should Xbox follow PlayStation & stop selling games on Steam ?

[Marees]

why should Microsoft pay Valve 30% for first party xbox games?

on top of this xbox games already share most codebase with xbox pc app. going forward with xbox helix, any xbox playanywhere game will have identical code base between console & xbox pc app — whereas with steam you may need to optimize game (for nvidia PCs)

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Nah I'll bail on MS before I bail on Steam.

How many ****ing times do corpo ****s need to learn this lesson?

 

[Grimlakin]

MS could negotiate a sweetheart deal with Steam. Or do a hostile takeover.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

MS could negotiate a sweetheart deal with Steam. Or do a hostile takeover.

-You can't hostile takeover a non-public company. Unless you mean they send their private army in...

 

[Grimlakin]

-You can't hostile takeover a non-public company. Unless you mean they send their private army in...

You are absolutely correct. I didn't realize Steam wasn't a publicly traded company and didn't even check. LOL. That's kinda awesome.

 

[Brian_B]

I'm willing to bet Microsoft ~does~ have some sweetheart deal with Valve. Most of the large distributors do, I'm sure, and the details of such are probably locked behind NDAs. Even Apple has a discount for "preferred" distributors/developers.

That said - why shouldn't Microsoft pay them? No one is forcing Microsoft, or anyone else, to list on Valve, and Valve doesn't force you to make the price equal on all storefronts... so you could just mark it up to cover the loss of revenue, if you really wanted to.

 

[Marees]

Valve doesn't force you to make the price equal on all storefronts...

if true, this should make it easier for Microsoft

maybe they could give discount on game purchases, if you already have a base/starter game pass subscription

 

[Brian_B]

if true, this should make it easier for Microsoft

maybe they could give discount on game purchases, if you already have a base/starter game pass subscription

Usually - not always, but usually...

If you purchase the base game on one platform, all the subsequent purchases need to be through that platform to apply to the game. There are some exceptions, it depends on how you do IAP/redeem in your game. But most developers don't let you mix and match storefronts.

That said - would be nice. But I wouldn't count on it.

 

[Marees]

Jez asks a similar question

https://twitter.com/x/status/2058574715497660597

vote here

https://twitter.com/x/status/2058732957251047702

 

[Marees]

Are you moving over to the XBOX PC ecosystem or sticking with some combination of Steam, other launchers, and Linux?

https://twitter.com/x/status/2058640192139874487

 

[Brian_B]

I’d leave Windows before I left Steam

 

[SeymourGore]

If MS made the Helix store tightly integrated with the new Xbox experience (games are optimized 'out of the box', seamless crossplay/crosssave, etc) and third party stores are "behind a desktop" (user has to go into desktop mode, install the launchers, install the games, properly configure - just like Steam Deck); The Helix store would already be ahead of the curve and shouldn't have to make their games exclusive to their PC platform.

I also think it'd be smart for MS to introduce 'price matching' to their online store that will match major 3rd party launcher game prices (Steam, Epic, etc) or some further incentive to have users purchase from their store.

However, should MS start blocking their single player exclusives for Playstation? They might want to consider that - with Sony focusing on keeping their exclusives Playstation-only and offering (allegedly) cheaper hardware than Helix - there's a lot of incentive to go with Playstation over Xbox next gen.

 

[Marees]

I also think it'd be smart for MS to introduce 'price matching' to their online store that will match major 3rd party launcher game prices (Steam, Epic, etc) or some further incentive to have users purchase from their store.

i am asking something like this

1. limit porting to playstation. either never or timed with a delay
2. remove day and date from all gamepass except the highest ultimate (tiers)
3. rest of the tiers will only have old games aka timed exclusive model
4. have a very basic gamepass tier that has only live service games. make it as cheap as possible. example $25/year
5. heavily & permanently & publicly discount all Microsoft first party games for any gamepass subscriber of any tier

for ex:

let us say Call of Duty is $90 on steam
it could be available day and date for "free" on the topmost/ultimate tier
in one or two tiers below that it could be available for free after a delay
in all other tiers sell it for a significantly discounted vs steam. ex $40 to $50 assuming steam price is $90

this is the only way they survive as a hardware company
otherwise xbox becomes a software brand like Sega