Valve: Keep listening to your customers, keep listening to your developers
by Ben Gilbert 
{ Nov 26th 2009 at 4:00PM } 
He was also quick to point out that, despite the cyclical claims that PC gaming is "dying," Steam has been enjoying strong digital sales for years. During his presentation in Montreal, he noted that Valve's games have doubling sales numbers (or more) when they're put on sale, with Team Fortress 2 sales having jumped by as much as 520 percent when the Sniper vs Spy update was released. With numbers like that to back up his claim, it's starting to make a lot more sense to us why developers were so happy to defend Steam last month.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
danthaman15 @ Nov 26th 2009 4:07PM
Steam knows what it's customers want and what they're willing to pay for it.
PoonDaddy @ Nov 26th 2009 4:20PM
Unless, of course, if that something they want is on the PS3. THEN they're willing to give the finger.
whylekat @ Nov 26th 2009 4:27PM
Geez dude. Stop crying about ps3. Valve has always been a PC developer mainly. Xbox is the closest thing on consoles to a PC. Deal with it.
Anyway this post is about a PC download service. Let leave the consoles out of it. It makes no sense to flame over that right now.
RKN (Steam ID: nerdydesi) @ Nov 26th 2009 5:27PM
Valves hates the PS3? Boo hoo.
Epic, ID Software, Activision/Infinity Ward, Ubisoft, etc. all hate the PC.
You have nothing to cry about.
Foetoid @ Nov 26th 2009 6:06PM
I know what Steam customers are NOT willing to pay for. The THQ complete pack when they have most of the games already. I've just been ripped off by Steam for the first time. I saw Osmos for $2.00, purchased it, looked at my steam games list to install it and found a bunch of new games. After checking my account, Steam also charged me for the THQ complete pack, which is rubbish. I already owned half the games in that pack anyway, so when i go to purchase Osmos, they charge me an extra $49.95. Thats one hella expensive Osmos..... I already had the Dawn of War games, STALKER and both Titan Quest games, so i have no need for the pack at all. I'm contacting Steam support now. What are the chances of them refunding the money and removing the games that came with the pack.
pickleman77 @ Nov 26th 2009 6:17PM
"Regardless of what some developers may say about Valve's digital distribution service, Steam, the Left 4 Dead 2 developer..."
Hmmmm......
Foetoid @ Nov 26th 2009 6:21PM
I don't get it Pickles, it sounds fine to me. You're reading it wrong. It simply mentions that steam is Valves distribution service, then goes on to talk about the Left 4 Dead 2 developer.
iHavepants {SteamPSN: Arkanti} @ Nov 26th 2009 8:30PM
@Foetoid, well maybe you shouldn't have clicked "Add to Cart" on the THQ deal, then maybe you could have also checked how much money you were being charged in the checkout.
Maybe.
Foetoid @ Nov 26th 2009 8:57PM
Maybe you didn't read what i just said. I never even LOOKED at the THQ pack, i only click on Osmos. There isn't any need to even glance at the deal when i own what i believe is already the best games in the pack and i wouldn't wanna waste money doubleing up on what i have.
whylekat @ Nov 26th 2009 10:18PM
I don't care what it is you're buying... Not looking at the Total Price before you hit the checkout button is a fool's move. You deserve what you got, fool.
whylekat @ Nov 26th 2009 10:19PM
I don't care what it is you're buying... Not looking at the Total Price before you hit the checkout button is a fools move. You deserve what you got, fool.
PoonDaddy @ Nov 27th 2009 4:05AM
Ouch... my first downvote. Point taken, sorry guys!
Darth Bradwart, The Dark Lord of the Sith [ATDF Chairman] @ Nov 26th 2009 4:07PM
Listening to customers?
Someone, send this to Infinity Ward...
Bubbameister33 (Confused by Fanboyism) @ Nov 26th 2009 4:11PM
^Ghost in the machine.
Solace @ Nov 26th 2009 4:14PM
someone send this to slant six and zipper games also for making horrible Socom games without ever listening to the community
Darth Bradwart, The Dark Lord of the Sith [ATDF Chairman] @ Nov 26th 2009 4:16PM
I think the only studios who actively listen to their communities anymore are Valve, BioWare, Bungie, id, and that's really about it.
