Now I Understand Why Steam Is King of PC Gaming
And why nobody can beat it.
Videogames have been the main source of my entertainment since I was a kid. At first the only devices I knew you could play games on were consoles because computers were mostly used for work.
It was in high school when I found creators like Markiplier, PewDiePie, and Jacksepticeye, and learned that PCs can run cool games that I'd never heard about before and that are not available on consoles.
However, it was when I chose to become a content creator that I got a gaming PC for streaming my games and being my workstation.
This was the best decision I could have made as a gamer.
There are a few reasons as to why I feel that way, but the main one is Steam.
At first, I saw Steam as just another gaming distributor similar to Xbox or PlayStation but for computers. I wasn't aware of the influence it has on the PC gaming market until I became one of its regular customers.
And once I began looking for other alternatives to see what they offered, I realized that none of them could compete with Steam for 7 main reasons.
Steam's game library is the biggest
The first reason I don't see myself leaving Steam anytime soon is because of the extensive game library it offers. From triple-A games to indie titles and even software.
Its library is so large that I don't need to check other platforms often.
This doesn't mean that Steam has all the games that exist.
Some titles are only available on certain consoles (like all the Nintendo games or certain PlayStation exclusives), and others are only accessible on specific platforms, like Fortnite, which requires the Epic launcher.
Nonetheless, Steam's library is big enough to make me and other gamers think twice before checking other marketplaces.
It's not just a marketplace
One of the things we have seen Steam competitors do is focus on just creating a marketplace for selling games and rely on marketing to get you to choose them instead of the competition.
This is a mistake.
Competitors do this because they fail to realize that what makes Steam as big as it is, it's not just being a marketplace – but a hub for gamers like you and me to:
- Leave detailed reviews about what you liked and disliked about a game with almost no censorship
- Build communities around the different topics, games, and franchises that we love
- Create forums to discuss ideas, share guides, and give suggestions to other players
- Personalize your profile so you can express yourself and show your personality to your friends
- Stay updated about your favorite games by reading news shared by the community
- Publish screenshots, videos, and artwork of whatever you want
- Livestream your playthrough and talk with your chat like you would on platforms like Twitch
- Create, download, and install mods created by the community and published on the Steam Workshop
Other platforms do not offer nearly as many features that allow players to express themselves and build a community around games and franchises they enjoy, like Steam does.
It is a platform where players' reviews matter
Steam's review system has to be one of its best features.
It might not sound like something special but it is more powerful than you think.
Even when most platforms have a review system, most don't offer the same freedom of expression as Steam or don't have a review system at all. Like the Epic Store, which doesn’t provide a way for players to post a review. Instead, they only show reviews from critics.
However, the reason why this feature is so important is that players can express their frustration whenever a company sells a bad game or makes changes that break their trust.
With it, players can make their opinions be heard and help future customers save their money from titles that failed to deliver or that turned for the worst.
And since Steam is the largest marketplace for PC games, companies have no choice but to listen and fix their problems, or they risk losing a huge market.
It doesn't always happen, but it does most of the time.
An example of this was the whole situation that happened with Helldivers II, a game developed by Arrowhead Game Studios.
This game sold extremely well and players loved it.
Then SONY (its publisher) made the decision to demand players to create a PlayStation account to keep playing and thanks to this, the optimism for the game dropped harder than your mood after realizing it's Sunday and you have to go see your boss again tomorrow.
Yeah, that bad.
As a result, the players review-bombed the game on Steam and expressed how betrayed they felt by this decision.
SONY eventually removed this requirement but the damage was already done and this whole ordeal pretty much killed the momentum the game had.
Arrowhead didn't give up on their game though.
Instead, they worked on improving the Helldivers II and addressed many of the complaints players had and were able to regain the trust of most of their players and the current reviews reflect this.
The customer matters the most, not shareholders
Steam is a private company.
This means that they don't have any shareholders or investors they have to please with constant growth targets to make them more money. Instead, they put all their focus on one thing only:
To make their customers happy.
Because of this, they have the freedom to work on long-term goals and make decisions that players or their customers would enjoy.
These are things like adding gaming support on Linux or adding policies that protect the players from practices that would negatively impact the player's experience.
Do you remember when EA wanted to show ads in the middle of your playthrough?
Well it is thanks to Valve that we don't have to deal with that since they updated their Steamworks Documentation to ban this practice from being implemented on Steam games.
