In support of Steam
I'll admit it; I'm a Mac guy in exile. I've used Macs for many years, enjoyed their interface and OS hooks, and generally respected their designs. However, I'm also a primary Windows user and Debian fan. I use the Mac because I don't have to think about the interface, I use Windows because everything is written for windows, and I use Debian for Apt-Get. Combining these three things would be gaming nirvana.
If you're new to Debian (or other Linux Distros like Mandrake which include the functionality), Apt-Get is a way to download and install any free software you may want. If someone sends you an office document, you can type "apt-get install abiword" to read it. Need e-mail? "Apt-get install kmail". Nearly any open-source free application that you can get for Linux can be found, downloaded, and installed, with all dependencies automatically resolved, with a single line. Does kmail require KDE, which requires QT, which requires 100 other things? Don't worry; all such dependencies are automatically (and invisibly) resolved. Basically every piece of software written for the platform is available in a format that is so trivially easy to use it puts the Mac to shame. And all of this because the software is free. Right?
Or is it? Despite what most people think, the reason why you can download and install anything you like on Debian is not because it is free, but because it is software. There is nothing to physically move. Furthermore, it is completely integrated within the environment. Any software you might want is already cataloged. If any piece of software needs another piece of software, it can ask apt-get to get it for them. It is that fingertip accessibility where the power comes from. That it is free is secondary.
Modern cell phones have a similar system to apt-get, but without free software. If you want a game on a cellular phone, you go to the games menu of your phone and click "Get new game." The game is purchased, downloaded, and installed. No trip to the store required, no box, no messy shareware registrations. If the cell-phone user has a craving to play Tetris, they can satisfy that craving right then and there.
This "impulse buy" is a powerful force in sales and marketing. How can you sell a game to a person who has just one hour to play a game, if driving to the nearest game boutique and back would take up two hours? You could sell in Target and other nearby superstores, a generally successful strategy. But by selling directly in their hardware, you can reduce travel time to 0 and lower the cost of entry a lot more than by just lowering the price. How can you expand that advantage to be system-wide on Windows?
As I see it, the primary way to do this would be to have Steam gain such, if you'll excuse the expression, steam that they become a potential threat in publishing. This should be enough to rouse Microsoft into either licensing steam for Windows, or releasing their own version. Let's look at this possibility.
1. Valve should partner with OEM sellers to get Steam put on all new computers. They will have to offer one of their back titles in exchange for this, but it would be a good use of Half Life 1 or Day of Defeat. Most OEM's would jump at the opportunity to get another game on their machines for free, and judging by the amount of AOL slimeware most machines ship with they won't mind the phoning home parts of steam one bit. Valve gets a real platform from which to sell their wares directly to the consumer, the OEM manufacturers get a free selling bullet point.
2. Once on OEM machines, Valve should transition to or spin off an online retail division. This division would work with publishers for a small cut to sell to the public. Valve handles any sales problems, publishers handle technical difficulties. Ten dollars per sale should handle the technical side of things, and should leave the publishers with a lot more profit than in the traditional model. Cut the overthrow-the-publishers attitude that Steam currently embodies and promote it to publishers as a replacement for retail stores. Get more and more of them onboard as an alternative distribution method, while they remain firmly in creative and financial control.
3. Provide enough congregated content to draw players back into steam. Demos would be automagically downloaded and awaiting any player who many want to try one (with games being available to purchase, of course). Promote Steam to end users as a doorway application to a gaming world, similar to an internet browser but more fun.
4. Spin off a division to release a Mac version. Apple frequently buys up developers of promising applications, and an iStore would fit their corporate philosophy pretty well. Promote it to them, try to sell them on the idea of partnering with Steam, show them the games that have been released through Steam on the PC, and imply that a well-supported centralized location for buying games and software on the MAC would go a long way to combating the image that there aren't any games or software for the MAC.
5. With Apple about to be in your cap, it is time to go to Microsoft and attempt to get either bought or partnered. If you've played your cards right up until this point, you won't really need Microsoft's help. However, the point is to be beneficial to the platform, so contact them anyway. Point out the other computer systems that benefit from similar distribution systems, and offer them a good cut of profits... it will pay off in the long run. Imply that the technology could do wonders for the Xbox 360, or could be the perfect distribution system for the following generation of system. By this time you should have a ton of ammunition with which to sell yourself, so sell like mad.
With all of the above steps, Steam (or a steam-like application) could have a tremendous influence on the future of the OS, creating an alternative revenue stream for products which could quickly become the primary one. In other words, more games could get into the hands of consumers quickly, which should make everyone in the industry sleep a little easier.
