The Valve and Steam Platform Discussion Thread

[Mr. Pink]

The only big negative (positive for buyer) effect is that people with no impulse control are more likely to return their games after a big steam sale after they wake up the next day with a strong sense of disgust and self loathing at having spent another hundred dollars on videogames to add to their backlog.

I don't understand why indie devs mark their games down so low furing sales. Selling a 10 dollar game for 5 dollars isn't going to bump up sales to make up for the profit lost unless your sales double what they would have been had you just set it to something like 90%. Devaluing your product like that is never good. Humble bundle and pay-what-you-want stuff is also economic suicide (unless it was already free to begin with).

 

[Thane Solus]

HOWEVER...

On Steam Dev forums, i saw 50-50%. some have received a boost, for some nothing changed and others indeed reached 70% refunds while having a positive rating.

But, like many said here we need more than a few days to get an idea, we dont have all the info, even if Ziggurat has a very positive rating and seems like a decent game. At least a few weeks, better, a month.

 

[Thane Solus]

The only big negative (positive for buyer) effect is that people with no impulse control are more likely to return their games after a big steam sale after they wake up the next day with a strong sense of disgust and self loathing at having spent another hundred dollars on videogames to add to their backlog.

I don't understand why indie devs mark their games down so low furing sales. Selling a 10 dollar game for 5 dollars isn't going to bump up sales to make up for the profit lost unless your sales double what they would have been had you just set it to something like 90%. Devaluing your product like that is never good. Humble bundle and pay-what-you-want stuff is also economic suicide (unless it was already free to begin with).

Well, huge reduction of the price works only on Steam, and only on sale seasons, so is worth it if you do it properly, as for bundles, yes they are all pretty bad, besides Humble Bundle and maybe another one, because they sell a lot on each bundle.

Of course, the thing is to do it after 6-12 months, not in the first week...

 

[Turjan]

Maybe this will drive prices up with the net effect that devs will make the same amount of money they always did but peoples steam accounts wont be loaded with garbage they never play.

The stuff clogging up my Steam account wouldn't qualify for a refund, anyway. It's not called "bundle fodder" for nothing.

I usually have the intention to keep games that I buy directly on Steam.

 

[pippin]

Maybe this will drive prices up with the net effect that devs will make the same amount of money they always did but peoples steam accounts wont be loaded with garbage they never play.

The stuff clogging up my Steam account wouldn't qualify for a refund, anyway. It's not called "bundle fodder" for nothing.

I usually have the intention to keep games that I buy directly on Steam.

It seems you can only apply to refunds for purchases made in the Steam store. Activated keys don't count.

 

[Dexter]

 

[Bruticis]

"Devs" you mean.

 

[tuluse]

We c-can't be held responsible for the quality of our p-products

 

[Metro]

People are idling for cards then refunding the games.

 

[Telengard]

I don't understand why indie devs mark their games down so low furing sales. Selling a 10 dollar game for 5 dollars isn't going to bump up sales to make up for the profit lost unless your sales double what they would have been had you just set it to something like 90%. Devaluing your product like that is never good. Humble bundle and pay-what-you-want stuff is also economic suicide (unless it was already free to begin with).

If you know what you're doing (and believe you me, a lot of indie devs apparently don't), the benefits of having a deep sale are manifold. And it all lies in the basic issue that indies have - lack of recognition. A deep sale can land you on the front page of Steam, which is basically the best advertising currently in the industry, which will skyrocket sales and the cost outlay is laughably cheaper than a good tv spot. Second, you will (again, if you know what you are doing) have probably captured most of the people you were going to get at your high price point, so lowering will net you purchases that you wouldn't get any other way. Third, every person who plays your game is a potential influencer on others, who likely would otherwise never hear of you (because again, indie recognition issues). And finally, if you plan to stay in the industry and your game has any worth at all, every person who plays it is a potential convert to your company who is now ready to pay full price for your next game.

