Gabe doesn't want a Steam game pass, he's said this before and it's unlikely to happen whilst he's still in charge

Originally posted by datCookie:

Gabe doesn't want a Steam game pass, he's said this before and it's unlikely to happen whilst he's still in charge

It also seems Xbox is kind of getting slowly rid of it (Part of why they're raising prices)

Originally posted by Tito Shivan:

Originally posted by datCookie:

Gabe doesn't want a Steam game pass, he's said this before and it's unlikely to happen whilst he's still in charge

It also seems Xbox is kind of getting slowly rid of it (Part of why they're raising prices)

Isn't that because it's a net loss for them? I'm not sure of the reason

Originally posted by Tito Shivan:

Originally posted by datCookie:

Gabe doesn't want a Steam game pass, he's said this before and it's unlikely to happen whilst he's still in charge

It also seems Xbox is kind of getting slowly rid of it (Part of why they're raising prices)

They're raising the prices of everything because Nintendo led the charge and everyone bought into what Nintendo was doing.

Originally posted by Landerlan:

Now is the best time to create a Steam Game Pass. Other Game Passes are very expensive. A Steam Game Pass would be amazing.

So, why do Microsoft and EA do that and Steam doesn't?

It's worthwhile for EA because they are their own publisher and therefore have no third-party developed titles in their subscription model. Therefore their only costs are of opportunistic nature. They take the whole monthly cake for themselves.

Contrary to EA, Microsoft does sell third-party titles on the XBox and Microsoft store and therefore, their subscription model is more of a loss leader to encourage players to buy the games they loved to play on their store. They have to share the subscription profits either by agreement or usage ratio, netting them not only opportunity costs in lost sales (if the sub time covered the whole gameplay from start to finish), but also spendings on deals.

Steam doesn't need a loss leader to attract customers (it's by far the most popular PC games storefront) nor can Valve profit from rental agreements with several thousands of publishers as those aren't Valve's games to be rented away to begin with.

Originally posted by Landerlan:

Now is the best time to create a Steam Game Pass. Other Game Passes are very expensive. A Steam Game Pass would be amazing.

How many users would be able to afford the 10000 dollar monthly subscription fee just to get access to all games on Steam? Who would actually want to instead of just buying the games they want, games they can keep playing into perpetuity unlike with subscription where they only have access as long as they pay the subscription fee?

Originally posted by datCookie:

Gabe doesn't want a Steam game pass, he's said this before and it's unlikely to happen whilst he's still in charge

Wouldn't he change his mind? Did he say why?

Originally posted by Landerlan:

Wouldn't he change his mind? Did he say why?

99.9% of all games on Steam are not created by Valve.

Developers, publishers can offer a subscription service for their game or games already on Steam if they choose to.

Originally posted by Landerlan:

Now is the best time to create a Steam Game Pass. Other Game Passes are very expensive. A Steam Game Pass would be amazing.

Why would Steam's subscription game service be cheaper? Or have more/better games?

You really need to look at the differences between MS and Valve to understand why it's not a trivial ask. MS is a major games publisher, and they have a lot more money. And their goals are different than Valve's.

Valve doesn't live in a cave, so you have to ask yourself why they haven't done it already if they had any interest. And let's take a second to look at your claim that now is the best time to create a new subscription service. What evidence do you have to support that claim?

MS increases their prices by a few dollars, and that causes the stars to align for Valve? I mean it sounds like users don't like price increases and tend to have knee jerk reactions to every unfavorable change. That may not be a sound foundation for a business strategy though.

Originally posted by Landerlan:

Creating a game pass for steam.

Now is the best time to create a Steam Game Pass. Other Game Passes are very expensive. A Steam Game Pass would be amazing.

GabeN already said "I don't think it's something that we think we need to do ourselves, building a subscription service at this time," Newell said. "But for their customers it's clearly a popular option, and we'd be more than happy to work with them to get that on Steam."

https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-has-no-plans-for-a-steam-pass-but-would-help-microsoft-put-game-pass-on-steam/

And Valve creating one doesn't automatically make it cheaper.

Originally posted by Landerlan:

Now is the best time to create a Steam Game Pass. Other Game Passes are very expensive. A Steam Game Pass would be amazing.

And what makes you think a steam pass would be any cheaper.

Heck I'd think by now the whole 'Pass' thing is non sustainable for most companies, with the exception of EA.

The only way a subscription system for arbitrary games on the platform would work is either by being more expensive on average than just buying copies of the games, by convincing the game developers to accept less money, or by having Valve essentially pay people to play games.

None of those sound appealing.

Originally posted by Landerlan:

Now is the best time to create a Steam Game Pass. Other Game Passes are very expensive. A Steam Game Pass would be amazing.

Did you ask the providers of those other game passes if they could lower their prices?

I’m wondering what would a Steam subscription service look like if it wasn’t about providing games to play like Xbox Games Pass.

Currently what they collect in sales is enough to maintain the service, but if suddenly everybody decides they have enough games or the Industry crashes, would people be willing to pay a subscription to keep accessing their library if that’s what it took to carry maintenance through?

Or would they switch to some alternative, cheaper means of service through that time, like maybe peer-to-peer torrenting (but only accessible through the client to maintain DRM)

Why people want to pay money just to play their own games?