PoonDaddy @ Nov 26th 2009 4:24PM
@Solace:
Amen brother! Slant six has wholly and completely f'd up every socom title they have ever produced! Time to put zipper back behind the controls, (of course once they're done with MAG.)
Darth Bradwart, The Dark Lord of the Sith [ATDF Chairman] @ Nov 26th 2009 5:07PM
I only bought Confrontation because it was cheaper to buy that bundle than it was to buy the headset separately. And I sold Confrontation a few months later.
Darth Bradwart, The Dark Lord of the Sith [ATDF Chairman] @ Nov 26th 2009 5:25PM
I think you need a redefining of the word 'troll'.
Often, you fit the description perfectly.
RageOverdose @ Nov 26th 2009 5:35PM
You can add Blizzard to that list.
But yes, Valve is a company intent on giving consumers what they want, except for a timely Episode 3.
maternity ward @ Nov 26th 2009 5:45PM
I had the misfortune to witness the inner workings of Infinity Ward, and I have NEVER met a group of people who operated with such an incredible sense of entitlement. It would take a lot more than an e-mail to get through to them; their success has created an environment of humongous egos and disregard for their customers.
The PC customer base in particular was a popular whipping boy: a bunch of pirates and whiners, who buy a fraction of the number of units compared to the 360.
They certainly have talent, but humility and common sense is not abundant there.
Dreaded Fear @ Nov 26th 2009 10:17PM
Bungie listens to their customers? Like when people wanted ODST to be budget priced, and wanted map packs for free? Don't give me that BS that Microsoft "forced" them. It is obvious that Bungie has more pull than any other developer.
NoNameforEvil @ Nov 27th 2009 6:27AM
Bungie doesn't seem to care about theire community at all,
have you played Halo 3 recently? They have made it so you HAVE
to buy at least one map pack to play on most playlists, and you can't
even play double EXP weekend anymore without buying ODST.
Monica Dickey @ Nov 26th 2009 4:08PM
I'm glad they said it. I just hope people listen seeing as one of the biggest releases of the year totally ignored customers and still sold well.
Uncontrol @ Nov 26th 2009 4:22PM
As someone who works in marketing at a fairly large corporation, I am constantly shocked at how hard it is for business people to understand this.
Durden @ Nov 26th 2009 4:23PM
Dear Valve,
Please give us an update on Episode 3.
Love,
Tyler Durden (a loyal customer)
Darth Bradwart, The Dark Lord of the Sith [ATDF Chairman] @ Nov 26th 2009 4:25PM
P.S. Could we get Portal 2 next year as well?
Thanks.
Orchard Pear @ Nov 26th 2009 4:29PM
P.S.S.
Please find someone around there who isn't averse to work, and learning new things, and have them learn how to program on PS3.
Thanks.
Katana Master @ Nov 26th 2009 4:31PM
Or maybe even a left 4 dead 3?
Hooch @ Nov 26th 2009 4:49PM
Tyler, maybe they would listen to you, but I highly doubt it.
You see, you don't exist outside the head of this mysterious "narrator". You can still do the deed though. Just be awesome and take over his head, it'll all end well, I promise.
I would talk about fight club with you, but you know the first rule surely.
AnkleSpankle @ Nov 26th 2009 4:32PM
It's the same as any system, it's more succesful if the user's requirements are met and kept in mind.
Valve get it right all the time, their Steam client is one of the best Digital Distribution services around for a long time (Game wise) and i've more than happily bought things from it.
GuardianLegend @ Nov 26th 2009 4:40PM
I still hate Steam because it's so hard to sell games after you've bought them and registered them with your account. I had to create a new Steam account solely for CODMW2.
Steam was supposed to make games cheaper, but in many (if not most) cases, digital games are more expensive than the boxed counterparts.
Nadril @ Nov 26th 2009 4:46PM
Reasoning? At most digital downloads are the same price as their retail counterpart (excluding any sort of sale). Most of the time you can get a game cheaper over steam if you simply pre-order it ($5 off right there) or obviously there are weekend deals constantly.
I just don't see how it is costing you extra money, unless of course you have really limited bandwidth or something.
