Valve: MS, Yahoo, others turned down chance to build Steam

by Kyle Orland { Apr 30th 2008 at 11:30AM }

Now that Steam is running 300 games and 15 million subscribers strong, Valve's grand experiment in digital distribution seems like a no-brainer. Some of the titans of the computer industry apparently didn't see it that way, though, when given a chance to get in on the ground floor years ago.

"We went around to Yahoo, Microsoft...and anybody who seemed like a likely candidate to build something like Steam," Valve marketing veep Doug Lombardi told GamesIndustry.biz in an interview. "We went around to everybody and asked 'Are you guys doing anything like this?' And everyone was like 'That's a million miles in the future ... We can't help you." Valve, of course, proceeded to single-handedly bring the future to the present (which is now nearly five years in the past) and the rest is history.

Readers without a vested interest in Microsoft and/or Yahoo should check out the full interview, where Lombardi talks about piracy, independence, and the future of PC gaming. Anyone involved with those two companies would probably be better off visiting this handy site first.

Tags: degitial-distribution, microsoft, regrets, steam, valve, yahoo

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Haggard @ Apr 30th 2008 11:41AM

Where would I be without my Steam :D

FOXHOUND @ Apr 30th 2008 12:03PM

srsly! I had to stop myself from buying games on it after AUDIOSURF last winter, 'cause I kept finding stuff. The prices aren't too bad, nice deals here there, and it's a pretty well organized PC game matchmaking service. I almost wish Sony or Nintendo would license them to replace their current formats... since I can't stand the damn Friend Code system, and I won't even go into the annoying wait and promises of Home.

MS/Yahoo> (_8^(|) "D'oh!"

J @ Apr 30th 2008 11:44AM

"bring the future to the present (which is now nearly five years in the past) and the rest is history."

I wish I could give +Hearts to the original posts.

Obie @ Apr 30th 2008 11:45AM

Whoops! Now all the other guys are playing catch-up.

Say does Valve's Steam service charge people to use the service or downloadable content? Or just game purchases?

lord hobo @ Apr 30th 2008 11:50AM

Just for game purchases no extra charges.

Mr.ESC @ Apr 30th 2008 11:50AM

Just the game and you can play demos for free unlike the retarded xbox live service where you have to pay a membership to download demos depending if the xbox live feels like working that day.

Godmil @ Apr 30th 2008 11:53AM

Also you can redownload your games as many times as you like, which is great if you get a new system, or your harddrive crashes.

Obie @ Apr 30th 2008 11:53AM

Steam sounds awesome, they also support voice chat and achievements don't they? PLUS you get dedicated servers on the PC if I am not mistaken. Why the HELL am I paying $50 for XBL again?

embassy @ Apr 30th 2008 11:54AM

Me. ESC,

you dont have to pay to download demos or buy games/movies etc, its called an xbox live silver account.

i've been on live since the xbox 1 and i can count the number of instances live wasnt functioning properly on one hand.

try again.

Tyler Jones @ Apr 30th 2008 11:55AM

@MR. Esc: That comment is incorrect. Silver XBL (free account) memebers can download demos for free. The ONLY difference is that Gold memebers can play games vs other people online, and they get access to a bit of content earlier than silver members (by a few days usually).

Futhermore, with very few exceptions, XBL is extremely reliable.

Get your facts straight before bashing us Xbots, eh?

sicsided @ Apr 30th 2008 11:57AM

people people people!

Steam is still better. Sorry.

Obie @ Apr 30th 2008 11:57AM

But don't Silver members have to wait days or even weeks for some content?

embassy @ Apr 30th 2008 12:03PM

sicsided,

to a PC gamer? yes.

to the other millions of people who prefer consoles?

no.

Haggard @ Apr 30th 2008 12:03PM

@Tyler Jones

Yeah, but you get community pages, groups and free multiplayer in all the games on Steam - and if you have a game that isn't on steam, you can load it up and then hit shift + tab to bring up the steam interface in that game.

When I bought Gears of War for windows and set up my LIVE account, I actually couldn't beleive that I had to subscribe to a gold account to access certain features. PC gamers have had this free for decades!

Valve also release new maps and content for their games free of charge over steam. Plus you can make custom maps for all the games on there (which XBL have completely forbidden, see UT3).

Mr.ESC @ Apr 30th 2008 12:05PM

Orly?

BS, my subscription to xlive expired in April 6 and during 2 weeks I had a silver account and I couldn't download crap except for Xlive arcade games.

Xlive is a bully, you have to pay 50$ every year (In my personal case because it seems the Gold subscription pre paid cards here are a myth covered in lies) to keep the Bully away.

embassy @ Apr 30th 2008 12:11PM

haggard,

alot of those issues are just gift/curse of console gaming as compared to the open nature of PC gaming. those arent really LIVE issues.

and Mr. Esc,

since i refuse to go back anf forth with you over this:

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/features/silverage.htm

there you go.

sicsided @ Apr 30th 2008 12:12PM

embassy,

Well, I have both high and low end rig computers and consoles. Plus I usually talk to friends through Steam if they are playing games on the superio... Steam because everyone on PC basically has it. So in the end, I win. PC wins with great support which is free, and uh... Yeah. I think that's about it. Oh yeah, our additional maps are free too.

So to the other millions of console only people, SORRY

embassy @ Apr 30th 2008 12:16PM

sicsided,

well congrats to you.

nice console vs. PC flamebait attempt

i'll just stick to what i like, and you do the same.

P.S.

obie's inbox must effing hate all of us right now.

sicsided @ Apr 30th 2008 12:19PM

i wasn't trying to flamebait anyone, mainly because that is a completely different term to me in the world I live in. But I agree with you. We should all just play what we like and try to play what we hear is good out there. Hopefully shovelware will finally get canned on pc and console with a more integrated system of communication.

obie deserved it..... O_o

Mr.ESC @ Apr 30th 2008 12:25PM

A link to Bull sh*t,that's nice.

