Publishers complaining about steamworks to stardock

[The|Gunslinger]

Taken as a quote from http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010...re-of-impulse/

RPS: {about stardocks dev platform announcement} Hmm. So no “always on”. The advantages of that kind of approach do seem pretty obvious, especially given recent events. Anyway, you’ve now released some other tools, which revamp and expand your support for online multiplayer gaming specifically…

Wardell: This year publishers have been coming to us regarding Steamworks. People bellyache about it, but if you’re a game developer this is a feature set you can’t do without. Also it’s also too much to do yourself, unless you’re a really big publisher. Outside EA and a couple of other big guys, adding all this stuff in is often beyond typical capabilities: friends lists, online saves, all that stuff. With Steamworks you have to bundle Steam with it, which is a problem because Steam stuff then pops up in the game. If we were going to come up with a solution to provide a similar feature set then we couldn’t do it in the way that Steam had done it, we had to come up with something else, something more suitable for these developers who were coming to us. So we designed a technology that allows our SDK to be integrated into the developer’s own process. The way it works is that we have created the kind of features you see in Battle.net or Steamworks, except all the developer has to do is include a DLL, and we integrate our stuff in there. What this allows us to do is call up screens with one line of code, without including the distributable as Steamworks has to do. Developers will – it’s in beta right now – be able to use these features for free, as long as they include their game non-exclusively on Impulse.

[Choster]

Stardock is innovating and making consumers a part of the equation. Its what they always do and why I always buy games they publish.

[pkt-zer0]

Steam should be moving in this direction as well. Gabe pointed out at GDC that walled gardens are not the way to go, and customers want an open web client. Well, apparently publishers would like to see the same sort of openness is Steamworks. Which only makes sense when dealing with a platform like the PC.

[{Yotsuba}]

Too bad Impluse do as little as possible to secure more games for sale outside of North America. Until they do that, no matter what features they bring out to compete with Steam, it'll mean very little to those who don't live in North America.

Not that Valve have been much better recently, with a majority of the recent third party Steam Works integrated titles being restricted from sale in several regions.

Both Stardock and Valve should require worldwide availability from publishers who wish to use their feature sets (after all, in the case of Valve, aren't they always going on about how they hate regional restrictions?).

Of course, with Valve promoting the fact that they can restrict games by IP and with Stardocks' fear of selling AAA games outside of North America, the current status quo simply won't change.

[Toto pectore]

{Yotsuba} that's true what you say, but you are little bit off-topic

[mouton]

Originally Posted by pkt-zer0

Gabe pointed out at GDC that walled gardens are not the way to go

That's nice of him to say, but I bet your own personal money-making walled garden changes perspective. Allow me to quote the beloved Bobby Kotick:

"I don't know how this happened, but all my life I was the rebel flying the Millennium Falcon or the X-Wing fighter and suddenly I wake up and I'm on board the Death Star."

So, good intentions are nice but you can still become evil and not notice it if you are not careful.

[{Yotsuba}]

{Yotsuba} that's true what you say, but you are little bit off-topic

I wouldn't class as that off-topic, as the success of any system depends on its availability. What's the point of Stardock providing a "viable" alternative for publishers to use instead of SteamWorks, if such an alternative will further limit the number of customers able to use it?

At present, from a worldwide point of view, the only games likely to benefit from Stardock's alternative, is indie games. And they already reach a far wider audience by opting for the SteamWorks route.

If Stardock seriously want to offer a true competitor to SteamWorks, they have to do what Valve don't, persuade the AAA publishers using their system to sell worldwide. It's the only way to attract a large enough supporting customer base.

[damaged]

Originally Posted by {Yotsuba}

{Yotsuba} that's true what you say, but you are little bit off-topic

I wouldn't class as that off-topic, as the success of any system depends on its availability. What's the point of Stardock providing a "viable" alternative for publishers to use instead of SteamWorks, if such an alternative will further limit the number of customers able to use it?

At present, from a worldwide point of view, the only games likely to benefit from Stardock's alternative, is indie games. And they already reach a far wider audience by opting for the SteamWorks route.

If Stardock seriously want to offer a true competitor to SteamWorks, they have to do what Valve don't, persuade the AAA publishers using their system to sell worldwide. It's the only way to attract a large enough supporting customer base.

