Steam has been around for 17 years now, for those of you who continue to use it as one of your primary platforms, what's keeping you attached to it?

[Deleted member 79451]

It's my primary platform but I use all of the PC platforms.

But I still prefer Steam over other platforms for the following:

+ Valve doesn't have as many funny policies or behavior as others, still a true gaming company
+ Most refined refund process of any platform, period
+ Often very good prices
+ 3rd party keysellers also direct me there
+ I like the ways you can organize your library and the way games are executed from Steam
+ Stuff around the edges like the cloud save implementation, the installation process for games

 

[Zen_Master]

Most of my content is on there, integrates well with controllers, UI is pleasant to use, game reviews are plentiful.

 

[Deleted member 44122]

i own most games there, its the most feature rich by far, i like the controller integration

 

[SunBroDave]

It's the easiest and most fully featured platform to play games from, and it has the biggest collection of games available, and has them at the cheapest prices

 

[My Blue Heaven]

My huge library of games I purchased in digital sales but honestly I don't game on PC much nowadays. I think Steam serves as a great example of why you shouldn't write off services/games so adamantly.

People have completely forgotten the early reaction to Steam and it's push to be a digital storefront. Many were mad that they had to install it to play Half-life 2. There were a lot of doomsayers talking about the digital future and how horrible it would be. Many hated the interface. If Meme culture and reactionary youtube/social media personalities were a thing the vitriol would have been bad.

This is why I'm never so quick to write off early missteps by services like Google Stadia or the Epic game store. You never know when some turn of events catapults something into a huge success.

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i think steam is an exception rather than those other things you mentioned that just seem to be ongoing missteps that will be dropped when either company just gets tired of spending money on them

 

[RelaxItsJustMe]

It really is just the best store on any platform currently out based on a selection of games, discounts, services and whatever else.

I don't think anything comes close to it as of right now.

 

[tokkun]

Why wouldn't one use Steam?

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GOG is DRM-free.
EGS gives away a lot of free games.
Gamepass is cheaper if you play tons of games.

 

[Richietto]

It's just the best launcher. Do other launchers even have full controller support and shit? Like dualsense support happened so fuckin fast and most other apps don't even work with anything but a generic or Xbox controller if that. That's honestly one of the biggest ones for me. Big picture, massive support for community features, marketplace, PROPER DOWNLOAD SPEEDS!

 

[hikarutilmitt]

Ease of use
Valve has enabled me to switch back to Linux on my desktop full-time, again.

 

[Dakkon]

Steam is just the entire package.

It runs great.

It's rarely buggy.

It has tons of great consumer friendly features like an easy refund process, Steam Reviews, forums per game, Steam Guides, Steam Input that is constantly updated to support new controllers, Workshop, Steam Proton, regional currency pricing, and Steam Link.

It has a ton of great API features for developers, like achievements/matchmaking/lobbies/relay servers/workshop/etc.

The profile functionality is nice for people who want to engage in that. (that ain't me, but IK people who love it)

The Steam Sales are still incredible, even if I don't buy as much...coz I've already bought too much.

Valve's never going under so I don't got to worry about my games.

It has a shopping cart.

A surprising amount of games on it have no DRM.

Supports NSFW games thoroughly.

Highly customizable store experience.

Other storefront & launcher combos on PC do only some of these things, none of them do all of it.

 

[maximumzero]

It's not really a primary platform for me, but whenever Apple works out it's Xbox controller compatibility issues I see myself getting a lot of use out of Steam Link.

AMD Link offers similar functionality, however, and may be what I end up using anyway.

 

[N64Controller]

habit

 

[Deleted member 18324]

They have the best service and featureset of any competing platform as others have listed, and since they are privately owned are answerable to customers rather than shareholders or external investors.

 

[JCH!]

GOG is DRM-free.
EGS gives away a lot of free games.
Gamepass is cheaper if you play tons of games.

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And all of those have their own disadvantages that Steam doesn't. 🤷‍♀️

 

[Deleted member 3208]

I mean, most of my games are in Steam. Have to use whether I like it or not. Thankfully, I do like it.

 

[Elfgore]

Man, I remember back in 2004 everybody hated that shit lol. Funny how it became one of the most beloved apps.

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Not exactly that time, but I absolutely despised Steam when I first encountered it. Lived in the middle of nowhere with a slow and limited internet connection. All of the sudden, games like Mount and Blade: Warband and Supreme Commander 2 took hours to install as they didn't seem to pull much info from the disk anymore and had to download info. Took hours and I hated it!

 

[No Depth]

Man, I remember back in 2004 everybody hated that shit lol. Funny how it became one of the most beloved apps.

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Yea, the vitriol surrounding its requirement to play Half-Life 2 at launch shook the internet to its core.

