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Forums - PC Discussion - Valve: "Microsoft rejected Steam"

shio on 30 April 2008

Microsoft and Yahoo rejected Steam, says Valve

GamesIndustry.biz has learnt that Valve approached Microsoft and Yahoo - among others - to build Steam before deciding to develop it themselves.

Speaking in an interview, Valve's VP of marketing Doug Lombardi, described how the developer tried to convince other companies to build the gaming platform but was repeatedly rejected.

"You know, we went around to Yahoo, Microsoft...and anybody who seemed like a likely candidate to build something like Steam," he explained.

"We basically had our feature list that we wanted. We wanted auto-updating, we wanted better anti-piracy, better anti-cheat, and selling the games over the wire was something we came up with later.

"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.'"

Steam now serves as a digital distribution platform selling over 300 titles and hosts a gaming community with over 15 million accounts.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/microsoft-and-yahoo-rejected-steam-says-valve

Thank you MS for rejecting Steam, because I wouldn't want your filthy paw prints in it

 



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Garcian Smith on 30 April 2008

Typical MS. The company has a history of rejecting widely-accepted (and better) third-party technology in favor of their own first-party proprietary lock-in crap. Luckily, this time it seems as though they've lost. :)



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Omac on 30 April 2008

They are already doing kinda what steam does. Auto updates and offering down loadable games. I think they want to make there own steam.

BenKenobi88 on 30 April 2008
Omac said:

They are already doing kinda what steam does. Auto updates and offering down loadable games. I think they want to make there own steam.

Except all the big companies are with Steam already, Epic, id, Ubisoft, Activision, Take Two and Rockstar, etc...

And you have to pay for Microsoft's service. Which is completely stupid.  Steam will always be 100% free.

Steam will be rolling out a very good Matchmaking service by the end of the year, and the Community features are already good as it is...there's no way Microsoft can catch up.



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BenKenobi88 on 30 April 2008
Garcian Smith said:
Typical MS. The company has a history of rejecting widely-accepted (and better) third-party technology in favor of their own first-party proprietary lock-in crap. Luckily, this time it seems as though they've lost. :)

Well to be fair, Steam was in poor shape when it started, and Microsoft very likely could have done a better job if they wanted.

Not anymore though. Steam is in good shape and FREE and you can't expect the fans to suddenly pay.



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alpha_dk on 30 April 2008

None of these responses are in relation to the article he posted.

He's saying that Valve only wrote Steam in the first place because MS didn't want to.

Good job predicting the market, MS! Once again, you were given the option to have the future market given to you on a silver platter, and you decided to create a future competitor instead.



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Million on 30 April 2008
BenKenobi88 said:
Omac said:

They are already doing kinda what steam does. Auto updates and offering down loadable games. I think they want to make there own steam.

Except all the big companies are with Steam already, Epic, id, Ubisoft, Activision, Take Two and Rockstar, etc...

And you have to pay for Microsoft's service. Which is completely stupid. Steam will always be 100% free.

Steam will be rolling out a very good Matchmaking service by the end of the year, and the Community features are already good as it is...there's no way Microsoft can catch up.

Not that I like Microsoft or anything but what's stopping Steam from becoming a premium service if it did become the standard?


BenKenobi88 on 30 April 2008
Million said:
BenKenobi88 said:
Omac said:

They are already doing kinda what steam does. Auto updates and offering down loadable games. I think they want to make there own steam.

Except all the big companies are with Steam already, Epic, id, Ubisoft, Activision, Take Two and Rockstar, etc...

And you have to pay for Microsoft's service. Which is completely stupid. Steam will always be 100% free.

Steam will be rolling out a very good Matchmaking service by the end of the year, and the Community features are already good as it is...there's no way Microsoft can catch up.

Not that I like Microsoft or anything but what's stopping Steam from becoming a premium service if it did become the standard?

A)  It basically is the standard.

B) It won't ever cost money.  If it did, the fans would fight back and pirate or make their own service, Valve would bankrupt and the world would end.



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Bet with disolitude: Left4Dead will have a higher Metacritic rating than Project Origin, 3 months after the second game's release.  (hasn't been 3 months but it looks like I won :-p )

ssj12 on 30 April 2008

Yahoo rejected the offer too. lol



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Sqrl on 30 April 2008
shio said:

Microsoft and Yahoo rejected Steam, says Valve

GamesIndustry.biz has learnt that Valve approached Microsoft and Yahoo - among others - to build Steam before deciding to develop it themselves.

Speaking in an interview, Valve's VP of marketing Doug Lombardi, described how the developer tried to convince other companies to build the gaming platform but was repeatedly rejected.

"You know, we went around to Yahoo, Microsoft...and anybody who seemed like a likely candidate to build something like Steam," he explained.

"We basically had our feature list that we wanted. We wanted auto-updating, we wanted better anti-piracy, better anti-cheat, and selling the games over the wire was something we came up with later.

"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.'"

Steam now serves as a digital distribution platform selling over 300 titles and hosts a gaming community with over 15 million accounts.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/microsoft-and-yahoo-rejected-steam-says-valve

Thank you MS for rejecting Steam, because I wouldn't want your filthy paw prints in it

 

 The highlighted part makes me cringe.  What kind of businessmen says that crap?  Thats exactly when you want to get on board this kind of idea....well in advance so you can shape the market for yourself and have a massive headstart.  God they deserve to get their asses kicked by Steam if thats what they honestly thought.

 
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