Steam: A Monopoly In the Making?

[iLLGT3]

Came across this on escapistmagazine.com I'm sure all of you have, at one time or another, used Steam to play or buy a game. Over the years this game client has grown into something of a Monopoly...

 

I love Steam. How could I not? Browsing Steam for games often feels like browsing a buffet full of my favorite dishes, all made especially for me and ready to eat at a moment's notice. Almost anything I could ever want is right there, and all I need to do for another spoonful of gaming goodness is click a few buttons. Of course, that's only the half of it. The most recent Steam Holiday Sale bordered on unreal. Just imagine if Steam's pricing applied to everything else: You could buy an HDTV for $50 or a McDonald's Double Cheeseburger for $0.25.

 

This absurd pricing, among other things, has made Steam hugely successful. When Steam was released in September of 2003 alongside Half-Life 2, no one was even sure if there was a market for digital distribution. Since then, Steam has come to dominate the rapidly growing digital distribution market, achieving an active user base of around 25 million. Steam is positioned to have considerable influence on the future of gaming, and at first glance the future seems bright.

 

Yet there is a niggle in the back of my mind, a suspicion growing too large to ignore: Is Steam becoming a monopoly?

 

Read more: Steam: A Monopoly In the Making - The Escapist

[Immelmann]

I love steam :)

[t.]

It is only becoming a monopoly because they got it right. If someone could offer the consumer a service that suited them better they'd try it. iTunes is the obvious example here dominating the digital music distribution world. Steam is about to venture onto the Mac OS platform as well.

 

You don't become a monopoly after this long by being crap, when they start to mess people about and impose restrictions, then it becomes bad.

[DRX051]

There are many more factors that caused Steam to turn out so successful, such as the community and the 3rd party content. If you have skill and dedication you have a chance to make a lot of money on Steam, whereas most others would turn down your work. Look at Audiosurf, Garry's Mod, World of Goo and others. These developers made something out of nothing, in fact I heard from Garry that out of his mod alone he has enough funds to retire and it has only been three years. Also other Source mods such as Synergy and D.I.P.R.I.P., though in my opinion there needs to be a lot more Source mods on Steam.