Steam estimated at selling to 70% of PC market
by Kyle Horner 
Nov 20th 2009 at 8:00PM
Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Opinion
So is it a good thing or a bad thing for MMO players? Our experience with purchasing games like Aion and Champions Online through the service has been positive, and so long as no complications arise via patches or other client issues we see no reason to stop utilizing the service unless better offers appear.
The only real MMO-related issue we can see is with collector's editions. Some games offer a different set of bonus material for people who opt out of the physical copy and go for the digital, but certain items like art books, mouse pads and other bric-a-brac can't be delivered through a wire... at least, not until sometime in the far flung future.
Now, as far as the Steamworks integration issue goes... Well, that's a whole other sack of fishes.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
ethereal.wolf said on 8:15PM 11-20-2009
as of right now steam is great. its convenient, has a large selection, and frequently has discounts.
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bleh said on 8:29PM 11-20-2009
I've been hard pressed to find a game that uses Steam, that doesn't crash consistently.
Just Sayin
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ConAir said on 8:32PM 11-20-2009
Actually I won't be buying anything off of Steam again.
Multiple account issues with them have soured me. I don't like having a middleman between me and my games.
Even without the screw ups on there end I have quickly grown tired of having to have steam running to play my games.
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Kevin said on 8:44PM 11-20-2009
That's not a surprise. They offer a service that is very reliable, and have a quality product.
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DrewIW said on 8:47PM 11-20-2009
It's the sales that seal the deal. Great deals quite regularly.
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feffrey said on 9:26PM 11-20-2009
Steam is the only way I buy games.
i utterly despised and hated it when it first came out, but now I really like it.
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Anticrawl said on 9:29PM 11-20-2009
Only makes sense, for the longest time Steam was an abomination but they have really really stepped their game up. It is a fantastic service and I have bought many games off it I'd otherwise not buy due to the great sales they have on them and the integrated social community. Steam =~= Xbox LIVE which is why I love it, perfectly executed services. Sony and Nintendo need to get up off their asses before they are left in the digital dust. PSN is an overly prudishly regulated abomination that charges publishers per mb of transmitted data to users from their servers (PRO TIP: If the customer isn't paying then NOONE IS PAYING) hince why the service is so damn terrible. It only works for Steam because well Valve has been around a lot longer and has the community to back that sort of a service up. Nintendo WiFi (yeah they actually have a name for their service) is simply nonexistant outside of a handful of downloadable titles.
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Venekor said on 9:40PM 11-20-2009
I only buy PC games off of Steam now because I want them all in one place but there hasn't been an mmorpg since 2004 that I wanted to buy.
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Wulfhramn said on 10:06PM 11-20-2009
I guess that makes me the exception then, I've only ever bought a single game through steam, but a couple dozen through Gamersgate and D2D.
70% is really quite surprising though, I would have guessed that they commanded a significant marketshare, but over two-thirds seems a wee bit excessive.
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Wisdomandlore said on 10:19PM 11-20-2009
I like to have a boxed copy of things. But PC games are getting harder and harder to find. Most Gamestops either have a terrible selection or have phased them out all together (3 of the 4 stores in my area have). Best Buy is the only reliable place lately, and even they don't carry some niche titles.
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Anticrawl said on 10:28PM 11-20-2009
Only one of the two Best Buy's here carry PC Titles and they put big ugly nonpealable stickers on the paper cases. Only about 1 or 2 of the 20ish gamestops in my citywide area carry PC titles and they leave ALL the boxes out in public reach so they are all dusty/torn/covered in reduced price stickers that tear up the box art. Sure the over 9000 Walmarts carry PC titles in this area, but only a handful, and most of them are stolen by the local rifraff. I've bought two "factory sealed" games from Wally World that had no disc or key in them (HINT: Most walmarts in high return/high theft areas have seals and shrinkwrapping machines in the stockroom... but you didn't hear that from me.) And don't get me started on trying to return that shit to them.
tawwwwwwwwwwwwwwm said on 1:02AM 11-21-2009
The linked article specifically mentions 70% of DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION. This article posted on massively makes it sound like from all PC sales.
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Dumac said on 4:58AM 11-21-2009
Massively, please provide more accurate information in your articles. Ive noticed quite a few articles like this that are shortened for convenience but have left out crucial bits of information.
torak said on 2:03AM 11-21-2009
Here is my problem,
I'm an American stationed overseas and if I use these download sites I get stuck having to buy a EU version.
