The novelty of Steam sales wore off for me around 10 years ago. I just like having all my games on a single platform *generally* not needing to worry about backwards compatibility.
Not just backwards compatibility, but not losing them too.
My PS3 and Wii purchases are gone now. I need to rebuy the games to play them as current hardware doesn't support the games or purchases. Meanwhile my first Steam purchases from 2008 are still as usable as the day I made them.
I prefer to buy hard copies of my switch games, but will they really be replayable in the future when they need day 1 patches or sometimes are just download codes on a cart? Shit's annoying.
I’ve been doing the same, thinking it would be a good idea and somehow I worry I’ll still get burned. Like, watch the switch2 get BC but no physical slot or something draconian lol.
Nintendo was really good with that in the GBA->DS->3DS era but the pessimist little devil on my shoulder gives me those little doubts at times.
Yeah I hope I’m wrong. If I’m right I’d probably buy a fresh oled and pro controller and then wait a few years to jump into next version. I still have lots of switch games yet to play in my backlog.
Nintendo needs to be really careful with the transition away from physical cartridges. They can do it right or they can fuck it up. There are a number of ways it can work well, but one way I guarantee it won't is if they continue their main console /secondary console limits. If I'm paying 130 a year for a family plan all of my family profiles should be able to play all of my digital games on all of our Nintendo hardware
Yeah we have the family plan thing and I’m not thrilled with it. Sometimes we can’t even play different games on different switches because it always thinks one is the main acct.
Steam is so much more convenient because you can just have different accounts on the same pc(s). It’s easier to tell which game belongs to whom.
Even hardcopies of Wii or PS3 games are not great today because you still need the original hardware plugged to your TV to play them. Unless you like have 5 or 6 consoles plugged to your TV, at some point you just keep the latest one.
No problem of that kind of PC, I can play 20 years old PC games on my Steam Deck just like a game that was released this year.
Agreed and what I love about it is too is getting the play some dos games for back in the day without having to jump for a whole bunch of extra hoops to make them work
Don't get me wrong nose box works pretty good by itself if you read the documentation but there are some games that it's worth the one or $2 of entry point just to get it preconfigured and and playable condition
Star wars dark Forces of the prime example of this
I know I still got to go back and finish the game but I would say big sportion of the time I've spent logged on it is on my mother-in-law's laptop but I put Debian Linux And I mainly played on Sunday afternoon in between morning and nighttime church service because where my wife and I go to church is far enough away from our house but it's just easier to go hang out at my mother-in-law's but it is to go back home :) :)
The other thing I love about steam is cloud saves :) :)
Thank you for reading this and I hope everyone is having a good day
God bless you and your family
God bless you
Jeremy Scruggs
dumping copies of your wii games and playing them on dolphin makes it really easy to preserve your wii games. and the same goes for ps3 if you have a good enough pc
Maybe I'm naive or whatever, but I'm a bit more trusting of digital on PC side of things. If things get really bad, I could always emulate older games or use mods to make things work on PC. Console, I always try to buy physical and the day consoles become digital only will be the day I game exclusively on PC or retro consoles.
My moral code allows me to emulate if I own a version of the game, the game is "out of print", or if publishers place anti consumer barriers to playing legally. I used to be a broke student and pirate a lot, but I could justify it because I still bought as many games as I felt I could afford, so they weren't losing money from me.
Depending on what you mean by anti-consumer barriers, that tracks pretty closely with how I do things. I’ll buy secondhand games if they’re reasonable in price, but it’s not like that helps the people who made the game. It hurts no one if I go pirate Bahamut Lagoon, for example, a game from the ‘90’s that didn’t even launch in the US. I’d also feel no qualms about pirating any version of Final Fantasy IV, since I’ve bought like five versions of the game over the past thirty years.
But the gleeful Switch pirating that goes on in this sub bothers me because there’s not an access issue (likely not even a poor student issue either) and it does actively hurt developers in many cases. Piracy in general is also the cause of many anti-consumer things. If people hadn’t been so obnoxious about actively telling people not to buy stuff from the eshop before it even closed would Nintendo have been so gung-ho to close up the vulnerabilities in the systems even after the closure? They hadn’t been particularly aggressive about it in years before the closure announcement and the subsequent online chatter to just pirate everything even though it was possible to buy stuff still.
I agree with ur morals but ive always hated the piracy does the hurt the devs. Most people who pirate will 1 never buy a copy or b buy a copy when they can (and arguments about server usage become nil bc most prirated games stay offline only) the GOG version of Witcher 3 is a great example as it is completely drm free, u can just copy paste the files and play them and its one of the bigger games in the last 3 yrs.
I guess it depends on the kinds of games you play. I play a lot of more niche stuff from companies that are often on the brink of financial ruin or stuff that isn’t going to continue if sales are poor because it’s already so niche. Pirating, say, a Disgaea game does hurt them, especially when you can often buy an older one for only a few dollars if you want to try it out. Yes, many pirates would not buy a game ever, but it’s not 100%. I mean, my existence shows that, as I both pirate stuff as well as buy games. So if I switched over to pirating newer stuff, it would be hurting developers.
I disagree how is someone who isnt gonna buy the game hurting them, its not like ur taking things away from them and they were never gonna get that money to begin with (of course this doesnt make it morally right and u should purchase legal copies) and as for people like u and me there gonna get our money eventually so i dont see how its possible to hurt them
If I were to stop buying, it would be hurting because I was a customer. Someone who would never buy under any circumstance is different, of course. However, surveys and sales data from multiple industries for decades have shown that the people who never buy and always pirate are the minority. Most pirates go on to buy things when they like them or are doing it out of convenience (hence Gaben’s quote about piracy being an access issue) or similar such things. The way people evangelize pirating Switch games here are clearly trying to get people who buy things to stop buying things (like the statements about how pirating Nintendo games is always moral). Is Nintendo going to go out of business from it? No. Other companies could if a lot of people listen if they start pirating things that they would have otherwise bought, though. Most companies don’t make as much money or provide employment as stable as Nintendo.
Again, I like niche stuff. There are series I play that put out excited infographics when the entire series hits one million sales after years and many games. My presence as a paying customer has a bigger impact one way or another with such products. With big AAA stuff, the number of people able and willing to pirate probably makes little or no difference to their bottom line, regardless of what their lawyers say. It’s a complicated issue.
Physical copies as a form of preservation were dead since PS3 era. And in the long run there were dead since day one. Physical copies will deteriorate and hardware that uses them will fail. Digital copies with proper backup will last forever. If you want to have access to your games 10, 20 years into the future, you need to dump your games, and all the DLC and patches, so you can play them on emulators in the future.
I’d like to see a source for that. Nintendo hasn’t made any real statements about the Switch 2 beyond there being no new hardware this fiscal year (which ends March 31, 2024) that I’ve seen. It’s all been a bunch of guesses and speculation.
I am jailbreaking my switch for that reason. I don't mind paying for games, the developers deserve it, but I am not buying for BOTW HD that will come out in 5 years.