Granted Steam is quite a different beast now, but the vision was really on-point.

 

[Deleted member 23094]

It's the best.

 

[Hasney]

Steam is usually the cheapest way to get new games, outside of subscription services. I use all the launchers, the only one I have spent no money on and dislike is Epic, all the rest are perfectly fine.

Epic got me with Hitman 3 finally though. Even then, I'd have gone with PS5 if it wasn't for progress carryover and fancy ray tracing. Just hoping it doesn't eat my cloud saves again...

 

[pksu]

- All my PC friends are already using it
- Big picture mode that automatically sets my TV as the main monitor when needed
- Downloading, updating, moving and restoring games just works
- Store has proper review/recommendations system
- Not limited to one publisher + few random games
- Family sharing
- Remote Play
- Steam input

Steam alternatives do not exist because other publishers think they can build a better product than Steam. They exist because publishers want to make more money and all they need to implement is just barely working basic functionality if games are good enough. It's understandable but leads to a frustrating experience when something very basic like downloading/updating a game has issues. Issues that might have plagued Steam 15 years ago.

 

[NCR Ranger]

Cheap games due to keys/support of third party stores.
Huge library
Excellent Controller support
No major problems in the decade+ I have used it

Most importantly though is no competitor has brought something better to the table. For example, Steam's controller support might seem small, but being able to plug in pretty much any controller I have and it just works is amazing. I missed it when I try to play games outside of Steam's ecosystem and often my solution is to just add them as a non-steam game.

 

[Cruxist]

As a brand new PC owner, I will use whatever store lol. I have 0 attachment to any of them. I definitely have some steam games from my days of attempting to game on a mac laptop, but I really won't play those now. I'm also not really looking for community features or things like achievements, so bare bones is fine with me, as long as it plays games.

 

[Deleted member 23158]

The OP is phrased like there is an alternative. I like GOG for the DRM free approach, however their library is limted. EGS and any other webstore have inferior functionality compared to Steam and again have a limited library.

Furthermore, they are friendly towards devs and other webstores by allowing the generation of free steam keys so they can be sold on another webstores. So they get 0 dollars for steam keys sold on other websites (GMG, GamerGate, Humble Bundle, etc.), while still having to host it and provide other services for it. Not sure if there are other storefronts that provide similar services.

 

[Rag]

It's right there in the thread title. I've got 17 years worth of goddamn games on it. That's pretty great.

 

[svacina]

Bottom Text

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Hello, Sergey.

 

[Charpunk]

I've been using it for 17 years.

 

[RadzPrower]

I use it still, but I wouldn't consider ANY platform to be my primary platform. Steam is still the place I tend to think of when purchasing games for PC, but I also have a decent and growing library on Epic Games Store if for no other reason than all the freebies they give away. I mean, I played Among Us though Steam yesterday, but I bought Carrion for $5 on EGS a day or two before.

 

[kinoki]

I've used it since forever and at the moment I consider it synonymous with PC gaming. If it's not on Steam, I just ignore it.

 

[BasilZero]

"
for those of you who continue to use it as one of your primary platforms,
"

I own most of my PC games on there.

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same reason

all 2,000+ of them

 

[AHA-Lambda]

Most of my games are there
Great features
Competition amongst stores leads to better digital pricing

 

[Catshade]

Their 'generosity' in allowing pubs/devs to generate free keys has allowed a thriving bundle/reseller ecosystem where you can get cheap Steam keys for as low as a few cents per game, and lots of those are good games too.

 

[Amspicora]

Why I'm sticking around Steam? well...

1) I took Civilization VI free on EGS
2) I was playing with friends and having fun
3) Wanted to try the Expansions
4) Checking keys sites for some discount
5) Bought the platinum edition for less than both Steam and Epic
6) The Key is for Steam, because of course
7) Now I'm playing it on Steam
8) Also my friends are doing the same
Bonus Point I found why the game keeps crashing during the online games thanks to the Steam Review

And this is only one example
Steam... is more functional, it feels like a place where I can safely come back whatever happens.

 

[thevid]

Runs better and is significantly faster for me than Epic Games Store (can really chug browsing my library) or Uplay Connect.

Has decent enough library management tools, especially compared to other store fronts where they are basically non-existent. The only programs that might be better are specific library management programs like Galaxy.

Provides DS4 support for my entire library and powerful controller customization options.

Steam Workshop for easy mod support. Even third party companies with their own storefronts are leaning on it, like EA with C&C and Microsoft with Halo: MCC.

I don't think there's another storefront that really competes with Steam. Maybe a few edge Steam out for specific things, but as a whole? Steam stands heads and shoulders above the rest.

 

[trashbandit]

What's keeping me attached to the platform with thousands of dollars worth of games tied to it? Hmm, couldn't say say.

