Beamer wrote on Jan 9, 2013, 11:59:

RollinThundr wrote on Jan 9, 2013, 11:18:

Beamer wrote on Jan 9, 2013, 09:52:

RollinThundr wrote on Jan 9, 2013, 08:49:

Dades wrote on Jan 9, 2013, 07:34:

StingingVelvet wrote on Jan 8, 2013, 23:35:
I'm not even sure who this is for, really. What market do they think they are appealing to? I can't think of anyone, from PC gamers to console gamers, casuals to Android indie worshipers, who isn't better served with a different product.

Helps if you try thinking about it for 10 seconds. The hardware in there could make it everything from a kickass HTPC to a living room console that has access to a massive existing library of games. The biggest barrier to the PC in the living room has been form factor and input, this combined with the ten foot interface solves both problems.

- DADES - This is a signature of my name, enjoy!

The biggest barrier is hardcore PC users generally couldn't care less if they're wired or not or on the couch or not. You're thinking of the casuals who will move on to something else as soon as the "oooh shiny" wears off.

Well, you have to consider two things:
1) Valve has captured the hardcore PC market. Captured. Exhausted, even. How is Steam supposed to grow? Nearly every game is released on Steam, and I think we all agree that Steam is probably doing more revenue than B&M at this point. So where is Steam supposed to grow? How do you grow when your market share is already monumentally larger than the next guy?
2) That casual market you think is all "oooh shiny" brings in more dollars collectively than the hardcore market. You think only PC gamers are hardcore. PC gamers spend less than console gamers. Yeah, they may spend more per user, but there are fewer users

It only makes sense that Valve, wanting to continue growing but running out of space in its own market, and seeing another fat market just sitting there, would want to reach into that market.

So hardcore PC users aren't a barrier here because they're not the market here. Hardcore PC users can keep dedicating a desk or a room to their hobby and sitting in there away from anyone else in their home. Non-hardcore (which isn't necessarily casual) want something more social and requiring less space. So long as some of those hardcore users are early adopters to create buzz they're fine.

Convincing someone like you to buy a Steambox is not their plan.

Steam is a digital storefront, what is there to "grow"? It's a god damn marketplace that has done well out of how convenient it makes it to buy PC games. Are we going to see a Origin box next? How bout a Gamer's Gate box? Some of you guys talk up Valve and Steam like they're Christ reborn. Stop it, it's ridiculous.

It's impossible to talk business with you when you fail to understand even the basic goals of a company.
"Grow" means increase revenues. Companies typically grow in a few ways:
1) Capture more of the market
2) Increase the size of the market
3) Enter a new market
4) An acquisition (that achieves one of the 3 above)

Steam can't really capture any more of the market because they're so dominant. They can really only seek to either increase the size of the market, meaning draw new people into playing the games on Steam, or enter a new market, meaning start carrying games on Steam that appeal to someone other than hardcore gamers (the type of people that tend to like their gaming most on a TV.)

So Valve is going for that route. Will it succeed? Don't know. But they need to try something, because their year over year sales are likely starting to go flat.

I also don't see how this is talking about Valve or Steam like they're Christ reborn. Nowhere in the post you quote do I compliment them or speak particularly highly. I just said they've basically exhausted how large they can grow by simply offering a PC game store that carries hardcore games.

gray wrote on Jan 9, 2013, 07:35:
This is all a stepping stone to wearables.

Creston wrote on Jan 9, 2013, 11:05:
Government logic: "Dammit, that store is selling stuff without VAT / sales tax on it! We have to get sales tax out of them, we're losing out on billions in revenue!"

SlimRam wrote on Jan 8, 2013, 23:27:
I LOVE this game and have played it extensively but I still have only completed a handful of the 'main story' quest. I can't understand how people are on they're second and third playthrough of the game???