What Advantages Has STEAM Brought to 2K, Firaxis and the Civilization Franchise?

[MxM]

Why should your consumer interests trump theirs?

Because in relation between me and 2K I am the customer, and customer always right, right? In relation between 2K and Steam, 2K always right, but we are not talking here about business interaction between Steam and 2K, we are talking about us, customers, receiving this game, a service. The rest is unimportant. I do not care what kind of cleaning service 2K used in the process of preparation of civ V, as long as it does not influence me. The decision of using Steam and ONLY Steam does influence customers, hence this discussion.

And again, I personally would use Steam anyway, if the options were Steam, or CD (without Steam). But that does not mean that I can not understand people who are not satisfied with this, or that I can not wish 2K to use other services such as Impulse for game distribution, which I would prefer.

[Ming]

You can't keep all the potential customers happy. No matter what choice they made, sombody wouldn't be happy about it.

They made a business decision for probably very good reasons. I can understand that. If most people don't mind, then it was a good one.

To whine that you love civ but hate steam, and will pirate the game instead of buying it just shows how childish some people are

[MxM]

You can't keep all the potential customers happy. No matter what choice they made, sombody wouldn't be happy about it.

It does not mean however that they can not voice opinion

They made a business decision for probably very good reasons.

And my statement was that the reason for that decision is mainly the perceived benefit of piracy reduction.

To whine that you love civ but hate steam, and will pirate the game instead of buying it just shows how childish some people are

Ehm? Nobody said this here, in this thread (at least I do not remember or have not seen it here, but I understand I did not read all the posts on Apolyton). In fact I do not remember that anyone said anything alone this line on Apolyton. People here are quite dedicated Civ-ers and will buy multiple copies of Civ even if they do not like Steam just to thank Firaxis for that.

What was said is that Steam DRM creates inconvenience, as oppose to pirated version which does not have this problem. So the paying customers (us) are punished for paying the game. This is may be what you call "wining". But I do not remember anyone making conclusion "thus, lets pirate the game". That would be wrong.

At the same time, it does not remove right of the customers to criticize 2K for their decision, when better (for customers) models of distribution exist.

[NoodleNaught]

Steam is a god awful program, and anyone who has used it for as long as i have would know that. Also to anyone who thinks that Steam saves firaxis money is wrong they take in the range of 20-40% off every sale. Also Steam does not make patching any easier, as the company still has to make the patch, and all the extra that has to be added onto the patch to make it work through steam. all steam does in this case is upload the patch to thier server at which point it is distributed to all users. In addtion Steam does not allow you to remain using a older patch, as it forces you to update.

[Ming]

You can offline and not be forced to update anything... I've used steam for a long time as well... and while it's not my favorite, it's fine in the long run. I don't understand all the whining... Why care, it's just a game.

[MxM]

You can offline and not be forced to update anything... I've used steam for a long time as well... and while it's not my favorite, it's fine in the long run. I don't understand all the whining... Why care, it's just a game.

What I do not understand is the wining about criticism of the Steam. Why care, it is just a post on Apolyton...
And if Steam works for you, fine. But why everybody else should be just like you?

[Wyrda Edocsil]

The fact is, that some people like STEAM, some people dislike it, and some people don't care. The customers are indecisive, so 2K has to make the final decision. Their final decision would have made about the same number of people angry, no matter what it was, so they chose the option that they believed to be the best. The majority of people who were angry about STEAM bought it anyway, though, so why should 2K care that they angered you? It's a business. It's meant to make money, not to make people happy. It only makes you as happy as it needs to for it to make money.

[wodan11]

Can someone, anyone, at least attempt to answer the OP? This thread immediately turned into yet another steam-bash forum.

It would be nice to have an objective and factual pros/cons discussion without all the baggage.

[Asher]

It has been answered.

[Zoetstofzoetje]

I think there is insufficient recognition that we are just customers, and not part of some civ-democracy wherein we are in the position to negotiate.

It is however unfortunate that we are limited to this one single platform. Beyond that, for me personally the matter is settled. Why get upset and all worked up if you don't have legal alternatives?

No likey? No buyey. Or: arrrr (cryptically formulated alternative)

[MxM]

No likey? No buyey. Or: arrrr (cryptically formulated alternative)

See, this is what Steam introduced...

[Wyrda Edocsil]

See, this is what Steam introduced...

STEAM din't introduce it. It would exist on a similar scale, no matter what Firaxis did. If they used disk verification, people would be annoyed at that, too. If they didn't use disk verification or something similar to STEAM, it would be too easy. Firaxis chose STEAM, because they believed it would make them the largest profit. It probably didn't make too much of a difference in their profits, but Firaxis can do it if they really think that it will help. I, honestly, don't care whether STEAM, or something else, is used. It's not going to stop me from buying and playing the game.

[Mirada2000]

Steam is zero.

- If steam is gone, Civ5 is unusable.
- The game costs 15 € more expensive on steam on amazon.fr
- The game is already pirated!
- The game is now automatically patch (SIM3) not require steam.
- Resale of the game difficult
- Game play is impossible without an internet connection during installation
- Steam prevents competition in price (amazon, virgin, fnac ...).


PS : Price Steam 49,99€ Amazon.fr 34.99€ With DVD !

[Lord Byte]

Aah and everyone forgets the main advantage and the reason I buy everything on steam if possible. And the reason for many whines and gripes on the forum (for CIV among them). YOU DON'T NEED THE BLEEDIN' CD! EVER! No more cursing and gnashing of teeth when you cannot find it, or the box to place it in when finished.
Another advantage is that you can save on the Steam cloud which means if you go to a friend's house, internet cafe, install it on your laptop you can continue where you left off (or show off your army or mighty empire).

[Proteus_MST]

...
- The game costs 15 € more expensive on steam on amazon.fr
...

Even in large store chains in germany you can find Civ V now for 11 € less than from Steam
(i.e. 39 € vs. 50 €)
It seems a little bit strange, when you can buy a game for 20 % less from physical shops (who, after all, have costs like rent and surely, much higher personnel expenditures compared to Steam, not to forget transport costs for the DVDs) compared to a pure online shop like Steam.