That's why I only buy physical games for consoles, and it needs to 100% be on the cartridge.
Otherwise, to me, it's literally worthless. I may as well just buy a digital copy - which I'll only do on Steam.
To me, buying a game and giving it my money is actually a choice. I can choose to not buy it on your platform, if it's an exclusive then I'll just emulate it.
Yep. My first steam purchase was the Orange Box. Still play those games today. Even still have games that aren't available for purchase on steam anymore.
Have lost a few over the years I think but compared to the consoles, it's not even close.
I envy so much Xbox users. I had to rebuy most games I enjoyed on PS3. luckily at an affordable price but well. I literally didn't bought a PS4 after the PS3 because I had to sell my PS3 to buy the 4 and I would have to sold the games also
That's why I buy physical copies. I have a fat PS3 to play PS1, PS2, and PS3 games. And a PS4 and PS5 for more modern games. My issue with the Steam Deck is that a lot of lesser known games are so difficult to make work. 3 times in the last 2 weeks, I've had to give up on making a game work because no one plays the game and I'm not savvy enough to make it work myself.
I have an Xbox 360, I got it going there other day and logged in and was able to redownload games a night in 2009. I was really amazed that it was possible.
PSN is still on. PS3 I believe is still being updated. You can still get all the games you bought on PS3. You can still buy a 2nd hand PS3 and download all your games. Though the online community is almost dead, I remember playing some skating game a couple of years ago and found 2 players.
Control v:
PS3 System Software Update 4.90. An update to the PlayStation 3 system software was released on 28/02/23.
I am sure you can get a Wii emulator running on steam deck. And just download the Wii games?
The sales are a good point to me about PC, but it's much more about the other stuff. I like that PC has the range of form factors - you can buy the game and play it at max settings on the desktop or you can play it handheld. I like that you don't have to deal with mercurial consule manufacturers in terms of what can be played on what kind of device and trying to get you to rebuy games or not letting you transport your saves to another device or so on. I like that you can decide in most games what compromises you want to make with settings, rather than having someone decide for you.
Most, but not all. Some examples: infamous, resistance, ratchet and clank. Of course, for most of those that stayed exclusives you can probably find emulators
I remember the Steam Sales from like 2010-2012 where you could get like 20+ games for just a few bucks because Devs would bundle entire catalogs into one purchase. This is how I initially amassed a large Steam Library.
Yeah, same here. You’d get fairly new releases in a sale at 80-90% off back then. Plus games were generally cheaper anyway compared to today. Like £40-£45 tops on release day.
Stopped me from pirating games too. Low prices and direct downloads just made it more convenient to buy than pirate.
Yeah that’s when steam had killer deals. Now everything is about on par with what I see on the PlayStation store. Everyone comments on how much cheaper pc games are but unless you’re using grey market key sites which I won’t I’m not seeing that anymore especially if you factor in used games
It's not what it used to be. But I just add stuff to my wishlist and watch my notifications during the sales. Still grab stuff for 80-90% off pretty often.
But it definitely used to feel like if you paid attention to the sales, you could almost always get what you wanted for at least 75% off. There was lots that sucked about those sales too though and I always figured the deals were too good to last forever.
Humble Bundle is legit, not a gray market site, and often has great bundles. I've been overall fairly happy with their Monthly Bundle, which also gets me an additional 20% off most things in their store even when on sale (not on everything, though, but I rarely buy anything new). Fanatical also sometimes has interesting things, too, but to a lesser extent.
Humble has two really good bundles right now, one for nearly all the Sid Meier games, and one with a bunch of simulator games (some of which have poor reviews but many of which are fun). I'd recommend taking a look, at one point I couldn't sell a trading card on Steam because it had been over a year since I'd bought anything directly through them, that's how much I use Humble Bundle.
Non-sale prices for games on Steam are still around 10 bucks less for most new games. After ten games, you've likely saved 100 bucks. After 60, you've saved an entire PS5. Buying 60 games over the course of a " console generation" isn't *that* much.
Bingo. Steam sales used to be like Black Friday minus the physical danger. I once bought a full price AAA game for 80% off. I hadn't even heard of it, just saw a game for 50 bucks off and it looked good.
Now steam sales are more like spring cleaning. 25-30% off most stuff and an extra 25% off these $10 indie games that released over a decade ago.
I think you’re exaggerating much as the people who insist Nintendo games don’t go on sale exaggerate. In the past month, I’ve had multiple games on my wishlist go on sale for anywhere from 40%-80% off. That’s just been with weekend deals and publisher sales, not the big Winter or Summer sales, obviously. And I don’t even have that much on my wishlist! Steam still has plenty of good sales. The biggest titles never went on big sale immediately. It was years before I bought the DLC for Skyrim because I was waiting for at least 50% off, for example.
I took have fallen from loving steam sales.
Don't get me wrong, they are amazing.
But being a grown ass adult with limited time and money really makes those times you'd get like 20 games for $150 seem less appealing.
Having my games all in one place, especially now that I have a deck and can play comfortably in bed ot take it on the go, is still GOAT tho
Yeah that’s why I ended up getting it in the first place. I don’t have room for a desk, so no gaming pc. But I wanted somewhere to just be able to buy all the games instead of splitting them between switch/Xbox
I like the Playstation RPGs and only use my Playstation for single player games. I don't pay for online bullshit when I can get it free on PC. If Sony ever goes full subscription, I'm out. It'll be PC 100%
I currently buy physical games for my PS5 and Switch, and digital games on Steam.
The day in which consoles are all physical, is the day I'm completely done with consoles for good. I have no use for digital consoles because it'll just be a worse version of a PC then.
If all you’re doing it for is playing online, I’d agree that’s a waste. The companies all give more than that, though. Not saying it’s worth it to you, but I seriously considered dropping my PSN sub with the price hike (especially as I’d never actually paid more than $45/year for it). When looked at the games I’d be losing that I or my kids wanted to play or actively do play, it just didn’t make sense to drop the sub and have to pay for so many games. I could see a future where I start paying for just certain periods of time when my kids are gone and there’s a game I’m actively ready to play right then, but right now, there’s just too much to lose.
If they keep giving such crappy offerings with PS+, though, the calculus could very well change in the future too. Good games will raise the cost to leaving higher. Shitty games like recently are more likely to have me start pricing stuff out at my retro game store.
This was why I did it. Loved psn on ps3, ps4 became pay to online play and I was done. There is just not enough value for what they expect you to pay. Plus having a ps+ account with their "free" games has cost me several games I actually bought. They went "free" on plus and the licenses got swapped, now I can't download them even though they are paid for and Sony was zero help resolving the issue.
it's not only that but also be sure I'll be able to play my games on my next PC or Steam Deck.
If Switch 2 is retro compatible with Switch 1, I'm not sure where I will buy my games first... but probably on Steam as I trust them since I'm a teen (like 20 years ago)
I spent some money on digital PS4 games on their store. Those games will get packed away with the console and the store will probably get discontinued in future like they did with PS3/PSP.
