Steam is full of cool games that many of us have way too little time for. Still, we happily continue to shop on Valve’s platform. An expert believes that this circumstance makes Valve’s platform so successful and solves a problem that plagues Netflix.
What is this problem? Our time on this earth is limited. We humans have not discovered immortality yet. Therefore, we have to decide daily how we want to use our time.
The offer is vast: movies, series, books, comics, or video games – it is difficult to really feel bored nowadays. On the contrary: there is an oversupply, which makes it difficult for streaming services like Netflix to remain continuously successful.
When many different media compete for our attention, some are left behind. Netflix founder Reed Hastings even claims that his service competes with something as fundamental as sleep (via theguardian.com).
A gaming analyst, however, believes that Valve has found a way to circumvent this problem with Steam.
Indie games repeatedly become great successes on Steam – such as Schedule 1:
“A bunch of drunken sailors”
What does the expert say? Chris Zukowski is an analyst in the gaming industry and has closely examined how Steam functions. In a post on his blog, he explains the platform’s great strength: Steam enables the hoarding of games.
In other words: we keep buying new titles, often because they are currently on sale on Steam, or we plan to play them at a later time. This leads to digital libraries filling up quickly. There is rarely time to catch up on all the titles.
According to Zukowski, Steam’s success lies in the fact that Valve has built a vibrant community of people who love gaming overall. It’s primarily not about consuming a game, but about owning it. The Steam library is a collection that keeps growing.
Valve has essentially added infinite hours to players. It is a theoretical day in the future when players might be able to play their games for hours (but let’s be honest, they won’t).
Chris Zukowski
Statistics show that on average, half of all games in Steam libraries have never been played (via newsletter.gamediscover.co). All of this is particularly interesting for game publishers. They have to give 30% of their revenue to Steam. According to Zukowski, publishers are willing to pay this price:
If Steam buyers were rational and only bought games they would play, we would sell a lot fewer games. Half of this industry would disappear. Knowing that Steam players are hoarders, one understands why they grant Steam this 30%: You gain access to a bunch of drunken sailors who spend money irresponsibly.
Chris Zukowski
What do the players themselves say about it? On Reddit, the topic is currently being discussed:
- “To be fair, all of this is mainly possible because you can get great games for little money through special offers. I doubt that Steam backlogs consist of games that were bought for $40 or more,” writes francesomango02.
- “I swear I will eventually play everything in my backlog. Maybe when I retire,” says OldTrashbarg2000.
- “I mean, who here has never gotten so drunk that they forgot everything and then bought a copy of Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag on Steam because it only cost $1.99?” debates MuptonBossman.
- “The difference is that I own nothing when I no longer pay for Netflix. A Netflix subscription costs €180 a year to have access to movies or series,” emphasizes Adefighter.
The latter user points out that you don’t pay subscription fees on Steam. Nevertheless, the platform’s user agreement states that when you purchase a game, you acquire a license. If Steam goes offline or licenses expire, it would mean losing access to the libraries. You can read more about this here: Steam now reminds you that the games you bought don’t actually belong to you
