A few of my friends in the last couple of months have bought themselves new PC rigs. All three proclaim a love for the format but many aeons ago stepped away to the simplicities of consoles. No need to upgrade graphics cards or ensure firmware is up to date. So what brought them back? VR was a huge pull, Half Life Alyx exclusivity to PC was an absolute must. Sim management games and RTS’ have made the jump to console but nothing quite matches that allure of Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition eh Shifty?
Stepping back into this world is no small effort, particularly overcoming the hardware challenges. The landscape of PC gaming has drastically changed and I don’t just mean with just VR. Everyone knows Steam. It’s been on the PC gaming scene for almost two decades and still completely dominates it. Five years ago you boot up your computer and that's the first port of call for games.
Obviously making so much money was great for Valve but then a lot of other companies wanted a slice. Many digital game sale platforms have popped up, fragmenting the scene somewhat. For those not keeping up it can be a bit overwhelming, particularly not knowing what they offer. So let's have a look to help my three friends out!
Steam
Ah Valve, you are the one constant for these intrepid explorers. Steam launched in 2003 and has continued to make you guys a shit load of money. You only have to look at the memes on the internet to see how dominant this platform is. This is both good and bad. Games I bought 11 years ago can still be installed and played. Prices and features not so much.
The platform itself has seen better days. There had not been that many updates in the last few years but finally Valve overhauled the library back in September 2019. They know that for a lot of their player base they will have hundreds of games which is a tough ask to showcase. The old sidebar with an alphabetical title list was old 5 years ago let alone 5 months ago. And now? We have the old sidebar… no wait! Most games now have lovely full case covers making it a joy to scroll through a large collection. It’s all very Netflix looking but who could argue with that?
Still there are a few developers who didn't get the memo and have a banner with the name and the rest of the area blurred out. It's not the end of the world but make an effort please! Otherwise the mixture of this and the sidebar really help with management. Even better ‘What’s New’ above will detail all the games installed that have had new updates. A great excuse to jump into an old game again!
Speaking of too many games, Steam offers far too many. Sure it’s brilliant to have the option of over 30,000 games, there will be something for everyone. But how the hell do you trawl through all of these to find something you want? On the flip side how are indie companies meant to get their new brilliant platformer showcased to their audience? One day of limelight before being lost to the ocean of shovel-ware doesn’t seem fair.
One area that I love is Early Access. This allows a game to be released before it is ready, meaning developers can get some money in earlier and allow gamers to get it for a reduced price. If they are lucky they can also provide feedback to help shape development of the title. Helping spread out the money seems to be a huge help and in theory spreading out updates and a full release should create more exposure to the buying public.
Purchasing as a fan is risky, maybe the game doesn't get finished? Or they cut huge corners before the full release? It’s rare enough to be aware of but not worry. As long as the game has the basic mechanics sorted they tend to be pretty good. And this model has been taken up by most platform holders which is a great thing!
Valve actually produces some hardware, including the Steam controller and Steam link which sadly have been discontinued. The main push now is VR with the excellent Valve Index VR kit retailing for an eye watering £919. Massive price but review are stellar, particularly for the controllers which are well ahead of the competition. Add to that the new game Half Life Alyx that is exclusive to Steam means that they should continue to dominate in this area.
At this point it feels like Steam has been around for what feels like forever now. They are part of the PC gaming furniture and to be fair have kept my digital collection together, even if I couldn't list every title that's in there. Sure some games get taken down from sale for legal reasons but it’s the best place to come for any gaming tastes. They are the standard bearer and rightly so.
It seems like they have too much power but fortunately some flashy rich upstarts are coming in to try and force a bit of healthy competition….
Epic Store
If you end up making far too much money from a cultural phenomenon like Fortnite, what do you do with it all? Start an online digital PC game platform of course! Look Fortnite is amazing and raking in billions but it won't last forever. You might as well throw some money at something that will hopefully last far longer.
And by throw I mean absolutely chuck money at. Since the service launched in December 2018 it has given away over £1700 worth of free games per account. If you remembered to go and redeem them of course! That’s a ridiculous amount but one hell of a way to build a player base. As you would expect there is a vast mix of genres and indie / AAA but I cannot argue with free copies of Into The Breach and Celeste. In the big May sale they collapsed their service for 12 hours by releasing GTA V. For free. Yeah I know it’s now 7 years old but who wouldn't want this on PC for nothing?!
Their aggressive approach is also seen in sales, with the usual 25% to 75% off games but on top of that they give you a £10 coupon to use on any game over £14. That’s both for sale and non sale items. Made me finally take a punt on Industries of Titan which I had been itching to purchase and give its Early Access build a go.
I am sure they wanted to make a splash and they have certainly ruffled a few feathers with the exclusivity deals they have tied up. This I think is the main problem people have with Epic Store. Locking away games for a year or more on a new platform is a bit annoying, particularly if you have the back catalogue of that game on another service. You want all your Football Manager games together you know?
The other annoyance was for players who pre-ordered games on Steam that then had the purchase rescinded as the game was no longer on the platform once Epic secured its deal. Anno 1800 was one such title and left a lot of players unhappy. This is not going to win the company many friends but it seems a relatively small but vocal minority.
The service itself works and of course is early days but does feel pretty bare bones. For context I was amazed to find a wish-list feature! I joke but they really need to cater to players to keep them coming back here beyond cheap games. There are friend lists (with a whole two friends linked to mine!). Cloud saves are included as is voice chat. But beyond that I can’t see much else. Fans expect far more functionality and I am sure Epic are hard at it. I for one am very interested to see how they do.