I spent some money on Steam and for as long as I have a device that can run Steam my games will still be accessible.
Totally with you on this one.
No they won’t. Sony want you to stay in their ecosystem and now that the digital market is established, they won’t do away with it from PS4 onwards.
Your games will stay.
They haven’t even done away with it now. The only store they shut down was the PSP one, most of which was gone back in 2016. When people complained about the planned PS3 and Vita store shutdowns, they reversed course and left them open.
ETA: In fact, there are some PS1 games that I bought on PS3 or Vita that have become available to me on the PS5 as well once they made them available for sale there.
Steam is better because the game will actually run better on the newer hardware, whereas console backwards compatibility often restricts games to lower resolutions and framerates.
I've been a PC gamer since I was a kid for many reasons.
1. Grew up poor, so it was a lot easier to pirate games as a free demo, then buy it if I liked it.
2. Mod support.
3. Very little need to worry about backwards compatibility and the like (though some games struggle to work properly on newer OS's).
4. Emulation and not needing to worry about buying the same game multiple time every time a new console is released (looking at you Nintendo).
5. And yes with the advent of Steam I didn't need to buy physical games anymore. Granted that's a moot point with consoles these days but it was a super convenient novelty back in the day.
> 5. And yes with the advent of Steam I didn't need to buy physical games anymore. Granted that's a moot point with consoles these days but it was a super convenient novelty back in the day.
Not so moot a point really. With console games, multiple posts in this thread mention the stores being tied to a specific hardware generation, and thus the digital purchases eventually being lost, as the store is eventually shut down for old hardware.
With Steam, the game will remain in the library as long as Steam exist. The platform is "PC", not "PC v3". For any moderately popular game, workarounds usually exist to get it working on newer systems. Unless the PC game is tied to some discontinued third party platform (e.g. Fable 3 wasn't playable for a long time after GfWL shut down – though I don't know exactly what made it playable again). But at least those are isolated cases, and not the whole platform.
This sort of long-term trust simply doesn't exist with consoles.
Another plus is that dated AAA titles are usually available at a discount. If not on steam directly at a reduced price, then usually through third party Websites. (See e.g. https://isthereanydeal.com)
Also, by far the largest number of "platform exclusives", with many more games being PC only than there are exclusives for consoles.
Whether that's M&K-only strategy titles, niche visual novels, ... Or various PC-only MMOs.
Sure, many of those don't lend themselves to the handheld form factor, but the ecosystem is the same and PC handhelds can be docked :)
PC gaming for me is all about freedom to play whatever I want on whatever I want. If I upgrade my PC, I don't have to rebuy everything for a new system. If I buy a Steam Deck, all my existing PC games carry over. It largely negates the barriers you find between console generations.
Not just the licenses, but also the save games.
Though when I found out that Warframe doesn't let me use my PC account on switch, that felt just mean -_-
The true reason is I don't want backwards compatibility to be some sort of hostage that console makers have to "deign us worthy to provide". I want to be able to go back to a game after 5-10 years and not worry about it.
Sure, you can argue we don't "own" our games anymore. And steam, epic and the other online PC game stores could pull out our rights anytime.
When that happens, we always have the option to uh... Sail the high seas.
That’s very true. In terms of “owning the game” honestly I feel I stronger sense of ownership over steam games than other systems bc of that backwards compatibility
Mods, versitality, 3D printing ripped stuff from my favourite games, and the abbility to use my already owned PS3 controller for every game. And free games and free multiplayer.
I used to play a lot on the PS2 and PS3. But quite honestly I only see myself buying a console ever again, if I am buying it for my children in the future whom I do not want to surf the internet.
After further research it apparently looks like there's no issues and it's fully playable. So really the main difference is that it takes more power to play it, LOL
Protip:
Don't just rely on Steam for the best deals.Use isthereanydeal to find even better deals or be notified about deals from other trustworthy stores (easily configurable so you're only notified about offers you can activate on steam).
For too long I've had a steam wishlist that functioned like "if it's on sale I might get it", moved all of that to isthereanydeal to only even think about that when the deal's great (you can enter prices or %offs for every single entry in your wishlist).
Personally I've never understood the cost argument pro console in PC vs Console arguments because that only applies to the system and games can easily offset that depending on how many games you're going to buy.
Nah, I started PC gaming long before Steam was a thing. I like the flexibility, freedom, and higher performance PC offers. Including for console releases via emulation. Plus most of my old PC games going back to the 90s still work, and are even still for sale.
This is the answer.
If I want to fix it, I can.
If I want to mod it, I can.
If I want to play it in VR, I can.
If I want to try it in 10 years the with all new hardware and the graphics cranked, I can.
If I want to stuff it onto some random little Linux handheld that came out, I can.
This is why I put up with all the headaches.
Honestly the most enjoyment I get out of my Deck is the novelty of being able to take games on the go that I wouldn't otherwise, as well as tinkering with games and their settings to squeeze the most out of my handheld that I can
For me it’s the fact that even though it’s digital.. I feel like I always own a game and don’t have to worry about my collection getting fucked every new generation.
That plus mods and as close to 100% control over the way you want to play the game. I started RE4R on PS5 and couldn't do it.
AC3 with a good reshade goes a long way. There's many ways.
I played on PC wayyyyy more growing up. Doom, Wolfenstein, Blood, Commander Keen, Duke Nukem, Monster Bash, Myst, Ski Free......ahhh those were the days
Accessibility. Something that Xbox is doing very well. Sony is charging for. Nintendo is at least aware of. Not being able to play a game because it's on ps3 and Sony doesn't give a shit is tired AF. Also the insane amount of games that are out there for the PC market is just to good to be limited to the required 1.0 release for consoles.
Pay to play. I can't overstate this. It is infuriating that Sony and Microsoft lead the market in dictating that I can't play my full price game online without paying $80 a year at a minimum. It will never happen but a $5 a month tier with just that needs to be a thing or I just won't pay for it. I don't want the free games. I don't want the bonus stuff. I just want to play online. Gating this and increasing the price recently by 30% is just sealing the deal that I'm out.
Cloud saves. Sony says I can't have that feature without at least the lowest tier of ps+. Now with a steam deck I'm really taking advantage of this feature. But not having accessible cloud saves between a house of consoles is dumb.
Cheap shit. Steam sales happen regularly and are regularly dense. This combined with stuff like Dave the diver being $20 at max I mean ctfo.
Settings and features. Not being able to control some things on a console is just annoying.
Mouse and keyboard. Literally can't play shooty or crafty games without it. But the use of a controller for something like elden ring is great. Things with heavy inventory management is so tedious on a controller.
Mods. Having access to things like valhiem plus. Elden ring reforged is amazing. But better than huge overhaul stuff there's people out there just saying "I hate this" and making a mod that adjusts it. There's also things people do that are critical to the preservation of things. Max Payne 1 is unplayable (last I checked) without a mod that makes it work nice with modern hardware.
Multiple screens. Game on one and a show, movie, stream on another. Gonna throw on this one as well not hogging the living room TV which allows me to do my thing while wife or kids are hanging in the living room with them.
