Steam Winter Sale 2016

I really look forward to the Steam Winter Sale for 2016. There are several titles I look forward to obtaining for PC. But I wonder if the industry has matured so much that Steam's business model is still the leader or a loss.

Well, others have tried to mimic steam, and steam is still thee pc gaming hub, it seems pretty clear that it's the leader and unless something of significance happens, nothing will change.

Not that, that's a complaint, the idea of using Ubisoft or EA as a main hub would be horrifying, even though steam has it's issues.

@uninspiredcup: I wish this forum had a thumbs-up option so: thumbs up!

To be fair, both Origin and Uplay have gotten a lot better. They did so by getting out of the way when you wanna play their games, but don't want to look at their interfaces. They offer options to load with a game and close as soon as said game is exiting.

They also now both offer nice discounts and free games from time to time. As much as we all love Steam, it's important to remember that without solid competition, Valve will grow fat and quality will go down.

Just look at Greenlight and Early Access and imagine if they stretched ideas like this. Terrifying.

@lucidique: Agreed. I found Origin's customer service to be excellent, less so with Steam, so if I had to pick a platform I liked better, Origin would be it (I haven't used UPLAY in years, I don't like Ubisoft games in general).

Origin is still a long way from being anywhere close to Steam in sales though.

Or features, which is really one Steams main draws, it doesn't just sell games, it's a service.

Some time ago now, when Origin arrived, the line of thought used was "Steam had a head start" making it excusable. Since that time we have had had a huge amount of community features. Steam guides, art, curators, workshop, badges, videos, video broadcasting, game sync, refunds, custom user categories, trading, badges, several improved redesigns, steam controller, steam link, steam boxes, steam OS and so on...

Aside from questionable customer service and the increasingly apparent fail of Greenlight, Steam has progressed with rapidity while Origin has remained stagnant, largely a steam clone of an earlier iteration.

The UK prices are generally inferior as well - £49.99 with £59.99+ while Steams games are almost wholly £39.99. Aside from that, it's indie support is incomparably better. Almost all of the smaller hits that grow originate from steam.

Indeed, it is one of the very few titles that contradict the huge failure of Greenlight and indicates, perhaps with some quality control and tweaking, it could be the complete opposite.

Initially, Barone considered releasing the title on Xbox Live Indie Games due to the ease of publishing on that platform, but found early on that his scope for the game shifted to be much larger than originally anticipated.^[5] Barone publicly announced the game in September 2012, using Steam's Greenlight system to gauge interest on the game.^[8][3][7] After the title was shown a great deal of support from the community, Barone began working on the title in full, engaging with Reddit and Twitter communities to discuss his progress and gain feedback on proposed additions.^[3] He was approached by Finn Brice, director of Chucklefish Games, shortly after the Greenlight period in 2013, who offered to help publish the game on release.^[5] Chucklefish took over many of the non-development activities for Barone, such as site hosting and setting up his development wiki.^[9] Barone considered the timing of Chucklefish's involvement fortunate, as Barone was hesitant about using Steam's Early Access system for development.^[9] Barone spent four years working on the project, redoing it multiple times, and was the sole developer on the game, frequently spending 10 hours or more a day working on it. He programmed it in C# using the Microsoft XNA framework, while also creating all of the game's pixel art and musical pieces.^[3][7]

Stardew Valley received positive reception from critics upon release, and was one of the highest-selling titles on Steam in the first few months of its release, eventually selling over one million copies. Barone plans to expand the game to include co-operative play and support for other platforms, among other features.

I would argue GOG is it's main competition when it comes to pc gaming, as GOG makes sure games work if they are being sold, while steam itself is largely apathetic, happily willing to let Publishers sell titles that will not work on operating systems or require extensive manpower from the user end. Aside from that, there games are none DRM, and it's own library is growing extensively beyond that of older titles.

CD Projekt, much like Valve keenly understand the pc gaming community in a way EA do not, or Microsoft for that matter, who have largely viewed (and still does it seem) pc gaming as merely an extension of console gaming.

Sales have not been good since they began with bundles around the interweb.

So Steam may be the leading digital distribution platform, but when it comes to sales they have gone to the bottom

I used to love Steam sales...before I owned everything I wanted.

It's a good problem to have.

I wish Xbox would adopt the Steam model and allow gifting games. I have friends who are too stubborn or cheap to play great indie titles and I'd love to be able to gift it to them. Shouldn't be that hard to figure out a way to send a redemption code to their inbox that's tied to their gamertag (if they're worried about resale, which is ridiculous I think).

Can´t you just buy the keys and send them it?

But ya it would be nice to have a gift option

I have used almost all of the digital platforms. Steam is good, GoG is a little better. The gog galaxy client was a huge step forward. When it comes to games that are on both I usually go with what's cheaper.

I find Uplay quite charming. I like its interface and Ubisoft often gives free games. Also you get points just playing games that you can use to unlock extras on other Ubisoft games. These are usually small things like an alternate costume or artwork but it feels like a nice extra.

My problem with Origin is that DLC aren't featured in the store for most EA games. You can only buy them in game. The problem is that they almost never get discounted. You can get Dragon Age Inquisition for like 5 dollars but then you have to give 30 more for the DLC. The Mass Effect Trilogy collection doesn't have all the DLC of the three games. You have to buy them separately at premium.

As far as the sale is concerned, I already bought the new Deus Ex, Dragon's Dogma and Dex. All games I've been wanting to play so it's good I didn't spend any money just cause something was cheap (although I was tempted to). I'm thinking about getting God Eater 2 and Metal Gear Solid 5 but I'm afraid by the time I come around to play them I'll be able to get them even cheaper. Dark Souls 3 and Dishonored 2 I would buy if the discount was a bit better.