Info Tim Sweeney calls for a Unified Digital Games Store

Jul 27, 2020
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What is he, a communist or something?
Friend of gamers all over the world. Champion of justice and equality. He deserves far more recognition than John Carmack. I hope he sues Sony and Microsoft's Xbox divison, for building walled economies that serve to enrich these corporations at significant loss to the average gamer, by depriving them of freedom of choice with exclusive titles and seeking to entrench them in their walled gardens, generation upon generation.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
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But why do you need a "games store" to act as a middle-man in the first place? Just eliminate them entirely.
 
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Good idea. He should make a blockchain library system, to prove that you paid for a game and actually have the right to download it from anywhere, even from the Dark Web, so as to use it legally and without repercussions.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
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Friend of gamers all over the world.
I know who the hell Tim Sweeney is. I've never met him in person, but I used to be a game developer in a past life too.

I'm just pointing out, that this is a case of inventing yet another "unified standard that will obsolete all previous standards", cue XKCD comic.

My comment was a reference to Soviet-style "Communism", where they had choices in their economy, a choice of one.

If there are going to be game stores, why should there only be one of them?

Why not embrace decentralization and blockchain tech., and eliminate the category of "game stores" altogether.
 

CP5670

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2004
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I don't think this will be a good thing. Competition is the only thing stopping any one store from screwing over gamers with high prices or bad DRM.
 
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VirtualLarry

No Lifer
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My first thought was 'let me guess, your store should be the one'.
Instead of a single game store, if there is going to be game stores in the near term, there should be some legislation with essentially FRAND (patent industry term) licensing to make all game stores required to have fair terms. (Edit: And to guarantee access.)
 
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GodisanAtheist

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We already have that store. It's called Steam. Already have Uplay and Origin launchers built into it. Just need GOG and Epic stores to build lite launchers for Steam and we'll be all set.

Blizzard Activision can play with themselves in the corner for all I care.

Steam has customer engagement the likes of which no other digital storefront could even dream of. There was a big uproar about Valve changing the badge for voting for games from prior steam sales to the point where they went and made a classic badge for these folks. Who the he else has a marketplace where people level up and proudly display badges and ****?!
 

quikah

Diamond Member
Apr 7, 2003
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We already have that store. It's called Steam. Already have Uplay and Origin launchers built into it. Just need GOG and Epic stores to build lite launchers for Steam and we'll be all set.

Not even close. Sweeney wants what MoviesAnywhere is. He wants to be able to buy his game on Epic Games Store, then go to Xbox, PS, Switch, phone and play it on there. It is never going to happen because the consoles make the bulk of their money from their stores.
 

Artorias

Platinum Member
Feb 8, 2014
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It will never happen.

GTA5 has been released on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S.

Why in the world would a publisher take $80 once when you can sell 7 different versions. That's A LOT of money left on the table.

How rich is it coming from the guy with the most anti-consumer gaming platform in Epic. Exclusivity on the PC platform is about the dumbest shit ever, before you say Valve they have only done it with their own games, not third party.
 

Ajay

Lifer
Jan 8, 2001
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I'm just pointing out, that this is a case of inventing yet another "unified standard that will obsolete all previous standards", cue XKCD comic.
Exactly!! Then someone will come along after him and propose another new standard that meets his/her desires.
Sweeny didn't like giving away profits to Apple and Google. Nobody forced him to list on either store - that was their choice, and then he got all sour grapey about it.
Do I think Apple charges too high a %, yes. Particularly now that it is well established. But, everyone out their is looking after their own interests, including Sweeney.
 
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But, everyone out their is looking after their own interests, including Sweeney.
He sued Apple for the greater good. He didn't want money. He's already got billions. His main objective was inciting positive change in society. He brought balance back to the Force, which was getting much disturbed by Apple's Dark side.
 

BFG10K

Lifer
Aug 14, 2000
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Friend of gamers all over the world. Champion of justice and equality. He deserves far more recognition than John Carmack. I hope he sues Sony and Microsoft's Xbox divison, for building walled economies that serve to enrich these corporations at significant loss to the average gamer, by depriving them of freedom of choice with exclusive titles and seeking to entrench them in their walled gardens, generation upon generation.
This has got to be satire/parody/sarcasm. Got to be.

Sweeney is the guy who pays $millions to lock games to his store while locking out customers from other stores.

Sweeney is the guy who datamines your PC (including info from other stores) and sends the telemetry off to the CCP conglomerate that is Tencent.

Sweeney also sued Apple because he wanted his microtransactions to bypass their cut, rules which he agreed to when signing up. Nothing to do with "caring for customers", he just doesn't want Apple touching his in-game purchases.

GOG is the only store that should remain because it's the only one where you actually own your games, unlike the rest which are nothing more than perpetual rent for a one-time fee. Steam is just as bad as the rest of them, it just somehow gets a free pass because "trading cards are cool", or something.
 
Jul 27, 2020
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Steam is just as bad as the rest of them, it just somehow gets a free pass because "trading cards are cool", or something.
Well, Gabe Newell is a good person. I have 1000+ games in my Steam library. I don't have to worry about keeping those games safely backed up in dozens of HDDs. Sweeney is working to move gaming to the next level. He is giving more cut to the developers. All the money he makes, he will find some new way to give back to the community. He is trying to build his store so the major publishers don't have any reason to run their own stores. He is reducing store fragmentation. He understands the headache of trying to maintain multiple game libraries. I have to check my Sony and Xbox game libraries because I can't remember every game I bought on them. It's a hassle during Steam/Epic Store sale season. One game. Play anywhere. That is what he wants us to have. And it's the right way. Costs the publisher nothing because the game is just digital bits and bytes that's already recouped the development costs on almost every platform it is released on. It's wrong to expect people to pay extra to be able to play their bought game on a different hardware platform. People owning multiple hardware platforms are in the minority. They are not necessarily rich. A lot of them have to buy the extra hardware to be able to play their favorite exclusives. It's like how insurance works. Not everyone is sick all of the time. So insurance companies make money which goes to make treatment affordable for the less fortunate. I know it's not perfect. But at least it works to some extent.
 

GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
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Steam is just as bad as the rest of them, it just somehow gets a free pass because "trading cards are cool", or something.

-Steam gets a pass for a few different reasons:

A) It's one of the OG digital storefronts of the modern era. Steam launched in 2003. It might surprise some people, but that's 5 years ahead of the nearly ubiquitous apple app store or Google Play store.

B) The store's founding philosophy is that "Piracy is not a price problem, it's a service problem". Steam was initially a response to some major dumpster fire industry DRM practices that at the time were driving a lot of gamers to piracy. Steam made the storefront a value add, something that honestly has not been replicated since.

C) Assloads of customer engagement. Basically "trading cards are cool". And badges. And account XP. And coins which can be used to purchase flair. And discussion boards dedicated to every single game on the platform. And user reviews. And a relatively transparent storefront. The whole thing has a sort of haphazard indie dev charm despite being a digital storefront juggernaut.

D) The sales. While modern Steam sales are OK, the early years are the stuff of legend. Not only did Steam make game acuisition easy, it also made it cheap in a way it had never been before. 20 and 30 something's don't have libraries of 1000+ games cause they're all millionaires, it's cause Steam used it's market position to make games accessible.

E) 1000+ game libraries. People have a lot invested in Steam. One day, people will be passing their Steam logins to their grandkids as a legacy. As games became more of a lifestyle thing, and as those games were predominantly on Steam, Steam became a lifestyle thing and a lot of people's ego got wrapped up in it.
 

Artorias

Platinum Member
Feb 8, 2014
2,106
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-Steam gets a pass for a few different reasons:

A) It's one of the OG digital storefronts of the modern era. Steam launched in 2003. It might surprise some people, but that's 5 years ahead of the nearly ubiquitous apple app store or Google Play store.

B) The store's founding philosophy is that "Piracy is not a price problem, it's a service problem". Steam was initially a response to some major dumpster fire industry DRM practices that at the time were driving a lot of gamers to piracy. Steam made the storefront a value add, something that honestly has not been replicated since.

C) Assloads of customer engagement. Basically "trading cards are cool". And badges. And account XP. And coins which can be used to purchase flair. And discussion boards dedicated to every single game on the platform. And user reviews. And a relatively transparent storefront. The whole thing has a sort of haphazard indie dev charm despite being a digital storefront juggernaut.

D) The sales. While modern Steam sales are OK, the early years are the stuff of legend. Not only did Steam make game acuisition easy, it also made it cheap in a way it had never been before. 20 and 30 something's don't have libraries of 1000+ games cause they're all millionaires, it's cause Steam used it's market position to make games accessible.

E) 1000+ game libraries. People have a lot invested in Steam. One day, people will be passing their Steam logins to their grandkids as a legacy. As games became more of a lifestyle thing, and as those games were predominantly on Steam, Steam became a lifestyle thing and a lot of people's ego got wrapped up in it.

Steam is the best platform out there with years of development and great customer support these days.

Regarding your last point I think we will have to wait and see as digital distribution is really still in its infancy. As we no longer physically own PC games(instead the licenses to download and play) there is a likelihood that account transfers will not be legal, perhaps at some point new accounts will have a fixed 100 year lifespan. Who knows.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,229
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Regarding your last point I think we will have to wait and see as digital distribution is really still in its infancy. As we no longer physically own PC games(instead the licenses to download and play) there is a likelihood that account transfers will not be legal, perhaps at some point new accounts will have a fixed 100 year lifespan. Who knows.
Blockchain, my friends. Hold acct. with NFT-like game licenses, pass on private keys to grandchildren, there's nothing that they could do about it.
 

CP5670

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2004
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I view Steam as close to a monopoly and something to tolerate, not admire. It had tons of issues in the early years and used to have notoriously poor customer service, and only improved because of competition. The sales and bundles were great, but third party sites like Humble Bundle quickly took that up too. It's still the only store that forces game patches on you. The only store with policies that put the customer first is GOG.
 
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VirtualLarry

No Lifer
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why does anyone need crypto? no one does (Well, except for criminals). Just eliminate it entirely
You could say the same thing about cell phones when they started out. Why would anyone need one, other than a drug dealer?

Yet, today, there are BILLIONS of people on PCS (Personal Communications Services) devices, using them entirely for legitimate purposes.

I see Crypto and block-chain much the same way. You'll come around eventually.
 

DeathReborn

Platinum Member
Oct 11, 2005
2,743
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I think just portability of our game purchases is what I want, that and the promised lower prices when we switched to digital only.

You could say the same thing about cell phones when they started out. Why would anyone need one, other than a drug dealer?

Yet, today, there are BILLIONS of people on PCS (Personal Communications Services) devices, using them entirely for legitimate purposes.

I see Crypto and block-chain much the same way. You'll come around eventually.

I was gonna say Wall Street types, but drugs were a big part of Wall Street back then so... but I disagree with you on mobile phones being "oh the drug dealers" when they first came out.