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| This just in ....traditional retail monster faces onslaught from digital distributors.... |
Many many ...many (happy) times I have cheered on Steam for bringing back the PC games market abandoned by the traditional retailers.The great lie is that it ever went away , there have always been more pc gamers than on any other platform , but retail has not been able to dictate to them the way they love to do to casual and new core console gamers .
The retail sales fall has been caused,not by Steam , but over 15 years by the traditional retailers own hilariously inept business model focussing store space on console games and hardware , with their ultimately limited number of releases , tiny profit margins , and fickle casual customer base , oh and this little bitty Western economy based double dip recession thingy...
Every pc gamer knows they are the real core gamer , but the retailer on your street doesn't see you as that , your machine[s] may cost more than their yearly salary , you play on 3 to 6 1600 1200 screens linked to 4 of whatever Nvidia and Ati have going at the moment on 1 pc , you have more spending power yearly re games than a thousand casuals , and will continue to buy games through the most dire of economic times, intelligently I might add ,waiting for the Steam Sales weekly , and tri annual , but .. and its a big but the oik in the retail store has been told to ignore you by head office....
I have been watching and experiencing this for over a decade . At some point in this decade of retail insanity , Valve arrived with Steam , it annoyed at first , with Half Life 2 obligatory online activation, then broadband speeds , and hard disk space sky rocketed, Steam started ticking along nicely , now the best deal in games purchases this year will be on Steam , no PC games collector or fan can live without its convenience .
We can and do chose to live without the inconvenience of having to buy a game from a high street store , if i want to play Call Of Whatever at launch I do not have to queue at any midnight freezing death trap launch ...And there certainly are nicer things to be doing at midnight .....
Today after making you freeze your ????? off for Halo,Kinect, COD 7 the retailers are screaming foul , they are scared Steam might be another iTunes ,well news flash , Steam is beyond iTunes .Even more than that it is respected by the owners of iTunes:Apple and the Dark Lord or for some Eru Illuvatar himself have taken notice of Steam and allowed it to chug away on Macs! Steam is beyond what iTunes is , way beyond in technical terms, and function. Steam will also hit the PS3 with Portal 2 , later next year, and that is a significant milestone in console games retail models. There is also no reason why Steam will not one day be on your phone , tablet , with other media including films and music . Anything is possible , how many Steam users would prefer their media to come from a Valve rather than Apple server? Music and videos you never lose , just like your games , how convenient would it be to have your Steam Music collection playing whilst your Steam game is playing ,oh and on any device ? Ahhh things to come....
The traditional retailers say Valve has a monopoly in the making yet It is Steam that broke the traditional bricks and mortar retailing monopoly , Steam that keeps many indie games developers running , people whose games traditional retailers have refused shelf space to for over a decade. The kind of developer that is also thriving on iOS !
But lets not forget what truly makes Steam great , its the community , 30 million games fans , and the respect they get from Valve . Tell me you are not waiting for 2 upcoming Steam Holiday sales.
Traditional retailers ignore the fact, that it is the customer who chooses to pays their wages , and after a decade of being ignored , mistreated and sent to the back of the game food chain , behind casual and console gamers , the customer with the most spending power and ability to resurrect your failing business and retail sales has chosen NOT to pay your wages
So it isn't Steam or any other digital distribution service that is wrecking your business ,it is your customers , like me who chose to do so , 30 million of them at last count , Power to the Gamers ....indeed!
To truly make money over the long term you have to understand your customer base , now there is a point in a games fans life where they need to own everything going , it is simply impossible ,cost wise,time wise , space wise , but Steam gives us a nice little ogive of hope to ride , for fans , collectors and real core it gives you the feeling that you are getting what you want ,when you want it, and what you need , you will never own everything of course , or have enough lifetime[s] to play , but Steam and other digital distribution services like iTunes fit that core gamer groove perfectly .They have learnt it is the customer that pays their wages , traditional retail with its dictatorial release and sales models lost the battle over a decade ago.
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| Just 3 of this weekends many download nails in the coffins of traditional games retailers .. |
So throw your child like tantrums Mr/Mrs traditional games retailer , this is the Age of Steam ..and the pc games retail train left the station without you years ago....you did after all choose not to get on !
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