That's a problem with MMO's that have different versions for EU / US. I don't want to buy EU versions of MMO because I'm not going to be here forever. I don't mind playing on EU servers, in fact I prefer it while I am here, but it's a problem once I leave because I basically need to re-purchase and start again.
In a lot of cases the EU versions are on average, a bit more expensive and they hardly ever have the good sales the US steam has. Sometimes you see the US on sale for a weekend 9.99 (Left4Dead for example) but I got stuck having to buy it full Euro price which after converting is a lot more expensive then the US retail (at the time) Which I didn't.
I picked up Dragon Age at the PX on post for 49.99 because on Steam it cost 49.99 euro which after conversion is like 73.00 dollars. Modern Warfare 2 is a painful 59.99 Euro or about 90 bucks! There is no way for me to change it because Steam detects your IP address.
Sooo...I can't really use unless I want a EU version and add roughly 30% to the price.
I need to wait on a box or order a box because that is my issue with all these download sites. None have an option for APO folks. Sad part is PC gaming is very popular in the military community but very few use these sites.
If you were not at the PX the instant they put out Modern Warfare 2, you simply didn't get it, and they had hundreds of copies.
Needless to say I was at work and missed so I wait or order online :(
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elspath said on 2:17AM 11-21-2009
I bought my last two pc games from steam and Aion. Other then the dislike that the games are installed in to the steam folder and we get no choice (atleast that i can find)
But in general I like steam that why if i loose CD's i don't have to worry about it. Plus collectors editions are slightly cheeper becose they dont come with all the extra stuff I dont want
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Sam said on 2:38AM 11-21-2009
I'd really like to see those MMO's made available on Impulse too. There's no good reason for a game to be only on one service (or to not be on the estimated #2 service). For that matter - why isn't Amazon selling games like this? Big games, not casual ones?
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Seffrid said on 6:58AM 11-21-2009
I think I bought a game once off Steam some years ago, and vowed not to do so again.
Most of my games are MMOs, and I either buy a boxed edition (usually from Amazon or Play.com, occasionally from my local Game (UK) store) or I buy a digital download from the game's website. The few offline games I buy I want to know I can fall back on if and when I get any internet issues, and they're useless on that basis if they can't be booted without an internet connection which as I recall Steam requires.
Steam simply adds an unnecessary complication into playing PC games, I see no purpose to me in buying games that way.
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kenngold said on 8:39AM 11-21-2009
It is funny that this came from someone at Stardock as I prefer to buy off of Impulse. But Impulse has a poor selection most of the time and often does not offer the specials and bonuses that Steam offers. But when it comes down to it, I have had problems with both Steam and D2D and never with Impulse. Now if Stardock would quit acting like a little player and step up, they will make a bigger impact on market share.
It is kind of like dress for the job you want, not the job you have.
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Budukahn said on 10:04AM 11-21-2009
I despise Steam. I really do. Ever since they introduced it way back when Counter Strike was something people played I hated the annoyingly invasive bloat ware it was/still is. It has it's good points sure, but especially when it comes to playing games offline (for example, the fiasco that was having to be connected to steam to install my physical copy of Empire: Total War) I intensely resented Valve.
Also I find the pricing is abysmal. Unless something is on offer, it almost inevitably costs more than it would to buy it and have it delivered from any quality online retailer which I find unappealing, given that I don't get a physical copy of the game.
Still, it's hard to argue with the range of choice it provides, especially since in the UK it's become next to impossible to find a quality PC Games retailer in most towns and city's. They way it seems if you go into a GAME or Gamestop, you'd think nobody owned PC's anymore.
Personally though, I really liked Stardock's model. I remember with Sins of a Solar Empire buying it and getting a physical copy mailed to me from the US while being able to download a version online while I waited. The best of both worlds in my opinion.
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Angel said on 11:18AM 11-21-2009
That number, 70%, sounds like hype to me. one must be careful wihen looking at this kind of statement. I think it would be fairly accurate to say that 70% of the computer users out there have used a computer to play a game of some kind at least once. So, that could be what the 70% means.
As far as my opinion of Steam goes... I have purchased one game from it in the last 2 or 3 years. I don't hate Steam, it just is not the place I buy games. I want me some boxes dang it. I want my games on disk. I don't want to have to download over the net when I have to reinstall. Reloading from physical media is much faster.
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