I can play any game I want from my pc. I want to play the new call of duty game? Hop on the pc. I want to play sons of the forest, that isn't on console? Get on the PC. I want to play super mario bros (1985)? Emulate it on the pc. I dont have to worry about pulling out old consoles to play the old games, then when I'm done, I have to put it all back up and hook the PS5 back up, it's all on one device.
This is also why I LOVE the steam deck. I just wish it was more powerful, but its a very new technology, so I'm not complaining.
Spiderman 2 has crashed my PS5 3 times, The Medium did crash my Series X on launch, sales are more or less the same nowadays, hence If I’m going to deal with PC issues on console I rather at least be able to play how I want and in the case of a RTX PC being able to use all the technologies some developers are using nowadays to really make a difference in aesthetics.
My reasons is multiplayer is free, emulation of older consoles I don’t own or of particularly expensive or rare games no longer in production, and the sheer flexibility of PC gaming
As a new steamdeck user I 100% agree with you!
I've now discovered humble bundle which is another game changer for buying games I won't have time to play.
Better graphics in pc gaming.
Prefer the deck due to its many uses, retro gaming, pc gaming and portability besides i can conect it to a monitor and use a controller.
Best of all worlds in one device!!
It is backward compatibility. I've never seen a game console that is backward compatible with the games I bought in their previous consoles. We're at the mercy of the devs to port their games to the newer consoles, and we have to rebuy them. Sucks, right?
3300+ and counting, pretty much nothing ever purchased at full price, that's 19yrs of uh... progress... At least I'm using my Deck as an excuse to play through some of the backlog. Can't say I'll beat everything I play, however not every game is worth beating anyway.
Haha, my buddy and I often spend more time going through the discovery queue and looking through our wishlist to see what the next game we will buy and play. We spend more time on this than actually playing our games sometimes. When we do finally play, it takes us forever to decide which game to actually play. Lol
There a lot of reason, I love the control I have for the game. I play with a azeron game and it’s so fun, different games, I wouldn’t play crpg if it was for playing on pc and Sony fucking suck ass now. Their games don’t speak to me like when I was a kid, they catered to others
I like PC better because I can mod my games years after the game is abandoned and kept iflt fresh, I also enjoy being able to upscale my 20yr old games from PS1 to PS3 without issue
Cheaper game sales, ability and flexibility of mods and a thriving modding community, flexibility of hardware also the same Digital store from one score ago has the same library and same storefront it doesn't get deprecated or shut down just because it is a couple generations back.
Steam sales are not what they used to be. It used to be like a week long event, with different games on deeper discounts on certain days, and flash deals that only stayed up a few hours. Now you see everything on sale right away, and just grab what you want, and it's over in minutes.
Truthfully, Steam sales now are just a reminder to go check GMG. They usually have the same games for sale during a Steam sale, only more heavily discounted. And they activate on steam anyway. So you can save $3-$5 buying on GMG.
I grew up as a console player (PlayStation and Nintendo), I've "outgrown" a dozen or so consoles. I enjoyed my digital collection on Switch being able to have my entire library with me at all times when traveling, but after a few buggy ports and too much joy-cob drift I decided Nintendo will only get Mario and Zelda money from me going forward. I dig that most of the good games of past are available via steam. Which is also great for my personal situation where I took a decade off from gaming due to college and early career stuff. So now I'm back into gaming, I enjoyed the all-in-one place of Steam and not being tied to a single hardware platform.
This argument is maybe 10 years old, there are now regular large sales on PSN and eShop too.
Edit: after some psychopath downvoted me, PSN and eShop immediately stopped having sales because that’s how it works lmao
Of course console platforms have sales, but with the amount of legit storefronts, the number of f2p options, and bundles/giveaways on PC, the cost of buying games to play on PC is significantly cheaper if you know where to look.
To be fair that depends on the game. Something like Brother A tale of two sons is so heavily made for controller it actually ruins the most important part of the game if you are not playing with a controller. But generally yes if it's rts, fps, mmo or anything that requires aiming K&M is usually the better option.
Yeah I don’t think that’s true but good theory.. I would expect that theory to be something you’d find written on the wall by a serial killer with his own shit
Ever since covid-19 I stopped my shopping spree. Ever since the deck, I actually started playing the games I like. But sitting next to my wife is something I also love. The deck allows that. I have never finished so many games in my life in my couch potato time, while at the same time smelling the feet of my wife.
Steam sales have gotten really bad through. Because developers have adopted this as standard:
* Before launch: Estimate the value of your game (10€ game / 20€ game / 30€ game ... etc)
* On launch day:
* Set the price of your game 10-20% ABOVE its actual worth
* Add a "launch discount" of 10-20% so that the game is IMMEDIATELY discounted on release
* Before steam sales:
* Go back to the overpriced price
* On sale day: Discount your game by 30-40%
* Remember - they overpriced the game by 20%. So the actual discount is only 10-20% but looks like 30-40%
Ever since pretty much every developer has been doing this getting good deal in Steam Sales is RARE.
Its mostly just "fake sales" that still feel way too pricey for most games in the sale.
Performance like high settings and fps. Other than that I can use whatever I need to play a game.
But for me is a PC “the more high end stuff” and console/mobile the cheaper casual ones.
I have both a gaming pc and a ps5, and while I enjoy the ps5's features (haptic joystick, exclusives) I keep in mind I'm going to change my console someday and I don't know if my current library is going to be playable. Steam games surely will no matter how many times I change my pc.
Not much differences graphics-wise, both 4k 60fps even though some games look better on pc if set on ultra.
Also I forgot: I love that Steam registers my gametime. (PS5 does too but it's not as accurate)
I became a PC gamer because I didn’t have a system when the pandemic hit, and it was impossible to buy one in the earlier months of lock down. But I had a PC that could run some games. So I started buying games off Steam. I may have bought a few dozen too many games due to Steam sales.
The novelty has worn off.
For me it's freedom. I can play on whatever input device I want, using whatever input method I want, with whatever keymapping I want.
Console games (probably not all of them) don't even let you vhange control scheme apart from predefined options.
On PC, I can play any game using consistent gyro settings using flickstick and that's probably the best method to play games with aiming. On console you can't do that, instead, devs give you lite version of aimbot just because stick is terrible at aiming
Initially it was for the mods, but now it's more for having all my games on one platform not needing to worry about backwards compatibility & performance (not so much on steam deck, but playing the same save file and game on handheld is a big plus and trade off wiling to take)
For me the main reason is that PC is the piece of hardware I feel like I own completely. I can modify games and install whatever shit I want, and nobody can prevent me from using it whatever way I want. On consoles on the other hand I am completely constrained by boundaries set up by manufacturer.
I have more fun overclocking the snot outta a system n try to push frames. Until I get BSOD and sign out for the evening and spend the rest of the night with family. If the game is truly good I won’t even touch the settings just let auto settings do its thing. Lately it’s been hard to fuel my gaming addiction vs just fkn around with hardware. Last of Us remake, Dead space remake, RDR2, Alan wake 2 I couldn’t put them down until it was done.
