Valve to Expand Steam Store Beyond Games on September 5

[wwchris]

Mac App Store Should Change

True story.

Two years ago, before the Mac app store launched, as a software developer, I met with a rep from Apple for the app store. What I told him was, Apple should launch the "Mac App Store" on PC as well as on the Mac.

Their only requirement should be that all apps released in the store must have Mac and PC versions (or Mac only of course ;-) ). This way, you would get developers who wanted to leverage all of those iTunes accounts to sell PC software to also make Mac versions. That could go a long way to removing the perception that most software is not released for the Mac. It would also give Apple a percentage of all of those PC software sales and cement themselves as the main digital software sales avenue BEFORE Microsoft does it.

You make iTunes for Windows, why not a universal "Apple Software Store" using all the same account/credit card info?

He said, "That's a good idea, we should do that."

Oh well.

 

[iMacFarlane]

Looking forward to the next Steam Sale event. Who knows? Microsoft Office for $9.99?

 

[zzLZHzz]

This is nice, but, Steam on my 2011 MBP barely runs. Locks my whole laptop up and uses up about 50% of my i7 just idling.

Anyone else getting this issue? I've done multiple fresh installs but it just doesn't seem to click. I only have it installed for Portal 2.

even my 2010 mbp run steam fine and could still play tf2.
and my mbp is only a core 2 duo.

 

[cgk.emu]

Ive got a 2008 C2D 2GB Macbook Pro and Steam is a mess on it. Tried installing TF2 on it, locked up my whole macbook then TF2 failed to properly uninstall.

Cleaned the whole hard drive to get rid of it, wont be going back to it.

Before people say 2008 Mac? Get a new one! My C2D windows running pc runs Steam and about 30 games on it fine. Apples and Steam don't mix well imo.

You won't hear "get a new Mac" from me, but from others I'm sure. Yeah, Steam runs *far* better on Windows.

 

[omgwut]

I hope Valve knows what they're doing. I have always worried about them stretching Steam out too much -- selling apps, music, movies, etc. -- and driving it into the ground from lack of focus. I feel like games and entertainment software should remain their sole area since they have done so well for it, but we'll see...

 

[malman89]

I hope it adds Achievements to Photoshop.

/thread. I really stopped reading.

Steam is infinitely better than Apple at doing an online software store, online software updates/DLC, and cross platform support. Sure, for some people they need to work on the program in OS X, but the minority.

Steam is a name people trust for something like this. Apple still isn't. Add in amazing sales (granted, I don't think we'll see $3.99 Photoshop or anything absurd, but still significant discounts) and it's a no brainer: Steam will offer a better consumer experience.

 

[HiRez]

How much of a cut does Valve take from developers on their store, compared to Apple's 30%?

 

[bazinga!!]

This could be an amazing thing for both users and developers.
I personally trust valve more than apple when it comes to digital purchases... They have been doing it for a long time, and doing it extremely well.

Yes, Counter Strike Source works like a dream on a mac! (sarcasm)

 

[nagromme]

Call of Duty 4: $39.99 Mac App Store, $19.99 Steam
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: $14.99 Mac App Store, $9.99 Steam
Bioshock 2: $24.99 Mac App Store, $19.99 Steam

That's just 3 very quick examples, there's plenty more if you look for yourself.

Good to know—especially since I’ll probably buy at least one of those! Thanks.

But I don’t how see how competition enters in here, since the same company has chosen both prices. And in these cases, Steam already “competes" with the App Store, yet the prices still differ, so I’m not sure how having non-game apps listed on Steam is going to make them get cheaper in the App Store.

In any case, you said the App Store is "wayyy too pricey" on not just a few products, but most of them. A few +$5 examples, all of which are games (not the kinds of apps this change is about) don't demonstrate a problem of that severity. If one exists, I do want to take note, though!

 

[VPrime]

Yes, Counter Strike Source works like a dream on a mac! (sarcasm)

Works fine on mine..... But yeah I know it does have a lower FPS compared to windows.
But I bought counterstrike source before there was a mac version, so when they gave me the ability to play on mac for free I was happy.