 

[Metro]

^ That. See, e.g., Klei. They started small (also somewhat under the thumb of EA). When they started to branch out they would sell 'early access' to their games for cheap giving you two copies for the price of one. This gets more people playing and more people talking about them. Then comes launch. Then they have normal prices for a bit, then they do the standard price slashing, bundles, etc. It all feeds future business.

If Klei said they were making a game that would take two years to make but were selling it the discount price of $10 I'd put my money down without thinking twice. They've earned the benefit of the doubt from me.

Unless it was RTwP in that case fuck 'em.

 

[Black]

http://store.steampowered.com/app/335430/

Cleve lost

 

[Jasede]

^

Is that the Quake 2 engine?

Oh hey, MMX + DLC is for sale. Was it good enough to try?

 

[4249]

Damn, Vogel has something good to say for once in a while. His comments start at 22:22.

My sales have largely been unimpacted by this change. But then, it's only been a few days since refunds went live, so there really is no way with so small a sample size to know if any low sales are due to refunds or just random chance.

Also, the dates for the Steam Summer Sale have leaked, and the sale is soon. I can promise you this will cause some people to delay purchases.

As for my refund rate, as I said, it's 6.6%. If you release a game without a demo, you should plan for this to be the lower end of the refund rate you get. And this is as it should be.

If indie devs are as ethical as they've been loudly claiming they are for the last several years, they should welcome this change with open arms. If you aren't happy with my game, I don't want your money.

 

[darthaegis]

Apparently Valve made a new game!

 

[bozia2012]

steam lags like fuck stop can't do shit stop managed to start session stop looks like you don't have to play stop

 

[darthaegis]

steam lags like fuck stop can't do shit stop managed to start session stop looks like you don't have to play stop

Yeah, last year it only took like 30 minutes for the servers to get unfucked. Now it's still kinda screwy after 1h20 lol.

 

[bozia2012]

steam lags like fuck stop can't do shit stop managed to start session stop looks like you don't have to play stop

Yeah, last year it only took like 30 minutes for the servers to get unfucked. Now it's still kinda screwy after 1h20 lol.

The whole community/profile part of steam works like shit even on normal day, but now it's ridiculous. Wanted to craft badges to level 100, but shit just doesn't work.

 

[Turjan]

Apparently Valve made a new game!

HL3 confirmed. Carpal tunnel syndrome edition.

 

[darthaegis]

Has anyone been able to get a refund on a game purchased more than 14 days ago? I am considering refunding some crap from the Winter Sale that I only played for 30 minutes.

 

[Destroid]

Has anyone been able to get a refund on a game purchased more than 14 days ago? I am considering refunding some crap from the Winter Sale that I only played for 30 minutes.

Why don't you try and let us know how it goes?

 

[darthaegis]

Why don't you try and let us know how it goes?

Yeah, tried it after posting. Tried to get a refund on Alan Wake American Nightmare (played it for like 30min and it sucked) and it just got refused

 

[Watser]

Why don't you try and let us know how it goes?

Yeah, tried it after posting. Tried to get a refund on Alan Wake American Nightmare (played it for like 30min and it sucked) and it just got refused

American Nightmare, oh boy. Don't worry, you weren't the only one getting buttfucked by this game, shit I still can't believe I actually managed to complete it

 

[Jaesun]

https://medium.com/@galyonkin/some-things-you-should-know-about-steam-5eaffcf33218

The information in this article was gathered with the help of the tool Steam Spy that I’ve developed. Steam Spy acts a bit like an automated exit poll — it queries random user profiles to then extrapolate this data and create a whole picture. This method has its limitations, but it is pretty accurate for owners’ data and usage patterns.​

An interesting article about STEAM usage per country. Like 28% of STEAM users are from USA. China 4% etc...

 

[Black]

Chinese have to get written consent to use steam from their Emperor so that shouldn't surprise anyone.