RTSNut wrote on Mar 17, 2010, 09:44:
How is Steam restrictive at all?
There aren't enough hours in the day to cover it all, but here's just a sample. Since I was referring to developers, I will address the restrictions from their perspective. One way Steam is restrictive for developers is that it forces their games to have DRM and their customers to use the Steam client even if they don't want it. Unlike digital distributors like Direct2Drive, Gamersgate, and GOG.com or retail distribution, Steam forces all games which are sold on its service or which use Steamworks to use its DRM and client software. There are no DRM-free offerings. Customers have to install and run the Steam client and login to their accounts to play all games which use Steam. So, even if a developer just wanted to use Steamworks for achievements tracking or as a multiplayer master server, its customers would still have to use the Steam client and have Steam accounts to play its game.
Another way that Steam is restrictive is that it forces developers to sell their games at a price point which Valve determines as a condition to offer the game for sale on Steam. Steam is so popular that Valve is able to get away with this with small developers who don't have the leverage to negotiate on this point because they can't afford to miss out on having Steam as a sales channel. Tank Universal is a publicly known example of a game where this happened.
This comment was edited on Mar 17, 2010, 16:27.