Valve on PC Gaming

[joe]

Valve recently held a press event where they discussed the PC gaming industry, sales of both traditional media and online distribution, PC game piracy and other industry topics. Gamasutra was there to cover it, and here are some of the more interesting quotes from Gabe Newell and the folks at Valve:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gamasutra

"Is there a crisis in [PC] gaming?" asked Newell, who led the first segment of the talk. "You know, 'Piracy killed my game,' 'Console numbers are huge,' 'People don't want to play their PCs in the living room' - all these stories get written over and over again, and our view is that it's exactly the opposite. PC is where all the action is, and there's a perception problem"...

...Newell then returned to his "perception problem" angle. "We don't really have a champion of the PC platform. If you write a story about the Xbox 360, there's just an army of people who are going to descend on you to make that picture look as polished and rosy as possible. Same things for the other consoles - but there's no equivalent on the PC, and the people who are traditionally driving these messages, like Microsoft or Intel or Apple are, for various reasons, not very effective champions."

Still, Valve does not want to create the impression that it will solely take on that role for PC. "The PC does have that distributed management problem," he said, when asked about Valve's role in the platform's stewardship. "It's been doing pretty well since, you know, 1981, so we're trying to draw attention to that, and hopefully we'll hear more from the people who have traditionally provided leadership there. We're trying to do our part. We recognize we're part of this."

Make sure you check out the full write up here, some very interesting stats are given in regards to PC game sales, as well as noting that the online distribution of games is still in many ways an unknown quantity. Something that I found particularly noteworthy is the fact that among Valve's own products, retail sales still hold a slight lead over online sales, but they expect that to end in about three months time.

[CoffeeShark]

Valve has the unique position of having millions of online sales, but they don't publish the numbers, which I find anti-productive to the whole "PC gaming is dead" angle.

For instance, how many accounts are on Valve? reports are roughly 10 million. How many games have been sold to those 10 million accounts? No word from Valve. How many people are online at a given time using Steam? No word from Valve.

Valve could go a long way to kill the "PC gaming is dead", but they don't even try.

[Craig]

because they would get all of their competitors (and even some who are not at this time) that much more motivated if they released the redonculous numbers that probaby occur daily with Steam.

[CoffeeShark]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig

because they would get all of their competitors (and even some who are not at this time) that much more motivated if they released the redonculous numbers that probaby occur daily with Steam.

maybe so. but they should shut up about how they see the opposite but never back it up with numbers. A report on a huge number of gamers playing PC games online would encourage developers to code for PC as a priority instead of an afterthought.

It's asinine to claim PC gaming has a perception problem, then not back it up with numbers, just say "uh, we think it's the opposite".

[Guntizzle]

interesting read

like craig said, I think if valve and other released the online downloadable/sold games figures people would have a 2nd thought that PC Gaming is dying

[Craig]

oh I agree with you coffee, I was just saying that it sounds like valve may be becoming a bit like the steward of Gondor

[ArmadonRK]

Similar article on IGN:
IGN: Valve Steps Up, Defends PC Gaming

Honestly, I don't see why Valve is so reluctant to take on the mantle, considering the success and placement of Steam, they are the best equipped, most capable and simply obvious candidate to "save" PC gaming. All they need to do is get in the game.

I'm not holding out for Activision-Blizzard on that front.

[joe]

in that article they did give some (yet vague) stats concerning valve and steam...

Quote:

According to Gartner Group data, there are over 260 million online PC gamers, with 255 million new PCs being sold in 2007. Steam alone has 15 million connected gamers, with 1.25 million peak connected gamers, and 191% year-over-year growth; Valve was quick to point out that Steam represents just one of many online distribution systems.

[Fischig]

I think it's wise of them not to exhibit hubris.

It may seem harmless, but who knows?!

[CmdrTulkas]

Valve it seems to me forces you to choose online retail almost.

Retail, it is packaged with a bunch of games (orange box), and is more costly then just buying it from online ($20).