As far as resale? No thanks. I've sold a few MMO accounts in my day but in general I think the industry would be healthier without the 3rd party trying to resell their games. After all people complain about piracy but a resale isn't going to give developers any money from that sale. I mean they could make it so that you could gift a game to someone that you had already played but I feel like the system could be cheated a bit and wouldn't be very fair to developers.
brian @ Nov 26th 2009 5:47PM
"Steam was supposed to make games cheaper, but in many (if not most) cases, digital games are more expensive than the boxed counterparts."
thats the largest load of bullshit i have ever heard.
the 5 dollars or 20 dollars (20 MAX if you are selling a game that came out that week and is a best seller) that eb games would give you for your game is no where near the savings that you make on steam sales.
also, i'm assuming you are comparing PC games to consoles games, as "selling" back PC games that almost always require a CD key is almost impossible.
GuardianLegend @ Nov 30th 2009 11:56AM
In most cases, Steam is more expensive than boxed games when boxed games are resold through Craigslist or Ebay. I sometimes make a profit from Craigslits or Ebay, in fact. Steam reduces consumer power.
shawn @ Nov 26th 2009 4:41PM
i love steam and will continue to support steam for many years to come,i love how you can get some of the old titles for like under $10,hell sometimes there are some real nice titles for $5,can't argue with that
Nadril @ Nov 26th 2009 4:41PM
Personally I think you know when a service is good enough that you actually run games that don't require steam through it anyways. Even just having the overlay function in any game I play is awesome, because most of my friends have steam and it's really easy to use the overlay to stay with the community as a whole.
So yeah, steam is awesome. I don't think anyone could argue otherwise, especially around this time of the season when they decide to make games so cheap that piracy sounds more expensive :P.
Rocks @ Nov 26th 2009 4:49PM
as someone that used to pirate games, Steam is the one thing that is keeping me from doing so anymore...
the convenience of being able to download my purchases as many times, and from any computer makes the service worth it right there.
also, being the patient person i am, i don't mind holding out on their weekend deals, and one day sales.
the only problem is that there are a few titles i'd like to get that are not available on the Steam Store.
RKN (Steam ID: nerdydesi) @ Nov 26th 2009 5:25PM
BOOM!
Katana Master @ Nov 26th 2009 5:37PM
Sure thing dewg.
Kelkoo @ Nov 27th 2009 1:43AM
Yeah, keep listening to customers... 1$ IS NOT 1 € , you hear that VALVe !?!
finnith @ Nov 26th 2009 7:54PM
I'd prefer if you spoke/typed proper English. Everyone else here does.
Billy_TaeBo_Blanks @ Nov 26th 2009 8:46PM
Hilarious. It's like Bizarro World: a company that has an iron-clad, no-exceptions "no refunds" policy - even when they give you a game as horribly broken as Arma2 - talks about how much it "listens to its customers".
Billy_TaeBo_Blanks @ Nov 26th 2009 8:48PM
Steam sucks. But you'll find no ground here. These are the people who are so lame they think Half Life 2 and its spawn are good games. So of course they bend over and lube themselves to be penetrated by Steam.
Ryan (xbl: NDRyan57 psn id: NDRyan57) @ Nov 26th 2009 8:59PM
I need to build myself a pc gaming rig so I can use steam.
CrabBattle @ Nov 27th 2009 7:14AM
KB + mouse all they way!
CaramelZappa @ Nov 27th 2009 3:37PM
Don't forget mods, custom maps, customized graphics settings and resolutions, dedicated servers, and an open platform that anyone can make a game for.
Myria @ Nov 27th 2009 9:47AM
Valve dings bell, gamers salivate.
Monopolies are bad, m'kay?
soatari @ Nov 27th 2009 12:09PM
Please explain to me how Steam and Valve could possibly be considered a monopoly? Do you even know what a monopoly is?
CaramelZappa @ Nov 27th 2009 3:40PM
Valve owning a large amount of the digital distribution space does not make them a monopoly. They are a platform holder. They are no more of a monopoly than Sony is for having the PS3 or Nintendo is for having the Wii. Valve also has to compete with Regular boxed PC games as well as other DD stores like Direct 2 Drive and Impulse. Just because they're platform is a great success does not mean it's a monopoly.