If you're new to Debian (or other Linux Distros like Mandrake which include the functionality), Apt-Get is a way to download and install any free software you may want. If someone sends you an office document, you can type "apt-get install abiword" to read it. Need e-mail? "Apt-get install kmail". Nearly any open-source free application that you can get for Linux can be found, downloaded, and installed, with all dependencies automatically resolved, with a single line. Does kmail require KDE, which requires QT, which requires 100 other things? Don't worry; all such dependencies are automatically (and invisibly) resolved. Basically every piece of software written for the platform is available in a format that is so trivially easy to use it puts the Mac to shame. And all of this because the software is free. Right?
Or is it? Despite what most people think, the reason why you can download and install anything you like on Debian is not because it is free, but because it is software. There is nothing to physically move. Furthermore, it is completely integrated within the environment. Any software you might want is already cataloged. If any piece of software needs another piece of software, it can ask apt-get to get it for them. It is that fingertip accessibility where the power comes from. That it is free is secondary.
Modern cell phones have a similar system to apt-get, but without free software. If you want a game on a cellular phone, you go to the games menu of your phone and click "Get new game." The game is purchased, downloaded, and installed. No trip to the store required, no box, no messy shareware registrations. If the cell-phone user has a craving to play Tetris, they can satisfy that craving right then and there.
This "impulse buy" is a powerful force in sales and marketing. How can you sell a game to a person who has just one hour to play a game, if driving to the nearest game boutique and back would take up two hours? You could sell in Target and other nearby superstores, a generally successful strategy. But by selling directly in their hardware, you can reduce travel time to 0 and lower the cost of entry a lot more than by just lowering the price. How can you expand that advantage to be system-wide on Windows?
As I see it, the primary way to do this would be to have Steam gain such, if you'll excuse the expression, steam that they become a potential threat in publishing. This should be enough to rouse Microsoft into either licensing steam for Windows, or releasing their own version. Let's look at this possibility.
1. Valve should partner with OEM sellers to get Steam put on all new computers. They will have to offer one of their back titles in exchange for this, but it would be a good use of Half Life 1 or Day of Defeat. Most OEM's would jump at the opportunity to get another game on their machines for free, and judging by the amount of AOL slimeware most machines ship with they won't mind the phoning home parts of steam one bit. Valve gets a real platform from which to sell their wares directly to the consumer, the OEM manufacturers get a free selling bullet point.
2. Once on OEM machines, Valve should transition to or spin off an online retail division. This division would work with publishers for a small cut to sell to the public. Valve handles any sales problems, publishers handle technical difficulties. Ten dollars per sale should handle the technical side of things, and should leave the publishers with a lot more profit than in the traditional model. Cut the overthrow-the-publishers attitude that Steam currently embodies and promote it to publishers as a replacement for retail stores. Get more and more of them onboard as an alternative distribution method, while they remain firmly in creative and financial control.
3. Provide enough congregated content to draw players back into steam. Demos would be automagically downloaded and awaiting any player who many want to try one (with games being available to purchase, of course). Promote Steam to end users as a doorway application to a gaming world, similar to an internet browser but more fun.
4. Spin off a division to release a Mac version. Apple frequently buys up developers of promising applications, and an iStore would fit their corporate philosophy pretty well. Promote it to them, try to sell them on the idea of partnering with Steam, show them the games that have been released through Steam on the PC, and imply that a well-supported centralized location for buying games and software on the MAC would go a long way to combating the image that there aren't any games or software for the MAC.
5. With Apple about to be in your cap, it is time to go to Microsoft and attempt to get either bought or partnered. If you've played your cards right up until this point, you won't really need Microsoft's help. However, the point is to be beneficial to the platform, so contact them anyway. Point out the other computer systems that benefit from similar distribution systems, and offer them a good cut of profits... it will pay off in the long run. Imply that the technology could do wonders for the Xbox 360, or could be the perfect distribution system for the following generation of system. By this time you should have a ton of ammunition with which to sell yourself, so sell like mad.
With all of the above steps, Steam (or a steam-like application) could have a tremendous influence on the future of the OS, creating an alternative revenue stream for products which could quickly become the primary one. In other words, more games could get into the hands of consumers quickly, which should make everyone in the industry sleep a little easier.
posted by Chris at
1:38 AM
1 Comments:
The day Steam and Steam-like programs become mandatory is the day i will stop buying and playing new games. Steam's "if we at Valve press a switch you loose all software you ever bought" system is simply unacceptable.
Digital distribution can certainly be an option in the future, but not the horrible, restricted and last but not least expensive mess that Steam currently is.
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