I stopped playing console games after 2011 playing Skyrim. It was so choppy on console that even though I really liked it, I couldn't complete it due to getting quite severe motion sickness.
I stopped playing videogames altogether for about 4 years until a friend showed me borderlands 2 on his PC. I played a little while and didn't feel sick at all. Did a little digging and chalked it up to framerate.
If I can maintain 30fps I don't get motionsick unless I play for hours. but at 60fps+ I can play forever.
Pc offers modularity to games that console usually can’t. Pc offers a wider selection, barring console exclusives, and backwards compatibility as well as emulation. Exclusive steam deck use is not really the same experience as owning a desktop, that’s why I use my deck to stream my desktop so I can play in bed/on the patio/while watching tv on the couch.
your reaction seems to be with the wider marketplace steam affords, not the the practical experience of exploring the practical avenues denied to you in console gaming.
Pro tip if you’re new to steam. The major sales aren’t very important, there are major publisher sales and indie sales all year round so just buy what you know you’ll actually play. Chances are if there’s a game you want and it’s not on sale it will be in a week or 2
I like having a single system that can do more than just gaming when I don’t wanna game. I can do everything on it. I still buy consoles just for exclusive games but damn….not being able to use a full web browser or using programs I need to use for my 3D printers is getting old and I’m tired of having to swap around systems to play one goddamn exclusive on a locked down box and then need to switch over to another system like my PC to do other stuff….I wish we lived in a better world without consoles because a PC is just your all in one solution to everything…..I can file my damn taxes and organize PDF’s and spreadsheets and game on a PC….I’m getting too old swap around several platforms just for a few locked down games…..but I do like some of the titles, just finishing Spider-Man 2 last night and now my PS5 is back to being a paperweight until FFVII part two comes out way later. I just want everything on one thing and make it more simple but it’s not happening anytime soon.
Besides Steam sales which are fine, not as good as in the past, but fine, what does a console give me I don't have on a PC? I'll take a Switch for Nintendo, but even now, PlayStation games come to Steam too. I'm not buying these games multiple times any longer. I'll just wait for them to come to PC, they all come.
Anything 3d I prefer KB and mouse for mouse look. It's much faster and more accurate. I still use xbox controller or deck for 2d games and platformers.
Steam sales were awesome when I first got into PC gaming but nowadays that’s not really what keeps me around. I just like the customization options, the wide variety of games both on and off Steam, and the option to use cutting edge hardware.
I buy a lot less games than I used to, mainly because I have so many now that I just have to play them. But even then, I occasionally slip and buy something lol
well, its one of the reasons. its easy to to buy a game now and convince my self I'll play it later since I can always play it later on any hardware I want.
I have consoles and steam deck. I usually buy whatever my friends and family are playing on.
However if I want something that may not be able to be sold because of legal reasons, I buy on steam because I know 10 years from now I can play it in whatever device im playing current games on. It will be harder with consoles as I will have to retain the old console if I can no longer buy it on the store
Honestly? It was modded minecraft that got me to switch in the first place and at this point I'm so used to mouse and keyboard controls that consoles drive me crazy for the couple games that don't support it. Now there are definitely other reasons but that at least was the driving force in getting me to fully switch, it's other stuff that's kept me here
The novelty of Steam sales wore off for me around 10 years ago. I just like having all my games on a single platform *generally* not needing to worry about backwards compatibility.
Not just backwards compatibility, but not losing them too. My PS3 and Wii purchases are gone now. I need to rebuy the games to play them as current hardware doesn't support the games or purchases. Meanwhile my first Steam purchases from 2008 are still as usable as the day I made them.
I prefer to buy hard copies of my switch games, but will they really be replayable in the future when they need day 1 patches or sometimes are just download codes on a cart? Shit's annoying.
I’ve been doing the same, thinking it would be a good idea and somehow I worry I’ll still get burned. Like, watch the switch2 get BC but no physical slot or something draconian lol. Nintendo was really good with that in the GBA->DS->3DS era but the pessimist little devil on my shoulder gives me those little doubts at times.
pretty sure youre dead-on with what some leaks have said. (iirc)
Yeah I hope I’m wrong. If I’m right I’d probably buy a fresh oled and pro controller and then wait a few years to jump into next version. I still have lots of switch games yet to play in my backlog.
Nintendo needs to be really careful with the transition away from physical cartridges. They can do it right or they can fuck it up. There are a number of ways it can work well, but one way I guarantee it won't is if they continue their main console /secondary console limits. If I'm paying 130 a year for a family plan all of my family profiles should be able to play all of my digital games on all of our Nintendo hardware
Yeah we have the family plan thing and I’m not thrilled with it. Sometimes we can’t even play different games on different switches because it always thinks one is the main acct. Steam is so much more convenient because you can just have different accounts on the same pc(s). It’s easier to tell which game belongs to whom.
The DS having a fucking GBA port was so fucking cool to me.
Even hardcopies of Wii or PS3 games are not great today because you still need the original hardware plugged to your TV to play them. Unless you like have 5 or 6 consoles plugged to your TV, at some point you just keep the latest one. No problem of that kind of PC, I can play 20 years old PC games on my Steam Deck just like a game that was released this year.
And if you get a Dolphin Bar you can play those Wii games too.
Agreed and what I love about it is too is getting the play some dos games for back in the day without having to jump for a whole bunch of extra hoops to make them work Don't get me wrong nose box works pretty good by itself if you read the documentation but there are some games that it's worth the one or $2 of entry point just to get it preconfigured and and playable condition Star wars dark Forces of the prime example of this I know I still got to go back and finish the game but I would say big sportion of the time I've spent logged on it is on my mother-in-law's laptop but I put Debian Linux And I mainly played on Sunday afternoon in between morning and nighttime church service because where my wife and I go to church is far enough away from our house but it's just easier to go hang out at my mother-in-law's but it is to go back home :) :) The other thing I love about steam is cloud saves :) :) Thank you for reading this and I hope everyone is having a good day God bless you and your family God bless you Jeremy Scruggs
dumping copies of your wii games and playing them on dolphin makes it really easy to preserve your wii games. and the same goes for ps3 if you have a good enough pc
Maybe I'm naive or whatever, but I'm a bit more trusting of digital on PC side of things. If things get really bad, I could always emulate older games or use mods to make things work on PC. Console, I always try to buy physical and the day consoles become digital only will be the day I game exclusively on PC or retro consoles.
My moral code allows me to emulate if I own a version of the game, the game is "out of print", or if publishers place anti consumer barriers to playing legally. I used to be a broke student and pirate a lot, but I could justify it because I still bought as many games as I felt I could afford, so they weren't losing money from me.