Thank you lord Gabe.🙏
There are more examples of Steam prioritizing their customers. Like when they started warning users about abandoned Early Access games or when they set new guidelines for games offering Season Passes by forcing developers to tell players what they are getting.
Given how the industry is going, I'm sure we are only going to see more examples like this in the future.
Other platforms lack the ecosystem
As we have seen by now, Steam has a lot of features that help turn it into more than just another marketplace but an entire ecosystem built to satisfy the players.
However, there are many people who aren't willing to get into Steam because you need a computer that can run games and it can be confusing and expensive to build one.
Valve knows about this issue and they created a solution.
In February 2022, Valve released the Steam Deck. This is their very own hand-held console that runs on SteamOS (a Linux-based operating system) that lets players bring their Steam Library everywhere they go.
With this, Steam removed the need to get a custom PC that can run games and created a way to ease the introduction of console players to the Steam ecosystem.
Now, console gamers have another alternative that puts way more titles quite literally at the palm of their hands.
It does regular sales with massive discounts
If you are a regular Steam user you have probably realized by now that Steam often runs sales and in some cases they offer 90% off on popular titles as you can see in the image above.
Publishers will occasionally put a whole franchise on sale, Steam will do a seasonal sale, or there will be random discounts and free games.
These constant sales make buying more games appealing. Even more so when the title in question is one that is a little too expensive at the regular price.
Seriously, their sales are incredibly good. During the last Summer Sale, I got the whole Bioshock Collection for less than 12 dollars and I couldn’t be happier. 😄
Since gaming is a hobby that is becoming more expensive each year, these sales really help the average gamers to enjoy some of the most recent titles without exploiting their wallets.
Other platforms also run sales. Like GOG for example.
They also run sales very often and, in some cases, they have titles for less than a $1!
However, Steam has some of the biggest franchises on its platform, and when one of them is on sale, it immediately summons players with questionable buying habits.
There is also the convenience of having everything in a single place, so a regular Steam user might have a harder time leaving a platform that already gives them everything and runs constant sales on some of the coolest titles in the industry.
They have decades of customer trust
Steam first launched on September 12, 2003.
At first it was created as a way for Valve to launch and update their digital games, but at some point they went, "We can turn this into a store!"
Little by little they were getting new titles on their store and got updates that made it easier for customers to find games as well as interact with other players until it became what it is today.
Throughout this journey of over 20 years, Steam has accumulated incredible amounts of goodwill with its users.
The secret?
Putting their customers needs above short-term profits.
I know, it's crazy!
By putting their customers first in an industry where cutting corners, overpricing, and monetizing everything seem to be becoming the norm, it puts them in a favorable position in the minds of gamers.
In other words, while they apply simple business common sense, other companies shoot themselves in the foot by doing the opposite.
Also, Steam has an advantage over all the other companies—they were first.
Thanks to this, they were able to set up the standards for how to sell digital games and how to treat the customer in this space.
Their customer support also helps. There are tons of stories of how an account got hacked and Steam Support got it back in just a few hours. It's so good that the community makes memes around it.
Like this one, for example:
Video by Jaden Williams
I don't think there is any other company whose support team is praised as much as Steam's. Not only in the gaming space but in general.
This creates a feeling of safety for users like you and me because we know that if something ever happens to our accounts, Steam Support is there to help.
Steam isn't perfect though
Valve, at the end of the day, is still a company, and all companies want money. It's how they can sustain themselves, after all.
Steam is no different in this regard and they have done things that have affected the industry. Things like requiring internet access to play single-player games and introducing loot boxes.
Yeah... I don't like those at all.
We also can't forget the fact that Steam is pretty much a monopoly, but unlike most companies, it's a monopoly that works for the players because they know that's where the money is.
In an industry where companies make decisions that negatively affect the gaming experience having one with as much influence as Steam acting in your best interest feels good which is why I think most players are willing to overlook these facts.
Final Thoughts
After realizing the importance of Steam in the gaming industry it became crystal clear why players love them so much.
The platform has the biggest library of games. Its features are designed to let players find new titles and interact with each other and make constant changes that benefit or protect the players.
It's such a good platform to use as a customer that I don't think I could possibly drop it for something else.
And since Valve has a clear idea of what to do to please their customers I don't believe they will willingly do something that will upset us because they know that we are more than happy to give them our money if they treat us right.
That's all for today.