 

[ConCat]

Yes, Counter Strike Source works like a dream on a mac! (sarcasm)

I suppose it depends on what kind of dream you're having. In all seriousness though, I agree. Valve tried to be Blizzard, but didn't quite grasp what it is that makes Blizzard so great. They use native Cocoa APIs to do their games (although they did use Qt for the diablo 3 and myst of pandaria launchers...), the result is much greater stability and performance. There's also the fact that Blizzard actually develops all their software on macs (yes, even the windows versions). For blizzard, the PC comes second, behind the Mac. Valve will never be this way.

 

[gotluck]

I suppose it depends on what kind of dream you're having. In all seriousness though, I agree. Valve tried to be Blizzard, but didn't quite grasp what it is that makes Blizzard so great. They use native Cocoa APIs to do their games (although they did use Qt for the diablo 3 and myst of pandaria launchers...), the result is much greater stability and performance. There's also the fact that Blizzard actually develops all their software on macs (yes, even the windows versions). For blizzard, the PC comes second, behind the Mac. Valve will never be this way.

Don't kid yourself, both companies prioritize windows...

This is mostly because Apple doesn't care about gaming.

'Valve tried to be Blizzard' Hah, Blizzard is owned by a large conglomerate and subject to so much garbage that it is deteriorating in my opinion, granted I still remain a fan. The fact that their titles run better on macs (as opposed to valves titles) is definitely not what makes Blizzard great. Both companies titles run better on PCs.

Valve has not sold its soul.

 

[alvindarkness]

Yes, Counter Strike Source works like a dream on a mac! (sarcasm)

A bad mac port is a bad mac port regardless of what the distribution method is. I wouldnt bother booting into windows to play The Darkness II, Portal 1/2, L4D2, RUSE, FootballManager 2012, PvZ, Batman Arkham Asylum, Fifa12, etc. As the mac ports are just fine.

But I would go into windows to play Assassins Creed 2, Assassins Creed Brotherhood, Serious Sam BFE, and quite a few others - as their mac equivalents are quite shockingly bad. Irrespective of if I bought them on steam, MAS, or elsewhere.

I think I see the vague point your making, that CS:Source being a valve product, that doesnt work well on mac - means you wouldnt trust them. I've personally not had any issues running it on mac (although its not my most played valve game), and you are probably spot on. But on the other hand, Portal 1/2, L4D1/2, TF2 that I do play often (and are also valve products), are almost flawless on mac.

I guess its much of a muchness.

But in the end, which is the better digital distribution platform? Itll all come down to opinions, but I'd rather buy something on steam than on MAS. Infact I'd pay more to buy it on steam (luckily I've never had too), as I find MAS a mess.

 

[chaosconan]

Sorry!

I'll pass.
Steam is too much like Windows when it comes to installation, registration and removal. I hate how they install the games under your users directory. What idiot at Steam thought of that!!!
I'll continue to use Steam on my macbook only for extreme games because of the huge discounts they provide twice a year and nothing else and will continue to use AppStore for applications, movies, music, TV shows and casual games. I use bootcamp to boot into windows only to play extreme games on Steam. Thats all I have installed on Windows Steam and nothing else. hihih.
I like the eco-system that the AppStore provides me for my macbook, iPad and iPhone. 

For those that think Steam will stop with just Application distribution think again. If successful they will next distribution Music, Movies, and TV shows across all platforms. That is their strategy for the future. Application distribution is the next logical step and followed up Media distributions which is to come.

I love my eco-system and don't have to spend hours if not days trying to convert, duplicate, and transfer and use different software or online services for different things. I used to do all that before and am tired of it. I want simplicity when it comes to managing my content on my macbook and my devices.

 

[mrbyu]

Steam: Where to go if you don't want Apple holding your hand or giving your password to hackers.

Easy there, Steam also had its glitches, once tons of bank account / credit card datas were acquired by hackers, haven't you heard about it?

Btw I must admit, games are sometimes significantly cheaper in Steam than in App Store. Especially the daily deals, they are killer... And for the price you get (usually) both the Mac and Windows version.

 

[Pman17]

I like where this is going. Imagine... Adobe Weekend Sale on Steam up to 75% Off. Competition could make the Mac App Store cheaper too.

