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Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

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Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#431
post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the other way around. Valve is the company where we spend a lot of money and they deserve it. The rest is companies that trick people into giving them money (battlepass! lootboxes!) and they don't deserve it. People often forget that consumers as a whole are the ones holding the power, and the sad part is that rewarding a company with a good product with your money stopped being the business model and it's now t…

I don't disagree with most of your statement, but Valve has and continues to make lots of money from loot boxes in both CS and TF2. Just want to point out that they do do stuff like that too.

They also didn't/don't put a stop to the gambling sites, scams and non-scams, done with those lootboxes.

We have an epidemic of addiction to gambling in youth, where the arrow points at lootboxes as the gateway drug..

Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#432
post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could say the same thing about AT&T, Bell Labs, etc. There’s a lot of precedent here, but most saliently, how you become a monopoly is not really relevant. They absolutely are one. But I’m being already aggressively downvoted with no counter arguments so the Gaben fanboys are here. (Defending a deca-billionaire is hard work, after all.)

> Could say the same thing about AT&T, Bell Labs, etc. No, you cannot. AT&T/Bell Labs was a monopoly - they physically controlled distribution networks that made it so you had to use them. Valve does not . There is nothing that prevents you from simply selling your game without Steam . And even if there wasn't , claims that Valve is a monopoly are factually false - there are many other storefronts that exist, and man…

I think you’re confusing

1. Being a monopoly

2. Abusing monopoly status.

Steam does control the vast share of desktop gaming. But has no influence on console (Xbox, playstation, switch) or mobile (android, ios). They are a monopoly.

But they don’t abuse their monopoly so they haven’t broken any laws.

Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#433
post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the other way around. Valve is the company where we spend a lot of money and they deserve it. The rest is companies that trick people into giving them money (battlepass! lootboxes!) and they don't deserve it. People often forget that consumers as a whole are the ones holding the power, and the sad part is that rewarding a company with a good product with your money stopped being the business model and it's now t…

I don't disagree with most of your statement, but Valve has and continues to make lots of money from loot boxes in both CS and TF2. Just want to point out that they do do stuff like that too.

CS lootboxes are the least shitty ones in the entire industry. There is 0% pay to win, if anything the skins are a disadvantage because they usually stand out.

Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#434

It sold out in less than an hour. Scalpers are at it again. Units are showing up for as much as $300 in resell-value already. What I don't get is why their shop page just gives me an "out of stock" panel, instead of the purchase button. Why won't they just let me buy and pay it, and have it ship whenever? Is having customers to regularly check for new stock (and potentially missing it) better than ... just having the…

I honestly don’t understand that world. I wanted one, I was willing to drop a hundred bucks on a controller I wanted but did not need - but they messed up the launch, they didn’t have enough supply to cover demand, so I shrugged and moved on with the my life. Who is actually out there 1) buying up these controllers to scalp them and 2) who is actually buying them at an inflated price from scalpers? Like what is the p…

Valve is "messing up" all launches in my opinion if I go by your definition. They always are out of stock pretty fast. Look at the Steam Deck. To this day you have to check every day (at least in Germany) if there is any stock now.

For the scalpers part; I know a lot of people who would pull out a stack of money for anything Valve/Steam branded. I personally needed a new controller and when I saw the release date I set multiple alarms because at some point you just know how fast they’ll be sold out.

Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't disagree with most of your statement, but Valve has and continues to make lots of money from loot boxes in both CS and TF2. Just want to point out that they do do stuff like that too.

CS lootboxes are the least shitty ones in the entire industry. There is 0% pay to win, if anything the skins are a disadvantage because they usually stand out.

I didn't say that lootboxes were pay to win and most lootboxes in games are not. That doesn't mean it's not still profiting from and enabling gambling and addiction.

Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#436
post #4

I love the readme on the gitlab page [1]. It feels so.. friendly :) > This repository contains CAD files for the external shell (surface topology) of Steam Controller and the Steam Controller Puck, under a Creative Commons license. This includes an STP model of each, an STL model of each, and an engineering drawing with critical features/keep outs for each. Feel free to use these to make your own Puck holders, Contro…

Sometimes I wonder what we did to deserve Valve and how long it can possibly last.

venture capital are the real enemies here. valve has stayed out of that game which is why they've managed to focus on delivering value to their users. as soon as venture capital gets involved, investors are now the customer and the customers are effectivly the product.

Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#437
post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes I wonder what we did to deserve Valve and how long it can possibly last.

It's just due to one person (GabeN) holding majority of the stock and choosing to run the company this way. Gabe will retire or die at some point and then anything might happen.

[deleted]

Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#438
post #4

I love the readme on the gitlab page [1]. It feels so.. friendly :) > This repository contains CAD files for the external shell (surface topology) of Steam Controller and the Steam Controller Puck, under a Creative Commons license. This includes an STP model of each, an STL model of each, and an engineering drawing with critical features/keep outs for each. Feel free to use these to make your own Puck holders, Contro…

Sometimes I wonder what we did to deserve Valve and how long it can possibly last.

> what we did to deserve Valve

Privately held company

> how long it can possibly last

Till VC's or IPO day

Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#439

It sold out in less than an hour. Scalpers are at it again. Units are showing up for as much as $300 in resell-value already. What I don't get is why their shop page just gives me an "out of stock" panel, instead of the purchase button. Why won't they just let me buy and pay it, and have it ship whenever? Is having customers to regularly check for new stock (and potentially missing it) better than ... just having the…

I honestly don’t understand that world. I wanted one, I was willing to drop a hundred bucks on a controller I wanted but did not need - but they messed up the launch, they didn’t have enough supply to cover demand, so I shrugged and moved on with the my life. Who is actually out there 1) buying up these controllers to scalp them and 2) who is actually buying them at an inflated price from scalpers? Like what is the p…

> Like what is the point, what fun is there in playing this game…

I got to ask What made you want to live this kind of life?

He said, "There ain't no rest for the wicked

Money don't grow on trees I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed There ain't nothing in this world for free

I know I can't slow down, I can't hold back Though you know, I wish I could Oh no, there ain't no rest for the wicked Until we close our eyes for good"

Cage The Elephant - "Ain't No Rest For The Wicked"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2Z0sON2UPc

Re: Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license

#440
post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like to have an honest conversation about this, but imo Valve is no better than the iOS app store: it aggressively rent seeks and has essentially destroyed the shareware model (which was the best way to discover software in the 80s-90s). It has also willingly been complicit in underage gambling via loot boxes for more than a decade now. I think Gabe Newell is a visionary for building Steam in 2003, way before Job…

> it aggressively rent seeks I don't know about the rest of your claims ("shareware was the best way to discover software" is really a personal opinion), but this is just factually false. Unlike iOS, where you cannot publish an app unless you pay the 30% cut, there is nothing that prevents you from developing and a Windows/MacOS/Linux game yourself. You can simply choose to not use Steam - but the benefits of develop…

> you are not forced to use them, which makes them non-rent-seeking by definition.

That's not how it works. Those two things aren't mutually exclusive. Plenty of businesses engage in rent seeking without having a captive (by most definitions) audience. All that's required is a very modest barrier (ex network effect, non-zero switching cost, etc) and a sufficiently large audience.

Rent seeking isn't even mutually exclusive with adding value. A business can do both simultaneously by virtue of being able to multitask. Most businesses offer more than a single product or service after all.

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