 

[Sanguine]

Still the best/easiest platform out there and the only one that puts any attention to Linux (Proton has made it easier to switch from Windows to Linux).
I like the basic/minimalistic library setup up. I don't want to be looking at hundreds of pictures or how long i've played a game or how many achievements. Just give me a list of games I have.
Categories seem to be easier to set up.

 

[JudgmentJay]

Because it's the best storefront/launcher on PC, it's where all my games are, and all my friends use it. Pretty easy choice.

 

[Firebricks]

Out of all the gaming platforms I've tried, it's simply the best one. That's pretty much all there is to it.

 

[voOsh]

Nothing has been better than Steam yet.

 

[spinalscratch]

Their respect and support to PC gaming.

 

[Gentlemen]

Inertia, I guess? I only 'use' steam as the launcher for my games. the social media features are generally half-baked and Valve's laissez-faire 'can't an algorithm do it?' policies means the communities are generally no better than larger, more feature rich media sites for troubleshooting.

Steam Sales lost all their charm for me several years ago.

 

[Jaded Alyx]

GOG is DRM-free.
EGS gives away a lot of free games.
Gamepass is cheaper if you play tons of games.

Click to shrink...

Those are all reasons to use those platforms. They're not reasons to stop using Steam.

 

[Bowl0l]

Convenience
Linux support
Growing user base that lures games to the ecosystem

 

[Yuntu]

Theres no reason to stop using Steam.

 

[Dakkon]

Man, I remember back in 2004 everybody hated that shit lol. Funny how it became one of the most beloved apps.

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Ya, the original release has several reasons people hated it:

* It was basically the first real serious digital storefront for games, and everyone was so used to brick and mortar that we thought it was stupid. What's the point? What about if Valve goes under in 2 years? etc?
* Internet speeds were worse and not as widespread back then.
* It was way uglier and worse in every way than it is now.

No one at the time really saw Valve's vision for what it was, or how upending B&M stores would benefit (almost) everyone so thoroughly.

Basically anyone who was a young adult/adult back then and did PC gaming probably does the same thing I do and cringe at how awful B&M was for PC gaming in comparison:

* you couldn't refund/return most games, because almost every major PC game used CD-Keys to counter rampant piracy and stores wouldn't accept them, so there wasn't really a "used PC games" market in the first place at that point. Sure hope your game works!

* you had to go hunting online for patches and hope they install right and work right because oh boy. I remember struggling for some games where you'd have to patch linearly and have one of the patches in the middle be hard to find. SUPER COOL.

* SecuROM was everywhere and sucked. Steam's DRM may not be as protective but it's way better for the consumer.

* most stores had a god awful selection of games, with a lot of it being shovelware or hidden object games and a scant amount of good games.

* games basically never went on sale, except during Christmas and Black Friday. That was it.

 

[Deleted member 8468]

Is this thread market research?

 

[cowbanana]

Steam just works! 95+% of my modern PC library is on Steam. Steam has lots of nice features. Why use anything else? EGS can die in a ditch, I'll never use it as Steam is soooo much better and not affiliated with Tim Sweeney.

The rest of my library is on Origin (only a few good EA games), Ubi...whatever (a few Ubi games from cheap keys) and GOG (mostly old games and CDPR games like The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077).

 

[Speevy]

I think everyone has already said it, but the first thing that strikes me is whenever an original IP appears from an indie studio, there's a good chance I'll play it on Steam first before any of the consoles.

Games are kept updated, online is always free, backwards compatibility with nearly every generation of PC ever.

It does have the largest game library. Also, despite subscription services, it was very cheap to accumulate my first 100 games through many bundles. Buying any 10 games on Steam vs. a console platform's digital service, you're more likely to find discounts. Some games are always on sale.

It's not perfect, but when a service is inclusive and has what you want, you tend to stick with it. Steam has (and this is important) also allowed other services to exist and thrive, despite its clear advantages.

 

[Acidote]

Functionality. I.e. the degree of integrated controller support.

It also has the games I want to play and in most cases I can buy the keys in several places that are leagues cheaper.
I have also family sharing set up with my brothers, to the benefit of my nephews.

 

[Cleve]

It's the best platform. Why is this even a question, OP? The best, widest support for controllers, cloud saves, comparatively lightweight UI. Largest software library

Along with that it has all my old library and friends easily accessible.

Why would anyone stop using it? The beauty of PC is access to multiple storefronts. I bought some games on GOG, a couple on EGS, I bought ME3 on Origina back in the day, but there's no reason to stop using steam at all.

 

[oneils]

I'd prefer to just have everything on steam for convenience's sake. But lots or origin and battlenet games won't run on it without having those apps also running.