 

[obsidian1200]

I wouldn't use Steam for anything other than games, in OSX or Windows. Both require Steam running in the background to play a game, so I imagine the same would be true for launching an application. In most cases, this isn't a big deal, but for video encoding, the fewer applications running, the better (usually). Plus, Steam doesn't work on multiple machines at once, unless you boot it up on one and put it in offline mode (or so I think, I only have one machine so it's a non-issue for me), so this would make sharing applications between family computers a pain, if not impossible. Unless Steam changes the way it handles copy protection on applications, which may or may not affect games, I think they'll have trouble getting people in a family or business environment to invest money into their selling platform.

Compared to the MAS, I think, speaking from a consumer POV, Steam is already at a bit of a disadvantage, even if they could provide excellent sales on the software they carry. I know some would rather spend a few dollars more to be able to install the software on their family machines, and do so without worrying about having an additional application running in the background. However, I think there are developers that would prefer Steam to the MAS for the same reasons as I described. It protects them a bit more from people sharing the same license across multiple machines, even if those machines are owned by the same person.

 

[Carlanga]

the only reason they are doing this is to try to fight off win 8...

 

[Piggie]

Just in case you think every PC owner loves steam, I'd not let it anywhere near any PC of mine. I don't want such a junk sales program constantly running on my PC than you very much.
I would never plan to buy anything through their system and hope Apple bans it and also Msoft don't allow it to run either.

The whole concept of buying imaginary software according to their rules and having to run their software to do so, is something I'd wish to avoid and try to work around for as long as I ever can and I can't believe others are such mugs to throw money into virtual software distributed in this manner.

It's like a load of arena slaves feeding baby lions that will one day be growing up large enough to kill them, or digging your own grave as they say.

 

[chaosconan]

the only reason they are doing this is to try to fight off win 8...

Right now they have to fight against amazon with its huge discounts on games and software but now with Windows 8 they have to challenge Xbox Live on Windows 8.

"The Xbox LIVE on Windows 8 releases some of the apps coming to Xbox LIVE on Windows 8, including the Video, Music, Games, and Xbox SmartGlass apps."

http://support.xbox.com/en-US/apps/windows-8/windows-8-faq#911649b20e514088bbfb32f359f33100

 

[mrxak]

I like the steam store. I don't like steam integration. I don't like Mac Steam.

Competition is a good thing, though. I just can't imagine how non-games will work with this.

 

[Sensation]

Valve is the best thing ever happened to the game sector.

Even though I see this as an unnecessary attempt, it will be interesting to see what they have in the store for us this time.

I think its one of the worst things, the app is terrible. It looks crap and is very buggy. And have a bloody epic computer.

Downloads are terrible, I have 120 meg download speed so its not my connection.

I also hate buying a retail boxed copy of a game and then having to use steam. Just let me play without opening steam, installing disk based games on Steam is also very slow. Logging in sometimes hangs or takes a while.

Plus the Steam sales cheapen the games market, people just refuse to buy games at a high price screwing over developers.

 

[VPrime]

Just in case you think every PC owner loves steam, I'd not let it anywhere near any PC of mine. I don't want such a junk sales program constantly running on my PC than you very much.
I would never plan to buy anything through their system and hope Apple bans it and also Msoft don't allow it to run either.

The whole concept of buying imaginary software according to their rules and having to run their software to do so, is something I'd wish to avoid and try to work around for as long as I ever can and I can't believe others are such mugs to throw money into virtual software distributed in this manner.

It's like a load of arena slaves feeding baby lions that will one day be growing up large enough to kill them, or digging your own grave as they say.

Physical media is just as bad.
Quite often console games with online multiplayer that don't do well get their servers shut down.. Or if some time has passed.

With steam you can run in offline mode even if the company goes away and the service dies. So you have access to your own games for ever.

Also, your statement about hoping microsoft and apple ban them is the most ignorant thing ever. Apple and microsoft can do nothing at all to ban steam....


There are some really ignorant posts in this thread.

 

[obsidian1200]

With steam you can run in offline mode even if the company goes away and the service dies. So you have access to your own games for ever.

That's assuming the file on your computer that allows your steam client to run in offline mode doesn't get corrupted at some point in time. Also, Valve has said that in the event the service ever does die, they would issue patches to remove the Steam DRM on the files so you could play the games without Steam. That's more than what we've gotten from developers that slap GFWL or Securom DRM onto their games in addition to the Steam DRM.

 

[robertosh]

Well, I think that Steam has nothing to do against Mac AppStore but it's a good solution for Windows systems.