Poll: How Important is Steam to You?

[sdnnvs]

Gary Grigsby's War in the East 2 in Matrix Games: R$ 430.99. In Steam: R$ 139,99. R$ is brazilian real. Look this...
WEGO World War II: Stalingrad in Matrix Games: R$ 215,99; God of War in Steam: R$ 199,90.
Something tells me there's something wrong with that, don't you think?

[bcgames]

I don't know how to interpret this. Is this good or bad?

[EwaldvonKleist]

Polling here gibes you skewed results. All the Steamers who never heard about tgis game because it isn't on steam don't partake.

Personally I like to buy over the original devs/publishers to give them the full revenue without the steam cut.

[bcgames]

Personally I like to buy over the original devs/publishers to give them the full revenue without the steam cut.

Thanks for your support. I don't have a vote on Steam or not. I just try and design games that I would want to play and hope there are others who share my views about gaming. Our dedicated fans have always provided valuable guidance in our way forwards. It would be great to be able to do this game thing full-time...but meat and taters need to hit the plate with three-squares regularity. We're not looking to give away hard work for peanuts on the dollar...that sounds like the Steam model. Dunno.

[Saint Ruth]

Will it go on steam? Ah, I suppose the thing is, if no one buys the game, it won't end up on Steam.

[DingBat]

Advantages:
- single platform: many players dont want to use and keep track of 7 different platforms, install the platforms' respective installers, remember different passwords or remember which platform they bought their 100+ games on. that means many people will also only look for games at their favorite platform. no steam - almost unfindable.

- advertisement: by algorithms, popular and well-tagged games are recommended to other player who might be interested. for example somebody might be recommended your game because he played GG's War in the East or Hearts of Iron 4. The latter has a great audience beyond typical wargamers that would see your game as a recommendation without you paying a penny.

- special events like indie-festival (not sure whether you would be indie enough, though) or maybe something on turnbased strategy.

- easy dlc integration in the shop and mod integration via steam workshop

- community functions let you push out news easier than in a publisher's forum (i find). Reviews offer a more realistic impression to a potential customer on what the game actually delivers and might therefore be your best advertisement.


Disadvantages:

- Not sure about how much you'd give away control over your pricing.

- Community feedback can be very brutal and unproductive at times.

- i think there are some GDC videos out there explaining the pros/cons of steam in detail.

This is a good overview.

It basically boils down to wider audience vs less money. Steam obviously has a much wider audience, but you pay the Steam cut off the top, then split with Matrix.

For a game like Unity of Command 2, this is a no brainer. The wider Steam audience more than makes up for their cut. For us smaller game devs, its less clear.

[Hickis]

The issue of a Steam presence keeps coming up in the publication of our games. As far as I know, where it is published isn't our decision. I know for certain it isn't my decision. I also know I DON'T know the economic, marketing and/or technical reasons behind these decisions. I also know I'm at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to making these decisions.

But that doesn't mean us mushrooms can't collect some data...soooo...vote yer pocket book. Do you Steam?

It's understandable that the decision isn't in your hands, but gathering feedback is a smart move. Personally, I do use Steam, and I think it's worth considering what the community prefers when it comes to game distribution.

[beocz]

Hi, is there any decision if the game will be released on steam please? Thanks

[Vasquez]

Finally !!

[george420]

When Dear Leader takes the internet down, Steamers will be playing Solitaire.