Steam preparing to sell non-gaming related software? - Polidicks

[h2]It's here![/h2] [url]http://store.steampowered.com/software/[/url] [h2]UPDATE 8/8/2012[/h2] September 5th is the day! [quote] STEAM EXPANDS BEYOND GAMES Launch Set of "Software" Titles Coming Sept 5 Aug 8, 2012 -- Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Counter-Strike, Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Portal, and Team Fortress) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced the first set of Software titles are heading to Steam, marking a major expansion to the platform most commonly known as a leading destination for PC and Mac games. The Software titles coming to Steam range from creativity to productivity. Many of the launch titles will take advantage of popular Steamworks features, such as easy installation, automatic updating, and the ability to save your work to your personal Steam Cloud space so your files may travel with you. More Software titles will be added in an ongoing fashion following the September 5th launch, and developers will be welcome to submit Software titles via Steam Greenlight. "The 40 million gamers frequenting Steam are interested in more than playing games," said Mark Richardson at Valve. "They have told us they would like to have more of their software on Steam, so this expansion is in response to those customer requests." For more information, please visit [url]www.steampowered.com[/url].[/quote] -- [quote="The Verge"][img]http://cdn2.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/4675008/steam_store_large_verge_medium_landscape.jpg[/img] The Steam app for Android shows a number of new categories that have little to do with gaming, which could be a shred of evidence that Valve is considering different kinds of apps for its popular game distribution service. The "Genre" section of the app's index lists genres like "accounting, education, software training," and "photo editing," with a total of ten additional categories over those shown in the Steam desktop client — though none of the categories contain any software. There's obviously no guarantee that this means Valve intends to sell more than just games, but it's not unreasonable to think that the company might someday go down that road: it's already working to streamline the selection and release process for games on its platform with Steam Greenlight, and could conceivably do the same with other software genres.[/quote] [b][url=http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/15/3161651/valve-steam-software]Source[/url][/b] This seems to be correct as well, since the new categories on the Steam Store redirect to /software, instead of going to search. Redirects to /software: [url]http://store.steampowered.com/genre/Education/[/url] Redirects to search like any other not found category: [url]http://store.steampowered.com/genre/beepboop/[/url] I wonder what this'll bring us. Seems interesting for sure, but I don't know whether to be happy about it or not.

Not sure what to think of this.

Awesome.

With Steam sales I'll definitely be buying a lot more software.

This could be amazing, imagine if steam goes so big that it's pre-shipped with every copy of windows.

It's nice to know that everything you buy follows you via your Steam account, forever.

[QUOTE=gman_beeman;36791242]It's nice to know that everything you buy follows you via your Steam account, forever.[/QUOTE] The ultimate DRM that consumers are ok with.

Until Gabe eats your account that is.

I have to wonder if Valve intends to slowly make Steam a grand multi service platform that covers all the major aspects of the internet. Steambay, Steamoogle, Steamtube, Steambook, the possibilities are endless! I wouldn't mind any of those being run by Valve come to think of it.

How the fuck did DS2 win?

[QUOTE=Axznma;36791260]I have to wonder if Valve intends to slowly make Steam a grand multi service platform that covers all the major aspects of the internet. Steambay, Steamoogle, Steamtube, Steambook, the possibilities are endless! I wouldn't mind any of those being run by Valve come to think of it.[/QUOTE] Neither would I, as long as they use some of their wads of money to buy [I]a lot[/I] of new servers.

All they really need to do is draw more people to their platform, and maybe they'll buy games.

And I bet it provides a ton of service, cloud storage and all that mumbojumbo. So far I have experienced nothing but good from Valve, outstanding customer Support, good Servers(except release), awesome games.

Steam OS please.

I still remember the good old days when the only thing on steam was the half-life anthology pack (Half-life 1, CS 1.6, and TFC pretty much) right after they switched over from WON. Look where they are now. Selling thousands of different games on their platform, and helping out smaller game companies who make indie games and such. Now they are preparing to sell non-game related software. It's amazing, none of this would have been possible without Half-Life.

if they sell actual programs like sony vegas and adobe stuff that'd be amazing

No reason at all to say no, so awesome.

[QUOTE=fruxodaily;36791446]if they sell actual programs like sony vegas and adobe stuff that'd be amazing[/QUOTE] I find this interesting, considering they have created the Source Film Maker work with every Valve game and some that aren't from what I've seen thus far. I wouldn't be surprised if they made some other amazing software.

Well they are selling Indie Game: The Movie and it has audio commentary. Steam would make a nice alternative to iTunes.

I could imagine steam eventually offering something like netflix.

[QUOTE=krazipanda;36791241]This could be amazing, imagine if steam goes so big that it's pre-shipped with every copy of windows.[/QUOTE] I wouldn't count on it. Microsoft loves hogging all the money, it'd be a surprise if they didn't throw their own digital distribution crap on the next versions of Windows.

Don't know what to think of this... If it is true, how would the software be handled? Would you have to have Steam running to use the programs? If so that would seem stupid. Stupid enough that a service is successful where you have to have a program running to play games anyways.

[QUOTE=BANNED USER;36791625]I find this interesting, considering they have created the Source Film Maker work with every Valve game and some that aren't from what I've seen thus far. I wouldn't be surprised if they made some other amazing software.[/QUOTE] it'd be waaay better if source filmmaker replaced the need for using sony vegas by allowing other media types from cameras or photos and had text overlays, video/audio effects etc it'd be the only thing I'd need. [editline]16th July 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Antdawg;36791710]Don't know what to think of this... If it is true, how would the software be handled? Would you have to have Steam running to use the programs? If so that would seem stupid. Stupid enough you have to have a program running to play games anyways.[/QUOTE] I'd imagine you'd have the ability to have offline mode for programs, I can see where you're coming from but the one biggest advantage of having programs on steam is instant updates not managing 5000 fucking update manages or using patches to do the work.

[QUOTE=Ardosos;36791675]I could imagine steam eventually offering something like netflix.[/QUOTE] netflix has no reason to team up with valve netflix requires only a browser, not software installation

[QUOTE=Clementine;36791265]How the fuck did DS2 win?[/QUOTE] Because it's a great game.

[QUOTE=Bletotum;36791725]netflix has no reason to team up with valve netflix requires only a browser, not software installation[/QUOTE] Netflix needs Microsoft Silverlight.

This looks more to me like Steam's getting into producing Accounting and Photo Editing videogames. I can't wait for Accounts Receivable 2 to finally come out, the spiritual successor to the Postal series

[QUOTE=WoodenSpoon;36791360]Steam OS please.[/QUOTE] So there's a chance that your entire OS won't work if you lose internet connection? Sounds [I]great[/I].

[QUOTE=Dark-Energy;36791435]I still remember the good old days when the only thing on steam was the half-life anthology pack (Half-life 1, CS 1.6, and TFC pretty much) right after they switched over from WON. Look where they are now. Selling thousands of different games on their platform, and helping out smaller game companies who make indie games and such. Now they are preparing to sell non-game related software. It's amazing, none of this would have been possible without Half-Life.[/QUOTE] It's funny how much it has changed from less than a decade ago. It feels like it's been so much longer. [img]http://i.imgur.com/MhFhL.jpg[/img] [img]http://mygaming.co.za/news/wp-content/uploads/Steam_2004_391347117.jpeg[/img] Although I kind of wish there were still those free-to-play board games you could play in chat. :(

Hmm, this sounds quite an interesting move but then it really depends about pricing because alot of companies that sell their products (photo editing, etc) often price it ridiculously.. *cough* photoshop.