(I edited the link to point to the official blog post, hope you don't mind) I think in some ways, the competition will probably be good, but there are also some potential risks because of the same...
(I edited the link to point to the official blog post, hope you don't mind)
This means that like with other platforms, they can offer things that are literally too good to be true, because they don't have to worry about it actually being realistic yet. That's why I find it a bit ridiculous that the Discord blog post says things like "The remaining 10% covers our operating costs, and we’ll explore lowering it by optimizing our tech and making things more efficient."—all they've ever done is lose massive amounts of money on their primary product, why would they have it all figured out so easily on this new one that they just launched into beta? The store was supposed to be their plan to compensate for all the money they're losing on chat, now they're talking like it doesn't need to make any money either.
And then the scary part will be what happens when one of these VC-fueled game platforms runs out of their free money, and they have to shut down or get acquired by a much less "friendly" company. The impacts of that will be a lot more significant than anything that happens when it's a social media platform. Even outside of the actual users of the platform, the battle with other platforms may have involved things like Steam making changes that make their platform less feasible in order to keep competing, and those changes probably won't be easily reversed.
I don't mean to say that Steam's existing 30% cut is the right amount, it does seem very high to me. But having companies with large piles of VC start undercutting them isn't necessarily a healthy form of competition either.
i'm honestly not sure if there can be healthy competition at this point, given the relative dominance of steam over basically every other platform for game hosting. steam essentially has (and for...
I don't mean to say that Steam's existing 30% cut is the right amount, it does seem very high to me. But having companies with large piles of VC start undercutting them isn't necessarily a healthy form of competition either.
i'm honestly not sure if there can be healthy competition at this point, given the relative dominance of steam over basically every other platform for game hosting. steam essentially has (and for like a decade, has had) an informal monopoly on the industry with the exception of games put out by certain studios--and those studios have come nowhere close to offering a product that is superior to valve's at any point. the only ways i see anybody seriously challenging the status quo at this point are (a) other major studios form a unified front to challenge steam or (b) a platform like discord undercuts them severely, even if that's not sustainable--and even then i'm not really convinced either of those possibilities is going to be successful.
No, I think they're panicking because they just released their store and then Epic almost immediately released one that was better in every way. I think they're acting out of fear that their store...
No, I think they're panicking because they just released their store and then Epic almost immediately released one that was better in every way. I think they're acting out of fear that their store was already irrelevant.
It seems really risky to buy games from these platforms, because you don't really own the game. It's pretty clear that steam is here to stay, but what happens to my Discord games if discord goes...
It seems really risky to buy games from these platforms, because you don't really own the game. It's pretty clear that steam is here to stay, but what happens to my Discord games if discord goes bankrupt?
My main problem with the all the stores popping up is that it's still only Steam, GOG, Itch, and Humble that have shown Linux any love. Especially surprised by Discord. They're totally cross...
My main problem with the all the stores popping up is that it's still only Steam, GOG, Itch, and Humble that have shown Linux any love. Especially surprised by Discord. They're totally cross platform across the 3 desktop OSes and 2 mobile OSes and out of 5 platforms they're still only supporting Windows.
I might even remove GOG from the Linux-friendly list, sadly. Galaxy is still nowhere to be seen. Humble certainly deserves credit for their many Humble Bundles focusing on cross-plat though. And...
I might even remove GOG from the Linux-friendly list, sadly. Galaxy is still nowhere to be seen.
Humble certainly deserves credit for their many Humble Bundles focusing on cross-plat though. And Steam with Proton/DXVK, of course.
I've ranted about it a dozen times before, but I'll never pass up an opportunity to remind people of the time that they locked the Stardew Valley multiplayer beta behind Galaxy. So much fun...
I've ranted about it a dozen times before, but I'll never pass up an opportunity to remind people of the time that they locked the Stardew Valley multiplayer beta behind Galaxy. So much fun watching all my friends who bought it on Steam being able to play it just fine while I sat there twiddling my thumbs.
Even if they fail, they'll still force Valve to make changes for the better of the developers in order to stay competitive. So as you say it's a win-win for the developers and players. A potential...
Even if they fail, they'll still force Valve to make changes for the better of the developers in order to stay competitive. So as you say it's a win-win for the developers and players.