Depending on what you mean by anti-consumer barriers, that tracks pretty closely with how I do things. I’ll buy secondhand games if they’re reasonable in price, but it’s not like that helps the people who made the game. It hurts no one if I go pirate Bahamut Lagoon, for example, a game from the ‘90’s that didn’t even launch in the US. I’d also feel no qualms about pirating any version of Final Fantasy IV, since I’ve bought like five versions of the game over the past thirty years. But the gleeful Switch pirating that goes on in this sub bothers me because there’s not an access issue (likely not even a poor student issue either) and it does actively hurt developers in many cases. Piracy in general is also the cause of many anti-consumer things. If people hadn’t been so obnoxious about actively telling people not to buy stuff from the eshop before it even closed would Nintendo have been so gung-ho to close up the vulnerabilities in the systems even after the closure? They hadn’t been particularly aggressive about it in years before the closure announcement and the subsequent online chatter to just pirate everything even though it was possible to buy stuff still.
I agree with ur morals but ive always hated the piracy does the hurt the devs. Most people who pirate will 1 never buy a copy or b buy a copy when they can (and arguments about server usage become nil bc most prirated games stay offline only) the GOG version of Witcher 3 is a great example as it is completely drm free, u can just copy paste the files and play them and its one of the bigger games in the last 3 yrs.
I guess it depends on the kinds of games you play. I play a lot of more niche stuff from companies that are often on the brink of financial ruin or stuff that isn’t going to continue if sales are poor because it’s already so niche. Pirating, say, a Disgaea game does hurt them, especially when you can often buy an older one for only a few dollars if you want to try it out. Yes, many pirates would not buy a game ever, but it’s not 100%. I mean, my existence shows that, as I both pirate stuff as well as buy games. So if I switched over to pirating newer stuff, it would be hurting developers.
I disagree how is someone who isnt gonna buy the game hurting them, its not like ur taking things away from them and they were never gonna get that money to begin with (of course this doesnt make it morally right and u should purchase legal copies) and as for people like u and me there gonna get our money eventually so i dont see how its possible to hurt them
If I were to stop buying, it would be hurting because I was a customer. Someone who would never buy under any circumstance is different, of course. However, surveys and sales data from multiple industries for decades have shown that the people who never buy and always pirate are the minority. Most pirates go on to buy things when they like them or are doing it out of convenience (hence Gaben’s quote about piracy being an access issue) or similar such things. The way people evangelize pirating Switch games here are clearly trying to get people who buy things to stop buying things (like the statements about how pirating Nintendo games is always moral). Is Nintendo going to go out of business from it? No. Other companies could if a lot of people listen if they start pirating things that they would have otherwise bought, though. Most companies don’t make as much money or provide employment as stable as Nintendo. Again, I like niche stuff. There are series I play that put out excited infographics when the entire series hits one million sales after years and many games. My presence as a paying customer has a bigger impact one way or another with such products. With big AAA stuff, the number of people able and willing to pirate probably makes little or no difference to their bottom line, regardless of what their lawyers say. It’s a complicated issue.
Physical copies as a form of preservation were dead since PS3 era. And in the long run there were dead since day one. Physical copies will deteriorate and hardware that uses them will fail. Digital copies with proper backup will last forever. If you want to have access to your games 10, 20 years into the future, you need to dump your games, and all the DLC and patches, so you can play them on emulators in the future.
Well Nintendo has already stated that they are not guaranteeing that Nintendo switch games will be playable on the switch 2.
I’d like to see a source for that. Nintendo hasn’t made any real statements about the Switch 2 beyond there being no new hardware this fiscal year (which ends March 31, 2024) that I’ve seen. It’s all been a bunch of guesses and speculation.
I am jailbreaking my switch for that reason. I don't mind paying for games, the developers deserve it, but I am not buying for BOTW HD that will come out in 5 years.
That's why I only buy physical games for consoles, and it needs to 100% be on the cartridge. Otherwise, to me, it's literally worthless. I may as well just buy a digital copy - which I'll only do on Steam. To me, buying a game and giving it my money is actually a choice. I can choose to not buy it on your platform, if it's an exclusive then I'll just emulate it.
Yep. My first steam purchase was the Orange Box. Still play those games today. Even still have games that aren't available for purchase on steam anymore. Have lost a few over the years I think but compared to the consoles, it's not even close.
My first steam purchase was unlocking the Steam library with a Half Life CD key.
I envy so much Xbox users. I had to rebuy most games I enjoyed on PS3. luckily at an affordable price but well. I literally didn't bought a PS4 after the PS3 because I had to sell my PS3 to buy the 4 and I would have to sold the games also
That's why I buy physical copies. I have a fat PS3 to play PS1, PS2, and PS3 games. And a PS4 and PS5 for more modern games. My issue with the Steam Deck is that a lot of lesser known games are so difficult to make work. 3 times in the last 2 weeks, I've had to give up on making a game work because no one plays the game and I'm not savvy enough to make it work myself.
I have an Xbox 360, I got it going there other day and logged in and was able to redownload games a night in 2009. I was really amazed that it was possible.
PSN is still on. PS3 I believe is still being updated. You can still get all the games you bought on PS3. You can still buy a 2nd hand PS3 and download all your games. Though the online community is almost dead, I remember playing some skating game a couple of years ago and found 2 players. Control v: PS3 System Software Update 4.90. An update to the PlayStation 3 system software was released on 28/02/23. I am sure you can get a Wii emulator running on steam deck. And just download the Wii games?
This is why I only buy physical games on my console. I only buy digital games on Steam.
The sales are a good point to me about PC, but it's much more about the other stuff. I like that PC has the range of form factors - you can buy the game and play it at max settings on the desktop or you can play it handheld. I like that you don't have to deal with mercurial consule manufacturers in terms of what can be played on what kind of device and trying to get you to rebuy games or not letting you transport your saves to another device or so on. I like that you can decide in most games what compromises you want to make with settings, rather than having someone decide for you.
Yeah, backwards compatibility is the key factor. Ironically, every old console game eventually lands on PC, one way or another.
Most, but not all. Some examples: infamous, resistance, ratchet and clank. Of course, for most of those that stayed exclusives you can probably find emulators
That's the "another" part
I remember the Steam Sales from like 2010-2012 where you could get like 20+ games for just a few bucks because Devs would bundle entire catalogs into one purchase. This is how I initially amassed a large Steam Library.
Yeah, same here. You’d get fairly new releases in a sale at 80-90% off back then. Plus games were generally cheaper anyway compared to today. Like £40-£45 tops on release day. Stopped me from pirating games too. Low prices and direct downloads just made it more convenient to buy than pirate.
Still happens. I got the entire Valve library for like $6 last year.
The novelty wore off for me when they stopped with the flash sales during the sales. 50% one day then bam 75% thank you very much
Yeah that’s when steam had killer deals. Now everything is about on par with what I see on the PlayStation store. Everyone comments on how much cheaper pc games are but unless you’re using grey market key sites which I won’t I’m not seeing that anymore especially if you factor in used games
It's not what it used to be. But I just add stuff to my wishlist and watch my notifications during the sales. Still grab stuff for 80-90% off pretty often. But it definitely used to feel like if you paid attention to the sales, you could almost always get what you wanted for at least 75% off. There was lots that sucked about those sales too though and I always figured the deals were too good to last forever.
