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Valve Announces Source 2, and It’ll Be Free

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Re: Valve Announces Source 2, and It’ll Be Free

#11

Post by cwyers »

fekberg wrote: post #5

How does Source and Steam fit together? Would it make sense to lower a potential fee for Steam exclusive games built on Source? Would it be "risky" trusting the same company with both the game engine and distribution? It's really great seeing Source 2, Unreal Engine and Unity lowering the bar for game developers to deliver their products.

In isolation, I agree with you -- this is what a competitive market looks like, Unity has forced the other engine makers to become more competitive. Competition is good.

In the broader picture... I'm not sure. I keep thinking about the video game crash of '83, and how market oversaturation crippled American video game makers for years. I wonder if the constant lowering of barriers to entry isn't hastening something similar. (Probably not nearly as bad, video gaming is a lot more mature as an industry right now, but still.)

Re: Valve Announces Source 2, and It’ll Be Free

#12

Post by WillPostForFood »

cwyers wrote: post #11
fekberg wrote: post #5

How does Source and Steam fit together? Would it make sense to lower a potential fee for Steam exclusive games built on Source? Would it be "risky" trusting the same company with both the game engine and distribution? It's really great seeing Source 2, Unreal Engine and Unity lowering the bar for game developers to deliver their products.

In isolation, I agree with you -- this is what a competitive market looks like, Unity has forced the other engine makers to become more competitive. Competition is good. In the broader picture... I'm not sure. I keep thinking about the video game crash of '83, and how market oversaturation crippled American video game makers for years. I wonder if the constant lowering of barriers to entry isn't hastening something s…

Unity deserves a lot of credit, but I do think it was Unreal 4 going to the $19 subscription w/source last year, and their drop to free (w/royalty) this year that has been driving the market.

Re: Valve Announces Source 2, and It’ll Be Free

#13

Post by chc »

Based on the context of the "free for content developers," it sounds to me like they mean it will be free for people developing add-on content for existing games, not that it will be free for people making their own games.

Re: Valve Announces Source 2, and It’ll Be Free

#14

Post by hayksaakian »

cwyers wrote: post #11
fekberg wrote: post #5

How does Source and Steam fit together? Would it make sense to lower a potential fee for Steam exclusive games built on Source? Would it be "risky" trusting the same company with both the game engine and distribution? It's really great seeing Source 2, Unreal Engine and Unity lowering the bar for game developers to deliver their products.

In isolation, I agree with you -- this is what a competitive market looks like, Unity has forced the other engine makers to become more competitive. Competition is good. In the broader picture... I'm not sure. I keep thinking about the video game crash of '83, and how market oversaturation crippled American video game makers for years. I wonder if the constant lowering of barriers to entry isn't hastening something s…

In 2015 oversaturation simply isn't a problem in any tech market.

Social media and the internet allows you to identify duds a mile away. Those who care will use it. Those who don't won't be causing a crash any time soon.

Re: Valve Announces Source 2, and It’ll Be Free

#16

Post by cwyers »

hayksaakian wrote: post #14
cwyers wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In isolation, I agree with you -- this is what a competitive market looks like, Unity has forced the other engine makers to become more competitive. Competition is good. In the broader picture... I'm not sure. I keep thinking about the video game crash of '83, and how market oversaturation crippled American video game makers for years. I wonder if the constant lowering of barriers to entry isn't hastening something s…

In 2015 oversaturation simply isn't a problem in any tech market. Social media and the internet allows you to identify duds a mile away. Those who care will use it. Those who don't won't be causing a crash any time soon.

I don't think Call of Duty is going to get wiped out or anything. Free to play phone games, though, for instance? Not saying I'm certain, but I could see it happening.

Re: Valve Announces Source 2, and It’ll Be Free

#18

Post by comex »

angersock wrote: post #9
daxelrod wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's here, as part of the HalfLife source: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/halflife

That's just the HL1 SDK--there isn't any engine source in there worth mentioning AFAIK.

Yep, I am wrong. Serves me right for repeating what I read somewhere without verifying it myself. Too bad.

Re: Valve Announces Source 2, and It’ll Be Free

#20

Post by Ambrosia »

sliverstorm wrote: post #10
fekberg wrote: post #5

How does Source and Steam fit together? Would it make sense to lower a potential fee for Steam exclusive games built on Source? Would it be "risky" trusting the same company with both the game engine and distribution? It's really great seeing Source 2, Unreal Engine and Unity lowering the bar for game developers to deliver their products.

How does Source and Steam fit together? Source is an engine, Steam is a distribution platform. I think the only truly significant interplay is: - Source games will probably behave well with the Steam Overlay and probably work in Big Picture Mode with controllers - Steam recognizes the Source libraries as a distinct element, so you only have to download the Source engine once even if you have many games that use that…

I could see it being even more integrated: play the game while it downloads (like Guild Wars back in the day)
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