A potential downside is that if both Discord and Epic Games fail in this endeavor, it might dissuade any other company in future from trying to open their own store, which will make Valve's spot on the top even more secure.
The only problem I have with this is really petty...I don't like having to launch a bunch of different apps to play my games, and I really enjoy the steam ecosystem with the achievements and all that.
The only problem I have with this is really petty...I don't like having to launch a bunch of different apps to play my games, and I really enjoy the steam ecosystem with the achievements and all that.
(I edited the link to point to the official blog post, hope you don't mind)
I think in some ways, the competition will probably be good, but there are also some potential risks because of the same old tech-industry problem with venture capital. Discord and Epic have both taken massive amounts of venture capital recently: $50M/year for the last two years for Discord, and Epic Games just took $1.3 billion in October.
This means that like with other platforms, they can offer things that are literally too good to be true, because they don't have to worry about it actually being realistic yet. That's why I find it a bit ridiculous that the Discord blog post says things like "The remaining 10% covers our operating costs, and we’ll explore lowering it by optimizing our tech and making things more efficient."—all they've ever done is lose massive amounts of money on their primary product, why would they have it all figured out so easily on this new one that they just launched into beta? The store was supposed to be their plan to compensate for all the money they're losing on chat, now they're talking like it doesn't need to make any money either.
And then the scary part will be what happens when one of these VC-fueled game platforms runs out of their free money, and they have to shut down or get acquired by a much less "friendly" company. The impacts of that will be a lot more significant than anything that happens when it's a social media platform. Even outside of the actual users of the platform, the battle with other platforms may have involved things like Steam making changes that make their platform less feasible in order to keep competing, and those changes probably won't be easily reversed.
I don't mean to say that Steam's existing 30% cut is the right amount, it does seem very high to me. But having companies with large piles of VC start undercutting them isn't necessarily a healthy form of competition either.
i'm honestly not sure if there can be healthy competition at this point, given the relative dominance of steam over basically every other platform for game hosting. steam essentially has (and for like a decade, has had) an informal monopoly on the industry with the exception of games put out by certain studios--and those studios have come nowhere close to offering a product that is superior to valve's at any point. the only ways i see anybody seriously challenging the status quo at this point are (a) other major studios form a unified front to challenge steam or (b) a platform like discord undercuts them severely, even if that's not sustainable--and even then i'm not really convinced either of those possibilities is going to be successful.
Do you think Discord is trying to "Starbuck" Valve by selling games at unsustainable margins just to poison the well for competition?
No, I think they're panicking because they just released their store and then Epic almost immediately released one that was better in every way. I think they're acting out of fear that their store was already irrelevant.
The technical term for that, at least on the global scale between governments, is "dumping".
It seems really risky to buy games from these platforms, because you don't really own the game. It's pretty clear that steam is here to stay, but what happens to my Discord games if discord goes bankrupt?
My main problem with the all the stores popping up is that it's still only Steam, GOG, Itch, and Humble that have shown Linux any love. Especially surprised by Discord. They're totally cross platform across the 3 desktop OSes and 2 mobile OSes and out of 5 platforms they're still only supporting Windows.
I might even remove GOG from the Linux-friendly list, sadly. Galaxy is still nowhere to be seen.
Humble certainly deserves credit for their many Humble Bundles focusing on cross-plat though. And Steam with Proton/DXVK, of course.
I've ranted about it a dozen times before, but I'll never pass up an opportunity to remind people of the time that they locked the Stardew Valley multiplayer beta behind Galaxy. So much fun watching all my friends who bought it on Steam being able to play it just fine while I sat there twiddling my thumbs.
GOG: DRM Free!
Even if they fail, they'll still force Valve to make changes for the better of the developers in order to stay competitive. So as you say it's a win-win for the developers and players.
A potential downside is that if both Discord and Epic Games fail in this endeavor, it might dissuade any other company in future from trying to open their own store, which will make Valve's spot on the top even more secure.
The only problem I have with this is really petty...I don't like having to launch a bunch of different apps to play my games, and I really enjoy the steam ecosystem with the achievements and all that.
That and the ever-increasing size of these stores and programs cluttering up my drive space...