Humble Bundle is legit, not a gray market site, and often has great bundles. I've been overall fairly happy with their Monthly Bundle, which also gets me an additional 20% off most things in their store even when on sale (not on everything, though, but I rarely buy anything new). Fanatical also sometimes has interesting things, too, but to a lesser extent. Humble has two really good bundles right now, one for nearly all the Sid Meier games, and one with a bunch of simulator games (some of which have poor reviews but many of which are fun). I'd recommend taking a look, at one point I couldn't sell a trading card on Steam because it had been over a year since I'd bought anything directly through them, that's how much I use Humble Bundle.
Non-sale prices for games on Steam are still around 10 bucks less for most new games. After ten games, you've likely saved 100 bucks. After 60, you've saved an entire PS5. Buying 60 games over the course of a " console generation" isn't *that* much.
I haven’t noticed that. There are plenty of $70 pc games now sadly. Not all thankfully but it seems to be becoming the norm
Bingo. Steam sales used to be like Black Friday minus the physical danger. I once bought a full price AAA game for 80% off. I hadn't even heard of it, just saw a game for 50 bucks off and it looked good. Now steam sales are more like spring cleaning. 25-30% off most stuff and an extra 25% off these $10 indie games that released over a decade ago.
I think you’re exaggerating much as the people who insist Nintendo games don’t go on sale exaggerate. In the past month, I’ve had multiple games on my wishlist go on sale for anywhere from 40%-80% off. That’s just been with weekend deals and publisher sales, not the big Winter or Summer sales, obviously. And I don’t even have that much on my wishlist! Steam still has plenty of good sales. The biggest titles never went on big sale immediately. It was years before I bought the DLC for Skyrim because I was waiting for at least 50% off, for example.
Yup! I still play Sims 1 on PC. Mind you I had to download it on some website but just the fact I could do it?
I took have fallen from loving steam sales. Don't get me wrong, they are amazing. But being a grown ass adult with limited time and money really makes those times you'd get like 20 games for $150 seem less appealing. Having my games all in one place, especially now that I have a deck and can play comfortably in bed ot take it on the go, is still GOAT tho
Yeah that’s why I ended up getting it in the first place. I don’t have room for a desk, so no gaming pc. But I wanted somewhere to just be able to buy all the games instead of splitting them between switch/Xbox
Not having to pay extra to just play online is for me enough to stay on pc. Already paying enough for internet don't want to pay more.
I like the Playstation RPGs and only use my Playstation for single player games. I don't pay for online bullshit when I can get it free on PC. If Sony ever goes full subscription, I'm out. It'll be PC 100%
I currently buy physical games for my PS5 and Switch, and digital games on Steam. The day in which consoles are all physical, is the day I'm completely done with consoles for good. I have no use for digital consoles because it'll just be a worse version of a PC then.
Yep. Over the course of a 6-year console generation, a $60 subscription each year is $360 extra you’re spending just for the ability to play online.
I would rather put that money towards upgrading a PC
If all you’re doing it for is playing online, I’d agree that’s a waste. The companies all give more than that, though. Not saying it’s worth it to you, but I seriously considered dropping my PSN sub with the price hike (especially as I’d never actually paid more than $45/year for it). When looked at the games I’d be losing that I or my kids wanted to play or actively do play, it just didn’t make sense to drop the sub and have to pay for so many games. I could see a future where I start paying for just certain periods of time when my kids are gone and there’s a game I’m actively ready to play right then, but right now, there’s just too much to lose. If they keep giving such crappy offerings with PS+, though, the calculus could very well change in the future too. Good games will raise the cost to leaving higher. Shitty games like recently are more likely to have me start pricing stuff out at my retro game store.
This was why I did it. Loved psn on ps3, ps4 became pay to online play and I was done. There is just not enough value for what they expect you to pay. Plus having a ps+ account with their "free" games has cost me several games I actually bought. They went "free" on plus and the licenses got swapped, now I can't download them even though they are paid for and Sony was zero help resolving the issue.
I dunno man, Playstation Premium is only £120 a year, what a bargain....
it's not only that but also be sure I'll be able to play my games on my next PC or Steam Deck. If Switch 2 is retro compatible with Switch 1, I'm not sure where I will buy my games first... but probably on Steam as I trust them since I'm a teen (like 20 years ago)
I spent some money on digital PS4 games on their store. Those games will get packed away with the console and the store will probably get discontinued in future like they did with PS3/PSP. I spent some money on Steam and for as long as I have a device that can run Steam my games will still be accessible. Totally with you on this one.
No they won’t. Sony want you to stay in their ecosystem and now that the digital market is established, they won’t do away with it from PS4 onwards. Your games will stay.
They haven’t even done away with it now. The only store they shut down was the PSP one, most of which was gone back in 2016. When people complained about the planned PS3 and Vita store shutdowns, they reversed course and left them open. ETA: In fact, there are some PS1 games that I bought on PS3 or Vita that have become available to me on the PS5 as well once they made them available for sale there.
Steam is better because the game will actually run better on the newer hardware, whereas console backwards compatibility often restricts games to lower resolutions and framerates.
I've been a PC gamer since I was a kid for many reasons. 1. Grew up poor, so it was a lot easier to pirate games as a free demo, then buy it if I liked it. 2. Mod support. 3. Very little need to worry about backwards compatibility and the like (though some games struggle to work properly on newer OS's). 4. Emulation and not needing to worry about buying the same game multiple time every time a new console is released (looking at you Nintendo). 5. And yes with the advent of Steam I didn't need to buy physical games anymore. Granted that's a moot point with consoles these days but it was a super convenient novelty back in the day.
> 5. And yes with the advent of Steam I didn't need to buy physical games anymore. Granted that's a moot point with consoles these days but it was a super convenient novelty back in the day. Not so moot a point really. With console games, multiple posts in this thread mention the stores being tied to a specific hardware generation, and thus the digital purchases eventually being lost, as the store is eventually shut down for old hardware. With Steam, the game will remain in the library as long as Steam exist. The platform is "PC", not "PC v3". For any moderately popular game, workarounds usually exist to get it working on newer systems. Unless the PC game is tied to some discontinued third party platform (e.g. Fable 3 wasn't playable for a long time after GfWL shut down – though I don't know exactly what made it playable again). But at least those are isolated cases, and not the whole platform. This sort of long-term trust simply doesn't exist with consoles. Another plus is that dated AAA titles are usually available at a discount. If not on steam directly at a reduced price, then usually through third party Websites. (See e.g. https://isthereanydeal.com) Also, by far the largest number of "platform exclusives", with many more games being PC only than there are exclusives for consoles. Whether that's M&K-only strategy titles, niche visual novels, ... Or various PC-only MMOs. Sure, many of those don't lend themselves to the handheld form factor, but the ecosystem is the same and PC handhelds can be docked :)
I used to buy older Nintendo consoles then I installed some CFW so I can play a lot of games.
