam – for instance, Earth 2160 (which will soon be on GoG) suffered a game-breaking update which took two months to be fixed on Steam. So maybe it is best that Valve steer clear of some older games in order to avoid similar issues cropping up.

While Valve may not dabble in the classic games market too much, they have been at the forefront of embracing the indie revolution which has made Steam one of /the/ places to get your game sold if you are an independent game developer. Titles such as Audiosurf and World of Goo have sold especially well on Steam, and with access to millions of potential customers Steam is enabling indie developers to sell their games to a massive audience. This is perhaps one of the most important aspects of Steam in the context of the health of the PC as a gaming platform by providing such developers with a chance to make an impression on a large scale.

//The evils of DRM
DRM is one of the most contentious issues in PC gaming today. Just look at the pages of forum topics about it and massive comment threads when sites discuss it. What many people ignore is that Steam is an ever-present form of copy protection. Simply put, the requirement to be logged into Steam in order to play your games presents a very stringent form of control. Other services such as Impulse or GamersGate allow you to play games bought on it outside of the client. For many, Steam is an inconvenience: players don’t like having to load up the Steam client in order to simply enjoy a title they own. Compared to other digital distributors, Steam seems to be intrusive in its keeping track of its players actions and habits.

But are there bonuses to the inherent DRM that is present with Steam? Games are tied to your account, meaning you can install the game as many times as you want on as many different machines as you desire. If we compare this system to various other forms of copy protection that limit install numbers and install rootkits and other dastardly devices, it certainly appears that Steam is not as bad as it is made out to be by some in the DRM charts.

//Steaming ahead?
If we take Steam as a whole, we can see that it is a platform with some big issues that have certainly turned some people away from using it. But it does have a lot of things going for it. It’s very much a take it or leave it piece of software – except, of course, in the case of games like Empire: Total War, where you’ve no choice but to take it.

It’s also evolved a lot since its first release, and will continue to evolve more in the future. Whether that’s for better or worse, we can’t tell right now. But with increasingly adept alternatives in the digital distribution market, Valve will have to make some very canny choices if they want to stay ahead of the game.