Steam generated $1 billion in 2010

Matthew DeCarlo

Matthew DeCarlo

Posts: 5,271   +104
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Many have cast doubt on the future of PC gaming, calling the industry a pale shadow of what it used to be. We can't help but disagree with that, especially when you look at the stellar lineup prepared for 2011. Research firm Forecasting and Analyzing Digital Entertainment (FADE) has further confirmed the PC industry's continuing vigor by releasing sales stats for Valve's digital distribution platform, Steam.

Although Valve generally keeps Steam's performance figures under wraps, FADE estimates that the service raked in just shy of $1 billion last year. Revenue supposedly reached $970 million in 2010 and unsurprisingly, December was the service's best month with $213 million in sales. FADE reports that over 180 games cracked the $1 million sales mark with the Call of Duty franchise being the top seller.


COD: Black Ops was the highest grossing title with $98.2m, while 2009's Modern Warfare 2 pulled in $39.4m. Valve's own Left 2 Dead 2 was the third bestselling game with $36m in revenue, while Bad Company 2 and Civilization V hit $25.4 and $21.9m, respectively. Portal, Fallout: New Vegas, Metro 2033, Mafia II, and Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising occupied the bottom five slots, selling $10 to $20m.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/42289-steam-generated-1-billion-in-2010.html

 
Steam is arguably the best software retailer business model I've ever seen. Now these are guesstimated sales figures, which don't translate into exact profits. But we all know they're making a buck or two. And I don't begrudge them a bit of it. They have it all - convenience, no DRM, good pricing, a revolving door of sales events, great customer relations and support - the whole nine yards.

Looking forward to doing business with Steam for pretty much forever....
 
TomSEA said:
Steam is arguably the best software retailer business model I've ever seen. Now these are guesstimated sales figures, which don't translate into exact profits. But we all know they're making a buck or two. And I don't begrudge them a bit of it. They have it all - convenience, no DRM, good pricing, a revolving door of sales events, great customer relations and support - the whole nine yards.

Looking forward to doing business with Steam for pretty much forever....
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I beg to differ on one point. Because you can only play the games on your specific account and they are linked to that account only it is actually one of the biggest DRMs out there. It isn't intrusive at all. But it is considered a DRM strategy.

What I want these publishers to do is actually read these figures instead of suffering the delusion that PC games make them lose money. If you make a single penny of profit then there's no reason to shun the platform.
 
Uhm... you have to dowload the game, log in once with your account to activate that game and are never ever again required to connect to play the game, unless you want to play online which shouldnt be a problem if you do want to play multiplayer.

I find it quite less frustrating than having to be wary of how many times you install a game cause you might not be able to play it again.
 
Kibaruk said:
Uhm... you have to dowload the game, log in once with your account to activate that game and are never ever again required to connect to play the game, unless you want to play online which shouldnt be a problem if you do want to play multiplayer.

I find it quite less frustrating than having to be wary of how many times you install a game cause you might not be able to play it again.
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Go to your steam copy of mw2 and click the single player icon. Nope, requires steam. Try bioshock...same thing. Try UT3..oh look, it still requires steam running.

Try it with any valve game, oh that's right, they all require steam running as well. If you look next time you'll see all steam versions of games have code wrapped around the games to require steam to be running.
 
Matthew said:
Many have cast doubt on the future of PC gaming, calling the industry a pale shadow of what it used to be. We can't help but disagree with that, especially when you look at the stellar lineup prepared for 2011. Research firm Forecasting and Analyzing Digital Entertainment (FADE) has further confirmed the PC industry's continuing vigor by releasing sales stats for Valve's digital distribution platform, Steam.

Read the whole story
Click to expand...

Yes. PC gaming is very much alive and well. I was at my local Gamestop today and one of workers who is a big PC gamer and uses Steam said it was because of this company that Gamestop is phasing out PC games from their inventory. They can't compete.

As a side note G.O.G. (Good Old Games) has just acquired rights to Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 and the Icewind Dale franchise. And no DRM.
 
It does require to have Steam running Princeton, but Steam is not required to be online it has an offline mode so...

EDIT: ...my argument is not invalid at all... basher...
 
Kibaruk said:
It does require to have Steam running Princeton, but Steam is not required to be online it has an offline mode so...

EDIT: ...my argument is not invalid at all... basher...
Click to expand...

