Thread 725126527

How would you go about creating a service that can rival them? Is it even possible to defeat Steam?

>>725126527 (OP)
do what epic did with giveaways but instead of them being free they're $1

The first step is to not going about a goal of "defeating" Steam.

>>725126681
*not be

>>725126527 (OP)
I feel like Timmy could actually do it if he really wanted to, using Unreal and Fortnite money.

>>725126527 (OP)
dlsite but with nuked israel so it can go global

>>725126527 (OP)
>How would you go about creating a service that can rival them? Is it even possible to defeat Steam?
Almost impossible for a variety of reasons, so if your goal is to beat Steam, the smartest play is to literally destroy Steam either through economic, legal or political means, not try and out compete it. Send banks after it, governments after it, it breaks so many economic and censorship laws.

>>725126765
Btw don't forget to vote on the GOG Dreamlist: https://www.gog.com/dreamlist/

Literally all you have to do is not actively be an asshole to your paying customers.
Nobody does this for some reason.

>>725126765
He probably could if he really planned it out and thought things through but his viewpoint, and importantly the view of the people he put in charge of the store didn't go that direction.

I really hope Gaben is mentoring his successor.

>>725127708
with the last few years of people discussing steam's future after his death, he's definitely doing that

This thread again

>>725127918
Corporations will do anything but create a good service.

>>725126527 (OP)
>How would you go about creating a service that can rival them?
i'd do the same as all other intelligent billion dollar video game corporations these days:
1. ask customers what they want.
2. ignore customers
3. have analysts tell me what went wrong
4. double down on what went wrong and make it worse
5. blame it all on customers
6. complain about steam being a monopoly on xitter at least 6 or 7 times a day
7. never do anything that could benefit the customer

>>725126765
I think the major reason why EPIC failed is because nobody trusted them to continue acting nice and keep giving out free treats when they got the monopoly from Steam
You can't really buy trust with money

>>725126527 (OP)
You would have to offer to transfer every steam game you own to your account for anyone to even think about migrating.

>>725128485
I'm sure the fact that they didn't even try was a factor.
>>725127060
2 of those titles pictured are on Steam.

gog already tried the 'if you own the game on steam you can redeem a free copy here' with gog connect and not even 10 publishers took part in it.

>>725126527 (OP)
>Step 1: Be a private company (note: many companies fail this simple task) This gives the customers peace of mind that you won't start enshittifying due to shareholder pressure.
>Step 2: Offer every single feature and service Steam has, and actively seek to innovate more. No excuses like "who even uses that". EVERYTHING.
>Step 3: Have a clause in your publisher agreement that users can add games they own on Steam to their library on your store, paid for by you. Also, shit like playtime and achievements get carried over. Again, no excuses. You personally might not care but some users do. And those users will stay on Steam if you don't cater to them. Maybe make it a one time thing on account creation so people don't just buy games on Steam and then get a second copy on your store. Or limit it to games the user already owned on Steam before they released on your store.
>Step 4: Offer something Steam doesn't, like better sales or some sort of rewards program, offline installers and no DRM like GOG, etc.
If you keep up with Step 2 and manage to outpace Steam in new features, people will eventually switch to your store and you'll overtake Steam.

>>725128485
Yeah, especially after they specifically clarified that their whole business plan is to court publishers with exclusivity deals and force customers to take it or leave it.

>>725126527 (OP)
Start properly integrating social aspects into a PC platform. Steam chat and groups fucking suck for actually finding and communicating with people you want to play with; make your platform and a flagship game show off the concept in a great way and now you've also killed of Discord, ez

>>725128971
And still they continue making changes around appeasing developers and publishers like that's the issue to their declining sales.

>>725128959
Why would Steam allow Step 3?

>>725126527 (OP)
first, I wont antagonize devs for rejecting their game just because it has anime girls in it

>>725126527 (OP)
Steam got there first, and there's no logical reason for any other digital store to exist next to it if it's just going to be the same thing.
GoG has its niche which allows its continued existance, but will never come close to competing.

>I NEED launcher and/or DRM!!!
Why?

>>725126527 (OP)
>Is it even possible to defeat Steam?
No. Even if Gaybe went to each steam users house and shit in their cereal, steamies would eat it and continue to bootlick steam/valve.

>>725126527 (OP)
basically just copy whatever Steam does and is

>>725126765
That's exactly what he did. Where do you think they got the money to give out millions of free game copies?

>>725126527 (OP)
Steam was ass at first, but then every game company started going towards DRM and the convenience of having everything in one place while also not being anti-consumer made Steam successful.

Competing is hard because Valve has built a reputation of not screwing over or lying to the consumer. There may be cases here and there but for the large part its not part of their reputation.

Competing services like Epic had good ideas with the free game thing but it was too desperate and obvious.

Whoever competes will have to be some third party like gog sortof was and not directly connected to a publisher or engine creator.

Steam also has the advantage that Newell doesn't appear to be in anyone's pocket. Though I admit I haven't well researched this, I'd be surprised to hear that Tencent or something similar has some major control over Valve. Even if they do, its not part of their reputation.

In short, be convenient to use, be trustworthy, prove that trustworthiness over time.

>>725126527 (OP)
>Built in discord equivalent
>Can play and bring over any games you own on steam
>Just fucking works

>>725129408
I don't think there's anything they could legally do to block it. At best they could ban users who do that, but not actually prevent you from offering that as a service. The only participants are you, the user, and the publishers of the user's games. Steam isn't involved.

>>725126527 (OP)
>How would you go about creating a service that can rival them?

Well the first thing you need is a time machine. Whatever company does this FIRST is going to forever be the winner.