I too classify it as off-topic, don't pretend that you are not interjecting your agenda all over other people's topics, you are not fooling anybody but yourself, your constant whinging in other peoples topics shows you have no respect for other users who may not be interested in your agenda, start a topic of your own and work it out. IF Valve does not offer a game in your area, go buy it elsewhere, you can always import it, like we have to do with Japan only stuff.

On topic: Things are going to get interesting, what developer will choose which solution, while competition is good, there's always going to be some developers who choose one or the other, leaving customers' games spread out among several distributers...possibly moreso than it is now.

[Omega_X]

Complaining to Stardock about SteamWorks doesn't fix a thing. Valve would have to wait until a developer actually speaks up about SteamWorks issues in detail to them in order to fix something?

Its nice that Stardock wants to compete but I don't consider Steam "anti-consumer". Yes, Steam is dominating but only rightfully so. I don't see anyone else but a very select few giving consumers great services on top of the game that they purchase. A lot of others would rather sell you an installer and try to forget about it so that they can sell it to you again.

[Ciaos]

Sounds like BS to me. The majority of games on Steam don't use Steamworks. You can sell a game on Steam without it. Also, there are plenty of indie developer's who have Steamwork games and they're doing well. The likes of Tripwire Interactive said that without Steam, there would be no Tripwire.

So why did they say developer's were complaining? Sounds like marketing to be honest. Steamworks enabled games have to be sold on Steam, which further increases Valve's market dominance. Stardock aren't exactly going to praise their own competitors.

[{Yotsuba}]

I too classify it as off-topic

That's simply because you're not looking at the bigger picture.

So why did they say developer's were complaining?

Most likely because Stardock will refuse to sell any game that uses SteamWorks on Impulse. The same way that GamersGate and Direct2Drive will also refuse to sell such games.

[Varsity]

They aren't complaining, they love Steamworks for all the reasons Brad gives. They want alternatives so that the digital arms of their businesses aren't dependent on a single buyer.

[Toto pectore]

Originally Posted by {Yotsuba}

{Yotsuba} that's true what you say, but you are little bit off-topic

I wouldn't class as that off-topic, as the success of any system depends on its availability. What's the point of Stardock providing a "viable" alternative for publishers to use instead of SteamWorks, if such an alternative will further limit the number of customers able to use it?

At present, from a worldwide point of view, the only games likely to benefit from Stardock's alternative, is indie games. And they already reach a far wider audience by opting for the SteamWorks route.

If Stardock seriously want to offer a true competitor to SteamWorks, they have to do what Valve don't, persuade the AAA publishers using their system to sell worldwide. It's the only way to attract a large enough supporting customer base.

We are talking about Steamworks and Impulse::Reactor v2. While Steamworks reqires and depends on installed Steam client, you don't have to install Impulse client to use Impulse::Reactor. You as a customer don't have to care, where you buy the game and if some store doesn't sell it in your region - then buy it elsewhere or in retail (but if publisher use GOO as DRM you can activate the game on Impulse if you use same email).

Q: What is your expectation for Impulse::Reactor’s success?

A: The best way to answer that is to ask a game developer. If he/she has a choice between a platform that requires them to bundle a third-party game store/client and one that does not and they both provide similar functionality, it’s not that hard of a choice to make.

Q: What does Impulse get out of this?

A: More titles. To use this service, the developer has to have their title available non-exclusively on Impulse.

[The|Gunslinger]

Originally Posted by Varsity

They aren't complaining, they love Steamworks for all the reasons Brad gives. They want alternatives so that the digital arms of their businesses aren't dependent on a single buyer.

Yeah complaining was the wrong word to use, developers are aware of the monopoly situation that valve may get itself into and actively want competitors to step up their game so that they aren't eventually forced to use steamworks as it will result in drastically increased sales.

At least that's how I read it. (the second time)

[Ciaos]

Originally Posted by {Yotsuba}

So why did they say developer's were complaining?

Most likely because Stardock will refuse to sell any game that uses SteamWorks on Impulse. The same way that GamersGate and Direct2Drive will also refuse to sell such games.

You can't sell a Steamwork's game without Steam, to be precise.

Sure I like how Impulse are doing things, but they don't have a choice. They have to do things differently to Steam as if they offered the same service, they will inevitably fail to Steam.

Still doesn't change that a low number of games is Steamworks enabled. If developer's want to sell multiDD, then don't use it.