How about releasing more games on GOG? Quite a lot are still missing there.
Sunsetting the Bethesda.net launcher and migrating to Steam
291–300 of 404 posts
Re: Sunsetting the Bethesda.net launcher and migrating to Steam
#292Earlier quoted context omitted.
Really simply? Because it's worth it. Nobody's "bowing to" Steam, they could sell off their own website for free, if they wanted. But Steam offers enough of a marketplace, enough tooling, and enough promotion that it's worth it to sell there. It's what I want for the Apple App store, too. Don't charge any less, just make it worth it.
Exactly. I choose to use Steam because it's good. If you have an iPhone, you don't choose the AppStore. You're stuck with it.
If I want to play a game that's only sold via Steam, I have no choice but to use Steam.
It's less bad than the App Store since game devs technically have a choice, but in effect it's often the same.
Re: Sunsetting the Bethesda.net launcher and migrating to Steam
#293Is there a technical reason why Steam is a such a force in the space? People, myself certainly included, often criticize Apple for taking 30% of developer revenue for merely existing in it's walled garden. Right or wrong, they control the ecosystem, so their ability to monopolize and heavily tax the App Store is unsurprising, they're exercising their pricing power as much as they possibly can. But how is it that on P…
Really simply? Because it's worth it. Nobody's "bowing to" Steam, they could sell off their own website for free, if they wanted. But Steam offers enough of a marketplace, enough tooling, and enough promotion that it's worth it to sell there. It's what I want for the Apple App store, too. Don't charge any less, just make it worth it.
My wording was probably dramatic there, it's just I don't think a Microsoft subsidiary would lightly take the decision to forgo 20-30% (TIL it's tiered) of their revenue to a third party when they have capabilities to handle such services internally. Building platforms is kind of Microsoft's business, so to me migrating Bethesda to Steam is their acknowledgment that a competing platform has won that space. Seemingly deservedly so beyond network effects and user lock-in.
Re: Sunsetting the Bethesda.net launcher and migrating to Steam
#294Re: Sunsetting the Bethesda.net launcher and migrating to Steam
#295Thank goodness. Bethesda's launcher was uniquely awful in a number of unpleasant ways. Slow, prone to crashes, bad user communication, not suitable for use on small monitors. The worst of the launcher apps I have used - and there are so many! I remember when it was in vogue for every game maker to build their own launcher or even full Steam clone - when EA pulled all its new games from Steam to get people to use Orig…
Yeah I for one am glad that these launchers are going by the wayside, especially the onerous DRM-"enforcing" launchers.
Re: Sunsetting the Bethesda.net launcher and migrating to Steam
#296Earlier quoted context omitted.
They don't need dark patterns, they're already making a boatload of money indeed. If the trend continues, that means more paid consultants working on open source Linux desktop libraries [1]. Win-win in my book. It actually feels good that the 30% cut Steam takes out of my purchases partly goes to improve my Linux desktop experience. Better for me as a user than if they were taking a smaller cut and focusing on Window…
For all that the Linux community tried, and god did we try, we didn't make real gaming on Linux progress until Valve started throwing developers are the projects. You can easily attribute real gaming (I love free civ as much as the next person, but it's not the same) coming to Linux Desktops.
Isn't restricting your choice pool to FOSS games a satisfying compromise for GNU/Linux gaming?
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/nonfree-games.en.html
Obviously kidding, Valve's efforts will IMO greatly expand Linux's target audience which is laudable. Seems to me that limitation was one of the main pullbacks for Linux adoption, especially in non-developer circles. Requiring dual-booting just for games on the Windows partition is not a convenient band-aid, and Stallman's solution never was one at all.
Re: Sunsetting the Bethesda.net launcher and migrating to Steam
#297Earlier quoted context omitted.
With the rise of the Epic Game Store, I think there's more competition in the launcher/store space and I bet the big publishers got better deals which removed the need for them to invest in the ongoing development and maintenance of their own stores/launchers. It can't be that cheap to maintain an app like Origin or UPlay and all the associated infrastructure, etc..
The issue with Epic is the pure lack of features (user profiles, reviews[^1], community forums) , and no Mac/Linux support. ^1: I doubt reviews are ever coming since it would mean bad games would get fewer sales; Imagine how many more sales Cyberpunk 2077 has gotten on the Epic store as no potential buyer sees the negative reviews for the game.
The other issue is Epic's buying exclusivity for certain titles on PC - even after they were announced as available on other online stores. These bribes, especially since Epic wasn't involved during development, upset a lot of folks.
Re: Sunsetting the Bethesda.net launcher and migrating to Steam
#298Is there a technical reason why Steam is a such a force in the space? People, myself certainly included, often criticize Apple for taking 30% of developer revenue for merely existing in it's walled garden. Right or wrong, they control the ecosystem, so their ability to monopolize and heavily tax the App Store is unsurprising, they're exercising their pricing power as much as they possibly can. But how is it that on P…
> Microsoft is throwing the towel and bowing to Steam's cartelish 30% I would be quite surprised to hear that Microsoft didn't cut some sort of Very Good Deal with Valve.
I was late to edit the mistake but I learned there are known tiers, so FWIW a Bethesda would at most be paying 20% (>$50M), if not less with a private deal.
Re: Sunsetting the Bethesda.net launcher and migrating to Steam
#299Earlier quoted context omitted.
A game key could be considered a non-fungible token so this already works on a blockchain. Instead of recording a game key, you record the wallet public key. If you need more privacy, you can use Zero knowledge proofs[0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-knowledge_proof
How would you prevent group of friends from sharing a wallet? Which I see as one thing to do, pool your money and buy each new game to new wallet... Then share the wallet's private key between all.
... and then one of your friends gets hit with some wallet stealing and someone transfers all of your game-license-tokens out.
Re: Sunsetting the Bethesda.net launcher and migrating to Steam
#300Earlier quoted context omitted.
Disney triggered I use Netflix and Disney. They are mostly pretty equivalent functionality with different shows. But Disney+ seems to be a faceslappingly appalling waste of large Disney franchises. Mostly I am screaming for canon watchlists. Whether it is in release order, or universe-timeline order, or "makes most sense watched this way" order. Or all of them as options. So many friggin' Marvel movies and TV shows a…
>So many friggin' Marvel movies and TV shows and yet I have to google some random page to find the order I should watch them in?!? It's definitely there for the Marvel movies. I'm watching them in release order. If you go to the Marvel screen on Disney Plus, you'll see lists for "Cinematic Universe Phase One," "Cinematic Universe Phase Two," etc. They also have one for timeline order.
I stand corrected! Will go hunting tonight. Thank you!