Changing it to offline mode doesn't mean the program isn't running. It's linking the game to that account to verify it is legitimate. That's DRM no matter what you argue.

The whole point of the steamworks featureset is a good DRM.
 
Gosh....... please tell me where did I write that that was not some sort of DRM? I explained how steam system worked and pretty much it, then you called my comment as invalid god knows why. You wonder why people call you basher...
 
Kibaruk said:
Gosh....... please tell me where did I write that that was not some sort of DRM? I explained how steam system worked and pretty much it, then you called my comment as invalid god knows why. You wonder why people call you basher...
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Actually almost everyone who calls me a basher is new to the forum.

I posted that is was DRM and you made an argumentative post. Therefore you implied that it isn't a form of DRM.

Also, could you try to use conjunctions in your posts. At times I have had difficulty understanding what you have been posting.
 
Since I dont want this thread to a be a 2 guys conversation you win, yay for you!

Back to topic, keep it up Steam! :D
 
Steam are a joke, if you pay for a game, you shouldnt need to download load the other half (SC2)!! also there custermor service is rubbish. I have emailed them saying I cant play civ v since they have released there most recent update, 4 days later I get a reply stating that I should try something that I had already tried and the worst thing about it is that I already explained that to them in my email.

I agree that to stop people hacking games, steam is a good idea, but the aplication of this so called service of theres is a lot to be desired.
 
I love Steam it's the only place I get my games from now. Great sales, auto updating, unlimited installs on any pc anywhere, and no disc check does the trick for me. I do have one gripe though.....I wish they'd sell new games at a lower price. I mean everyone knows that the manufacturing, packaging, shipping, and shelf space a physical product takes up in a store is a big factor in the final price at the register. But I guess they figure as long as enough people will pay full retail for less than a whole product, they will keep doing it. So I will just play the waiting game until they lower the price =)
 
I guess a lot of people find Steam convenient in terms of ease of updating games and having the least intrusive manner of DRM. My only problem is that I can't buy games from Steam because my DSL connection is pretty slow and downloading full games is definitely not an option. For now, I'm stuck with buying games at retail stores.
 
Guest said:
I love Steam it's the only place I get my games from now. Great sales, auto updating, unlimited installs on any pc anywhere, and no disc check does the trick for me. I do have one gripe though.....I wish they'd sell new games at a lower price. I mean everyone knows that the manufacturing, packaging, shipping, and shelf space a physical product takes up in a store is a big factor in the final price at the register. But I guess they figure as long as enough people will pay full retail for less than a whole product, they will keep doing it. So I will just play the waiting game until they lower the price =)
Click to expand...

Considering that in my experience most games at release are buggy pieces of ****, I don't mind waiting until a few patches come out and the price drops. I've been having a blast picking up the GOTY editions of several games for 10% of the sum price of the game and DLCs. .
 
This has to be wrong, remember they are trying to get us to believe no one buys games anymore, everyone just steals them REMEMBER
 
Steam's purpose is to be a gateway for as many game publishers for as many games as possible. In order to do that, very few publishers would be willing to release their games on Steam without some sort of DRM.

I don't feel like I need someone to manage my "digital rights" but that's the only reason Steam has anything more than a handful of indie games. For as long as there is a profit motive and as long as it remains to easy to copy media, there will always be some form of DRM.

Since DRM must exist for Steam to exist as it does, Steam's DRM -- overall -- is tastefully done. No, I don't like having to have Steam to play the games, but I understand there has to be a framework of some sort to enforce the DRM. And no, I don't like I have to get online in order to even go 'offline' and once again no... But Steam is as good as it gets for now.
 
Last months of 2010 there were some wicked offers, first there were some developers weeks, then came black friday (Which was actually not a single day of offers but several), then holydays, oh and before that was summer discounts... I know a couple of months in between but who plays that many games on that short time.
 
I do! I do! I love steam! but most of all I love Half-Life! The best game of all time! and the one that started it all!
 
dcrosenthal said:
I do! I do! I love steam! but most of all I love Half-Life! The best game of all time! and the one that started it all!
Click to expand...
Agreed! It was Half-Life 2 that introduced me to steam!
 
SilverCider said:
dcrosenthal said:
I do! I do! I love steam! but most of all I love Half-Life! The best game of all time! and the one that started it all!
Click to expand...
Agreed! It was Half-Life 2 that introduced me to steam!
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure he meant half life one.
 
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