Origin
Electronic Arts are huge, so of course they have their own digital platform. But why?! If your main gaming output is yearly iterations of games, particularly sports games is there any real need? No one needs the last seven copies of FIFA in their library, is there anyone itching to play FIFA 14?!
There is an element of selling unique games, I originally got Origins to play the newest SimCity. And it wasn't great. I mean it was fine but deciding it had to be online and with a tiny map area basically killed the series. If the only thing bringing me to your service is a game I don’t like am i likely to stick around?
There was Theme Hospital but luckily another service later on has me covered. I prefer the few EA games I do play on console rather than PC which is a shame as their sales are usually pretty damn good compared to Xbox and PlayStation stores. Of course if you sell it yourself you get to keep all the money but I don't really see the need for them to keep going beyond profitability. In fact I just installed it.
There is an EA subscription service called EA Access that can be used on this platform as well as PS4 and Xbox One. Looking at the games it doesn't feel much of a bargain, if I want to play Battlefield V I will just pick it up physically for console. Nice try EA but no dice!
Uplay
Like many people I have a complicated history with Ubisoft. Sometimes you come up with something so original like Assassin’s Creed and I cant help but applaud. These are the people that help make Mario Rabbids and I love that game! But you are part of the problem when it comes to the homogenisation of games.
Not all games need towers dammit! To be fair they do make a good mixture of game genres, I have thoroughly enjoyed Far Cry 5 recently even if I preferred the two before. Ubisoft can be a big hit and miss (at least they are not Activision!). So my thoughts on their Uplay platform?
Oh fuck you Ubisoft. How can you screw up the basics of selling a digital game? A player buys it on say Steam, goes to install it and STILL has to install Uplay to actually play it?! That's fucking bullshit. I mean seriously, no one else bothers with this crap. Ok so you made Anno 1800 exclusive to Epic Store and I can live with that. But I have to install Epic and then Uplay?
Fuck me. That’s harsh. Sure you have a great back catalogue for Assassin's Creed, all the Tom Clancy's but really? Ignoring my not so petty gripe there are a tonne of games on here that I could play. They also have a subscription service called Uplay+ but again I don't see the value for me personally. I don’t need to play all the Tom Clancy games but it's nice to see them all in one place.
Also….
Nope. Can’t get over that installation bullshit.
Battle.net
My overriding memories of Blizzards Battle.net are the updates. Every time I load this platform up it needs another bloody update. To be fair to it there is a reason for that, I get the strong urge to play StarCraft so infrequently that it's basically my own fault. I actually If I only get that itch every 18 months then of course it’s going to need updating….I have a lot of respect for Blizzard (though obviously not the Activision part of the company), they make a few excellent games and keep them regularly updated.
It’s actually as you would expect, Games, Social, Shop and News. You jump in and can play one of your favourites from the side bar. There's barely any titles here but I actually love how this is presented. BAM. Play one of these!
The stand out title for me is StarCraft II and is probably the last we will see but spanning three titles and a brilliant online laddering system it’s perfect. Never had any problems, can’t complain at all about this Real Time Strategy game. If you don't play World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Diablo III or Hearthstone then this is a very easy skip! But for me I have room for Battle.net in my life, it’s the home for my beloved StarCraft.
GOG Galaxy
Following the hit Netflix series we all know the Witcher right? Based on the stellar video game series including the Witcher 3. Which is actually based on a series of books! I say all this as the video game creators of the Witcher, CD Projekt Red have operated their own DRM free digital store since 2008. Naturally they progressed to launching their own platform in 2014, revamping it in December 2019 to how it looks now.
This is of course yet another platform, one more program to have installed to access a bunch of games. I mean, do I really need six?! Well in this case they more than earn their place. GOG has for many years specialised in much older titles, particularly the 90’s classics that I love like Dungeon Keeper and Theme Hospital!!!!
It shows the importance of having a digital storefront that contains all your games forever more (or until it goes bust). I have a soft spot for GOG and its perseverance for game preservation. Its not just offering these games for sale but ensuring they work on current operating systems. It was felt that a lot of 90’s PC classics like Warcraft would be unable to work on current computers. Fortunately they were able to fix this and now we can marvel at how old they are!
GOG have branched out to offer more of the biggest new releases and that’s fine. You might as well offer a bit of everything. But I love the niche it occupies and hope it continues to support games in future Operating Systems as it does now.
There are many parallels with the video subscription streaming scrummage we see at the moment. Most platforms end up conforming to the main player, which is Netflix. We see the same here with the standard wish-lists, libraries, text chat all being eventually added. It seems that on a functional level that’s not much room for innovation. And if there’s not much room to differentiate from each other what’s the point of having so many?
The money side makes sense, both for developers and players. Who doesn't want cheaper games!? It’s telling that companies who go it alone end up offering their games out again on rival platforms. You may as well offer you a game on every service, even those competing with your own as it will get greater exposure.
The next step is being shown by Microsoft and its Game Pass. Why have a huge library of games and not offer it out as a subscription service? This must be Valve’s next step, particularly as Xbox is now selling games like Halo on Steam. Ubisoft and EA have their own subscription services as I have mentioned but they don't have varied enough libraries to compete. .
I think Epic is here to stay and will continue to be as disruptive as possible. Steam is still the biggest player so don’t worry, your 600 games are safe for a long while yet! I hope that helped boys.
P.S. You don't all need to have launch on Windows start up by default you bastards. I can’t play games on you all at once.
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