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Steam Sales 2015

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Re: Steam Sales 2015

#71

Post by joonoro »

zyxley wrote: post #37
aluhut wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is true but I'm (as a customer) still happy with it since I got one single game out of it that I can't stop playing and this is a feeling I had not since...college. The game is Rimworld and it's a early-access clone of prison architect. The game is far from done, the dev left for a long extended break but the game is still a endless source of joy. And I haven't even touch the mods. The sheer diversity and new id…

Calling it a clone of Prison Architect is pretty weird. There's very little shared except for the graphics style. Even the basic "click to place walls" construction system is broadly different, given that in Prison Architect you have to lay down foundations and then build on top of that.

In the past they were more similar, at least the NPC art style was. When they first started Rimworld they used a sort of Prison Architect art style for their NPCs as placeholders until they got their own art in (which they have now).

If anything, both Rimworld and PA are "clones" of Dwarf Fortress.

Re: Steam Sales 2015

#72

Post by Semaphor »

cobaltblue wrote: post #66
Semaphor wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I stopped bothering clicking "not interested", it seems to have no influence on the games. All I want is the option to block some tags from showing up in my queue at all (action, fps, multiplayer, racing and anime).

They have text somewhere explaining that clicking "not interested" just means that particular game won't show up again in your queue, and maybe on the home page too, I don't remember, but it doesn't actually affect their piss-poor recommendation system. I still click it, but considering the handful of games I haven't clicked it on yet also didn't click add to wishlist because they're the type of game I think "maybe I…

I frequent /r/GameDeals, quite some people really seem to like those dating sims.

And now that you say it, I remember that about the not interested button.

Re: Steam Sales 2015

#73

Post by Havoc »

joonoro wrote: post #9

>Indiepocalypse is cancelled, you can stop worrying now. I think I speak for quite a few people when I say thank God . I have nothing against indie games in general but the sheer volume of low-quality DayZ/Minecraft-inspired early-access survival game clones that were all broken in the same ways that were never finished by the developer have left me jaded.

>have left me jaded.

Definitely. I've simply stopped buying indie games unless they're massive hits. Way too much shovelware out there.

Re: Steam Sales 2015

#74

Post by brobinson »

alimbada wrote: post #13
joonoro wrote: post #9

>Indiepocalypse is cancelled, you can stop worrying now. I think I speak for quite a few people when I say thank God . I have nothing against indie games in general but the sheer volume of low-quality DayZ/Minecraft-inspired early-access survival game clones that were all broken in the same ways that were never finished by the developer have left me jaded.

I'm reluctant to breathe a sigh of relief yet. I've been visiting the Steam Store a lot less since they opened the floodgates to any and every game under the sun as I believe discoverability is now horribly broken and the queue and recommendations features both fail to mitigate the issue.

I want a way to filter out indie games and DLC when searching.

Re: Steam Sales 2015

#75

Post by distances »

et1337 wrote: post #64
drzaiusapelord wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine large publishers negotiate a much smaller cut.

My understanding is it's much worse with big publishers. IIRC more like 60% publisher / 40% developer.

Do note though that Valve/Steam isn't a publisher, it's just the distributor even if a major one. Quite many games still have separate developer and publisher, neither of which is Valve.

Re: Steam Sales 2015

#76

Post by beefsack »

adventured wrote: post #26
wyldfire wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "long ban"? On XBox/PS/etc?

Yeah - Why are consoles banned in China (2010): http://kotaku.com/5587577/why-are-consoles-banned-in-china China lifts the ban (2013): http://kotaku.com/china-lifts-their-console-ban-but-theres-s...

It's important to note thought that there was always a fairly significant grey market for consoles and games in China.

Some big department stores even sold major consoles and games, including Friendship Stores[1] which are state run.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendship_store

Re: Steam Sales 2015

#77

Post by JoshTriplett »

anon4 wrote: post #53
_pmf_ wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think the bottom has been reached, look at the "best of" of the Play store. That's the cess pit the PC game market will be turning into, and I have no hope that Steam's Greenlight will prevent this.

But those games have always been there. Go in your local store that carries physical copies of games and count the shovelware. Steam isn't supposed to be a curation service - there are tons of those, find a reviewer you like and follow their recommendations. Steam should be as full as possible a repository of paid games you can download.

Exactly. And if you look back 10-20 years, you could find those same games in the unsorted $2-$5 bin at electronics stores.

Re: Steam Sales 2015

#78

Post by oxide »

joonoro wrote: post #9

>Indiepocalypse is cancelled, you can stop worrying now. I think I speak for quite a few people when I say thank God . I have nothing against indie games in general but the sheer volume of low-quality DayZ/Minecraft-inspired early-access survival game clones that were all broken in the same ways that were never finished by the developer have left me jaded.

has this really slowed down at all, even since refunds were introduced?

people buying greenlight votes in bulk and selling unchanged asset packs hasn't gotten any better from what I can see, and Valve has made it clear they don't mind letting shovelware through the door as long as they get 30%.

why would it stop?

Re: Steam Sales 2015

#79

Post by boxy310 »

Cshelton wrote: post #32
threeseven37 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure how much you should count my input, but this was my first time to have seen a double-y axis chart and I'm still not sure if I was reading it correctly.

Don't worry, that's generally how most people feel, even if you've seen them many times. You have to pause and say, "...wait". I'd argue that the trends you actually see in almost all of them are misguided.

I'd say the bigger concern is spurious correlation. The two factors may very well be unrelated, or share a common cause (like drowning and ice cream prices -- they're both driven primarily by heat).

However, when talking about price and revenue it is legitimate to render them on the same chart, since revenue is a function of price. Steam in particular has proven to be a wonderful platform to demonstrate this phenomenon, as the elasticity of demand for games software is very high, and discounting even modestly generates far more revenue than you lose through the discount. Steam and the publishers benefit even more due to the low marginal cost of delivery, largely accountable to transmission costs and the marginal wear-and-tear on data servers.

Re: Steam Sales 2015

#80

Post by jamesgeck0 »

douche wrote: post #6
distances wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would myself have guessed at least 50%, but that would be just based on anecdotal experience. I've bought the occasional Humble Bundle outside of Steam, but that's the only one for several years now. The same applies for all of my friends as far as I know.

I would have thought they would have had a commanding majority as well. Occasionally I'll buy something on GoG - but it's usually an oldy-but-goody for $5 or less. Almost every single game I have gotten through Humble Bundle has just been a Steam key. I guess there's Origin, but I've only ever bought Mass Effect 3 from them. Good luck even finding PC games in a box in a retail store... EDIT: Derp, completely spaced B…

> Good luck even finding PC games in a box in a retail store...

Really? The most popular retail PC games are easy to find at a variety of stores in the south-eastern US. I've seen them at WalMart, GameStop, Best Buy, Fry's Electronics, and MicroCenter.

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