Seriously then why I couldn't download the effing Sega superstras tennis demo then? It told me it requiered a Gold subscription.

I also thought there wasn't a problem with demos if I had a silver account but news there was a problem.

This is not falmebait is just personal experience.

Noshino @ Apr 30th 2008 12:50PM

embassy,

It isn't BS, just try it yourself, Silver Accounts can only download the demos after a week or so.

Steam offers everything that XBL does...and for free...

embassy @ Apr 30th 2008 1:25PM

noshino,

i never said it was BS, steam sounds great.

will that make it miraculously work on my xbox?

nope.

Badboy1979 @ Apr 30th 2008 1:43PM

Demos are available FREE to download to Silver members. If it's a Online Multiplayer demo only (don't know if the tennis game u speak of is or not) then you probably can't download it unless you have a gold membership, which is required to play online.

Some free content is delayed by a week to Silver members, but the list of content that does that is very very small when compared to all the other free stuff.

Obie @ Apr 30th 2008 2:15PM

MY INBOX IS BLEEDING....BLEEEDING!

DangerMouse @ Apr 30th 2008 6:30PM

^ Sorry to hear that :(

DangerMouse @ Apr 30th 2008 6:30PM

^ Sorry to hear that :(

Hashbrown Hunter @ Apr 30th 2008 11:50AM

hehehehe

embassy @ Apr 30th 2008 11:50AM

guess MS was busy working on LIVE back then?

Mr.ESC @ Apr 30th 2008 11:51AM

Steam is great,you can buy games from anywhere in the world.

Obie @ Apr 30th 2008 11:58AM

True, XBL has region locks. :(

Cell @ Apr 30th 2008 12:02PM

Don't blame Valve for some games not being purchasable anywhere in the world, blame the game publishers for signing exclusive distribution deals for other countries. Because of those exclusive contracts, the only way for people to purchase games in those countries is through the exclusive local distributor. I would think that now that Steam is an established distribution platform, game companies would now have some sense and make it that in any future distribution contracts, on-line distribution is clearly excluded from such contracts so that they can offer them over Steam.

Ted @ Apr 30th 2008 12:04PM

You can't buy the same games everywhere in the world unfortunately. Assassin's Creed, Far Cry and some others aren't available in the U.K.
That's to do with the game's publishers rather than steam or valve though. Valve games are the same price and availability wherever your region is.

DangerMouse @ Apr 30th 2008 12:04PM

Some games. Ubisoft games right now is limited to the US and Canada. There's a bunch of people unhappy about that.

Mr.ESC @ Apr 30th 2008 12:08PM

Ubisoft also covers México,so yeah it pretty much covers North America.I didn't know some Ubi games weren't avalible in the U.K.

Cigol @ Apr 30th 2008 3:06PM

There are no licensing issues, it costs money to publish games on Steam and UBISOFT being rather myopic are focusing exclusively on North America.

Godmil @ Apr 30th 2008 11:52AM

Steam certainly is the future of PC games distribution... or at least it will be when Ubisoft, Atari, etc, release their games outside of the US.

PojoMofo @ Apr 30th 2008 12:00PM

agreed, when PC developers start to realize that retail PC games dont do all that well, and it is a helluva lot cheaper for them to just throw it on steam, Then things will blow up bigtime.

ballistic @ Apr 30th 2008 11:58AM

too be fair microsoft made their steam which is xbox live marketplace. they are also intent on milking people for money via windows and xbox live gold memberships. so I am happy microsoft screw that up.

yahoo? didn't seem like it was part of its business model to include it. but yeah do to their long standing feud with google this one could have help expand and produce the monies.

Geoffrey Sperl @ Apr 30th 2008 11:58AM

And then, in a decade, MS will make a last ditch attempt to buy Valve when they realize that they didn't do a proper job of forecasting coming trends.

I wonder if Ballmer will still be CEO at that point?

Ted @ Apr 30th 2008 12:02PM

We should be thankful they turned them down! I think Steam is a much better service from having been neglected initially by the big players. Microsoft would probably have wanted a subscription requirement and integration with Windows Vista, Yahoo would probably have insisted on built-in advertising and integration with its web services perhaps... (just speculating here, but it's plausible).

The end result of Valve taking the project on single handedly is that they stayed focused on one project and have perfected it first. Expansion into other sectors (movie distribution etc) can come later, now that they have nailed the basics of game effective distribution, social networking and multiplayer with steam works.

TheHuntIsOn @ Apr 30th 2008 12:03PM

Hahah, knobheads

Donald @ Apr 30th 2008 12:13PM

All this time travel talk leads to two words for Microhoo:

Epoch fail.

JakubK666 (Ninja Defence Force) @ Apr 30th 2008 12:15PM

Yeah, but Steam was perfected through trial and error.Remember how much it sucked back in 2004-2005.

sicsided @ Apr 30th 2008 12:54PM

I remember. I also remember the first time i tried to get on CS 1.3 (was it?) and being like WHAT THE FUCK

DangerMouse @ Apr 30th 2008 6:41PM

I also remember hitting F5 on counter-strike.net waiting for beta 6 of CS to come out, and having GetRight or Download Accelerator open waiting to drag 5 download links into it back on my 56k modem.

Burnt Meatloaf @ May 1st 2008 6:51AM

I remember they forced people to install it. I remember it was a background process that ran when the game didn't. I remember my dad telling me over and over how much he hated it.

The future of computing is not having control over your computer, anymore. No Steam for me, thank you.