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Steam, and customer satisfaction

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Target:
Seems a shame that the nation that developed the Web infrastructure cannot seem to provide access to all its residents.-barney (May 05, 2013, 08:57 PM)
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But the software publishers are selling a product that is separate to internet.

They assume that not only does everyone have access, but that it's gigabit access with unlimited downloads. 

I can understand online registration, but the rest of it is pretty presumptious, if not descriminatory.

wraith808:
But the software publishers are selling a product that is separate to internet.
-Target (May 05, 2013, 09:34 PM)
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And that's why I said it seems your problem is Activision (publisher) vs. Steam (distribution platform).  That, and the hackers that make them take such extremes.  CoD hasn't really been a single-player game for a long time.  They make their money because people play online.  And so, day zero, the game is already outdated.  That's a problem for physical sales.

Target:
And that's why I said it seems your problem is Activision (publisher) vs. Steam (distribution platform).-wraith808 (May 05, 2013, 09:44 PM)
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I got that, but I doubt the publishers could force an update through somebody elses platform.  Pretty sure that's where Steam becomes culpable (remember, steam isn't in this for love).

CoD hasn't really been a single-player game for a long time.  They make their money because people play online.  And so, day zero, the game is already outdated.  That's a problem for physical sales.
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understood, but online or offline is irrelevant here because ALL physical sales are in the same boat.  Who in their right mind would buy a product that won't work at all unless you spend 2 or 3 (or more) times your original purchase price with another provider before it will work (hmmmm, me apparently :wallbash:)

wraith808:
I got that, but I doubt the publishers could force an update through somebody elses platform.  Pretty sure that's where Steam becomes culpable (remember, steam isn't in this for love).
-Target (May 06, 2013, 12:50 AM)
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They can through the use of money- that great equalizer.  You *have* to keep our games up to date, or we won't distribute using your platform.

The Gold Master way of getting to retail sucks.  That's why I've been against physical distribution since working in commercial software.  That's the biggest offender in this.  To get to retail, the gold master was done *months* before it actually hit the shelves (at least 1, in some cases 3).  So you work during that time, and that's how you get day zero patches.  And in this age of just release it, we can patch it- the date is more important by the time it gets to retail, so much has changed that a patch just isn't enough.  That DVD on the shelves is a coaster.  It just has a couple of bootstrapper files that are relevant.  Most of them are overwritten as the whole game is downloaded over the internet. 

That's why I don't buy boxed product anymore.

40hz:
That's why I don't buy boxed product anymore.
-wraith808 (May 06, 2013, 09:49 AM)
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That's why I don't buy new games at all any more. The DRM hassle, code bugs, and that endless GPU upgrade cycle is just too annoying and expensive to be considered "fun" at this stage in my life.

These days I just wait for what I think looks good to tombstone - and hopefully appear on GoG. 8)

And if it doesn't - oh well! Life goes on. ;D

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