Besides being super pumped for Borderlands at all times -- which, who can blame him? -- Gearbox president and founder Randy Pitchford has a few negative things to say about Steam, the digital download service that almost never seems to get slammed for anything.
Speaking with Maximum PC, he says Valve ought to split off of Steam. "It would be much better if Steam was its own business. There’s so much conflict of interest there that it’s horrid." He even goes so far as to say it's "really, really dangerous for the rest of the industry to allow Valve to win."
"Steam helps us as customers, but it’s also a money grab, and Valve is exploiting a lot of people in a way that’s not totally fair. Valve is taking a larger share than it should for the service its providing," Pitchford explains. "It’s exploiting a lot of small guys."
He goes on to say that the industry needs to pay attention to the way digital distribution is handled for music. "I’d rather buy it from someone whose only interest is serving me. I’m cool with it being a digital retailer, but I want that to be their only business. And then I’ll really trust them."
I suggest you all read the full interview beyond what I was able to fit in this condensed version. Pitchford makes a lot of good points, even if as consumers it can be difficult to relate to his viewpoint as a businessman.
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Contest:
10:30 PM on 10.07.2009
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But here's the deal, Valve, CDP and Stardock have so far done excellently and fairly. If you want to encourage more neutral digital distribution services for PC gamers, Mr Pitchford, I can support that as I would love more competition. But really until it actually happens don't go off spouting crap and swinging your sword at monsters that aren't there.
"It’s exploiting a lot of small guys."
Mr Pitchford, with all due respect, shut up. I'd like to introduce you to the success Tripwire has enjoyed along with Aquaria and Audiosurf.
I'm also not quite sure where he's getting that statement.
Many small developers and modders have found great success in Steam.
But those games all did not have any retail release. The profits from retail just surpass those from Steam
Profit is good, but more profit is always better. I'd rather lose 20% of my money than say, 50%. And a small company has no leverage in financial negotiations. Valve can say fuck off, we don't need your game, and small companies could get scared and give them whatever the fuck they want.
Of course this is just in theory.
I wouldn't accuse Valve of exploiting small companies without the facts to back it up, but it is not impossible. I mean, his name is just Gabe, not Saint Gabe.
Still, I'd imagine most small companies are just grateful to have their game being sold from an outlet that is as popular as Steam. They might have been making no money at all before they used it.
Who knows?
Disinterested parties that don't sell their own competing videogames—like Amazon, Direct2Drive, Apple and Google (and Sony, if they'd start acting like a hardware company, rather than selling hardware at a loss)—are the ideal distributors.
In fact, the developers themselves are the ideal, but that's an unrealistic ideal at the moment.
Here's the thing: How many of those games do you think would've even made it to retail? How many do think would've even gotten more than a single box on a shelf in a Gamestop store? Hell let's be realistic here: How about even getting A SINGLE box up there? I don't exactly see projects like Mount & Blade popping up on Wal-Mart shelves.
Furthermore it's not like putting your game on Steam means you've signed a pact with Satan, you're free to go to others and distribute this with other methods both digitally and through retail publishers. Hell Nadeo used their own work servers to distribute TrackMania United both prior & during their Steam release.
I'm not saying he's wrong about big name developers who have big project games because I can see the conflict of interest. I'm saying that when he spins it like Valve is out to crush the indie guys on Steam who otherwise would've found their games rotting in obscurity it just comes off as insulting.
Of course I could be biased because Randy Pitchford is one of the industry figures I respect the most and Gabe Newell is a big fat idiot.
But that being said, you're not at all surprised how the internet has responded, right?
However, I do take umbrage with his assertion that the "little guys" are being screwed. Is that based on what he has heard or seen? Was that information reliable? I hope that point is clarified with actual examples.
And nothing's really stopping any other publisher from creating digital service
iTunes was in the same position as Steam when it first started and there were complaints about them from the music industry as well. It took other services like Amazon, eMusic, Rhapsody, etc. providing a competitive environment to force iTunes into being more reasonable and the story with Steam won't be any different.
in other news romero is still disgusted.
http://www.destructoid.com/romero-zenimax-id-buyout-is-disgusting--137368.phtml
they created the plataform for their own games, it got popular and they opened it to other third party games.
yes, they might have a monopoly when it comes to digital distribution, but its still on steam that you find the best deals in the video game industry.
on the developer side, yes its pretty obvious that other companies wont get as much profit as they would if steam was neutral. but does anyone really expect valve to decide and start losing money so other companies can make some more?
I mean, lol...
all the devolopers can whine about is the lack of a neutral and popular digital distribution plataform.
but expecting Valve to fix that issue or whining because they cant get as much profit from Valve's creation as they want, is laughable.
As for his complaints that Valve are "taking more" than they "deserve to", it's a bloody free market mate. Talk to some other industry types and design your own content/game distribution service that can challenge Steam. No one is making you use steam.
I'm glad I play my games on a console. The one Valve hates. So screw them.
Valve is nowhere near a monopoly. As long as it makes sense to use Steam, companies will use it.
You'd figure a company that started by making HL expansions would be a little slower to criticize....
From a publisher's perspective you can look at Steam as a necessary evil much in the case if your some sort of small business on eBay. You don't want to sell on eBay because they have massive fees when after PayPal probably totals to 15-20% of the auction price but you might have no choice but to list there because you want access to the audience eBay commands.
Sure there are alternatives. You can use Cragslist, more niche auction houses, or even set up your own e-commerce store (like EA does for their digital distribution) but in the end because you want access to eBay's clientele many people end up being bent over and taken advantage of. eBay's fees are ridiculous for the service they provide but in many cases your not paying for just the service but for access to the audience they command as well.
I don't think that eBay represents a proper comparison point. The nature of auctioning is a lot different than digital video game distribution. The former deals with finite (physical) sales (for the most part), while the latter deals with something that, essentially, can be sold in a number of different ways without creating significant difficulties. For example, if I want to sell a physical game, I NEED to use the service that would provide me with the most potential customers. I only have one thing to sell. I can't put it on multiple sites simultaneously. If I have a digital product, however, there is nothing to stop me from listing it everywhere. On the consumer end, this means that I don't just want to check eBay for a certain kind of item. I'm free to check out alternatives because there ARE realistic alternatives. This creates a further incentive for producers to exploit alternative digital distribution resources, which creates further incentives for customers to seek them out, etc. etc.
This is a huge distinction, which really impacts any potential monopoly. I'd also argue that the alternatives are not as niche as you imply. DirectDrive, for example, has a pretty solid selection, and they tend to have a lot of sweet sales. I tend to think the process I laid out above has led to the growth of DD. It started as a small competitor, but why wouldn't everyone want their games listed on it? There are really no reasons to utilize all available channels.
This all ignores the fact that non-digital distribution is still available, that other device-specific digital distribution networks are available (Xbox Live!, PSN, WiiWare, iTunes, etc.), and that we are still in the early days of all of this. Valve is nowhere near the hegemonic force that Pitchford seems to be arguing.