Topevoli wrote on Jul 18, 2011, 09:54:
Its not like steam strong armed consumers into using it. They chose to use it.
Google 'Half-Life 2' or 'Counter-Strike: Source' release. I love Valve and their products (inc. Steam) as much as everyone else, but Valve were essentially the creators of the 'Digital Distribution Dick Move'.
Steam was broken and dead in the water at launch and moving Half-Life (& its mods) too it was met with revulsion from the community. They knew everyone wanted Half-Life 2 and CS:Source, so built it's entire core around Steams CDN. Everyone who bought HL2 over the service knows just how painful that initial download/unlocking process was, but they wanted Half-Life 2.
Valve have also been up to the game ever since... None of their games have any intrinsic value to them short of ensuring people keep using the Steam service.
Modern Warfare 2 starts VAC-banning people due to a bug, Valve give away 2 copies of L4D2 to everyone, with the tagline 'already got it, give them to your friends'.
Portal 2 for PS3 comes with both Steam for PS3 and a SteamPlay license for PC/Mac.
Valve tempt numerous Indies with generous distribution deals providing the games have Steamworks integration, creating a feature disconnect between the generally more popular Steam versions and the releases from other services (or sometimes even the indie's own version).
I still <3 Valve!