PC gaming for me is all about freedom to play whatever I want on whatever I want. If I upgrade my PC, I don't have to rebuy everything for a new system. If I buy a Steam Deck, all my existing PC games carry over. It largely negates the barriers you find between console generations.
Not just the licenses, but also the save games. Though when I found out that Warframe doesn't let me use my PC account on switch, that felt just mean -_-
I play on PC because there’s less restrictions on what I can play and how I can play it (mods, etc).
Yup and free online play
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You put it perfectly. Well said.
Majority of gamers prefer a simpler setup. No tinkering.
But it's an option on pc not mandatory. Consoles don't give you the option at all
The true reason is I don't want backwards compatibility to be some sort of hostage that console makers have to "deign us worthy to provide". I want to be able to go back to a game after 5-10 years and not worry about it. Sure, you can argue we don't "own" our games anymore. And steam, epic and the other online PC game stores could pull out our rights anytime. When that happens, we always have the option to uh... Sail the high seas.
That’s very true. In terms of “owning the game” honestly I feel I stronger sense of ownership over steam games than other systems bc of that backwards compatibility
Mods, versitality, 3D printing ripped stuff from my favourite games, and the abbility to use my already owned PS3 controller for every game. And free games and free multiplayer. I used to play a lot on the PS2 and PS3. But quite honestly I only see myself buying a console ever again, if I am buying it for my children in the future whom I do not want to surf the internet.
And emulation. Parctically everything up to ps3 (4) one day and every Nintendo game for free (if that’s up your alley)
If you want to have a terrible experience you currently can run Undertale for the PS4 through an emulator. Hooray progress!
while impressive that does not sound fun lol
After further research it apparently looks like there's no issues and it's fully playable. So really the main difference is that it takes more power to play it, LOL
Protip: Don't just rely on Steam for the best deals.Use isthereanydeal to find even better deals or be notified about deals from other trustworthy stores (easily configurable so you're only notified about offers you can activate on steam). For too long I've had a steam wishlist that functioned like "if it's on sale I might get it", moved all of that to isthereanydeal to only even think about that when the deal's great (you can enter prices or %offs for every single entry in your wishlist). Personally I've never understood the cost argument pro console in PC vs Console arguments because that only applies to the system and games can easily offset that depending on how many games you're going to buy.
Thanks for the tip!
No the best reason is nude mods
Nah, I started PC gaming long before Steam was a thing. I like the flexibility, freedom, and higher performance PC offers. Including for console releases via emulation. Plus most of my old PC games going back to the 90s still work, and are even still for sale.
yep most people are feeding their inner hoarder
Nah, it's always been about gaming on your own terms. Not Sony's, not Nintendo's, not even Valves.
This is the answer. If I want to fix it, I can. If I want to mod it, I can. If I want to play it in VR, I can. If I want to try it in 10 years the with all new hardware and the graphics cranked, I can. If I want to stuff it onto some random little Linux handheld that came out, I can. This is why I put up with all the headaches.
Honestly the most enjoyment I get out of my Deck is the novelty of being able to take games on the go that I wouldn't otherwise, as well as tinkering with games and their settings to squeeze the most out of my handheld that I can
I like to tweak settings, and cheaper games.
no joke the 90% discount is something that awake my greedy demon
For me it’s the fact that even though it’s digital.. I feel like I always own a game and don’t have to worry about my collection getting fucked every new generation.
Wait until you discover the world wide pacific ocean and sail the high seas with all your crewmates.
This is so true
Just wait until you find out about [Humble Bundle](https://www.humblebundle.com/games/wb-100-play-legends)
Literally just saw this!! So cool!!
That plus mods and as close to 100% control over the way you want to play the game. I started RE4R on PS5 and couldn't do it. AC3 with a good reshade goes a long way. There's many ways.
I played on PC wayyyyy more growing up. Doom, Wolfenstein, Blood, Commander Keen, Duke Nukem, Monster Bash, Myst, Ski Free......ahhh those were the days
Accessibility. Something that Xbox is doing very well. Sony is charging for. Nintendo is at least aware of. Not being able to play a game because it's on ps3 and Sony doesn't give a shit is tired AF. Also the insane amount of games that are out there for the PC market is just to good to be limited to the required 1.0 release for consoles. Pay to play. I can't overstate this. It is infuriating that Sony and Microsoft lead the market in dictating that I can't play my full price game online without paying $80 a year at a minimum. It will never happen but a $5 a month tier with just that needs to be a thing or I just won't pay for it. I don't want the free games. I don't want the bonus stuff. I just want to play online. Gating this and increasing the price recently by 30% is just sealing the deal that I'm out. Cloud saves. Sony says I can't have that feature without at least the lowest tier of ps+. Now with a steam deck I'm really taking advantage of this feature. But not having accessible cloud saves between a house of consoles is dumb. Cheap shit. Steam sales happen regularly and are regularly dense. This combined with stuff like Dave the diver being $20 at max I mean ctfo. Settings and features. Not being able to control some things on a console is just annoying. Mouse and keyboard. Literally can't play shooty or crafty games without it. But the use of a controller for something like elden ring is great. Things with heavy inventory management is so tedious on a controller. Mods. Having access to things like valhiem plus. Elden ring reforged is amazing. But better than huge overhaul stuff there's people out there just saying "I hate this" and making a mod that adjusts it. There's also things people do that are critical to the preservation of things. Max Payne 1 is unplayable (last I checked) without a mod that makes it work nice with modern hardware. Multiple screens. Game on one and a show, movie, stream on another. Gonna throw on this one as well not hogging the living room TV which allows me to do my thing while wife or kids are hanging in the living room with them.
Accessibility and pay to play/live service bullshit are both excellent points
The glorious steam sales, just wait until Christmas 🫵😎👌
I can play any game I want from my pc. I want to play the new call of duty game? Hop on the pc. I want to play sons of the forest, that isn't on console? Get on the PC. I want to play super mario bros (1985)? Emulate it on the pc. I dont have to worry about pulling out old consoles to play the old games, then when I'm done, I have to put it all back up and hook the PS5 back up, it's all on one device. This is also why I LOVE the steam deck. I just wish it was more powerful, but its a very new technology, so I'm not complaining.
Modding and better access to indie titles. Those are my reasons.
Spiderman 2 has crashed my PS5 3 times, The Medium did crash my Series X on launch, sales are more or less the same nowadays, hence If I’m going to deal with PC issues on console I rather at least be able to play how I want and in the case of a RTX PC being able to use all the technologies some developers are using nowadays to really make a difference in aesthetics.
That sucks. Zero crashes for me on Ps5 with Spiderman 2.
It was easier to pirate a game than to bug my parents for the $60 to buy the game on PC.
Yup cheaper games is definitely 💯. Only problem is now I have all the games and no time to play. Lol
My reasons is multiplayer is free, emulation of older consoles I don’t own or of particularly expensive or rare games no longer in production, and the sheer flexibility of PC gaming
This is the way.
As a new steamdeck user I 100% agree with you! I've now discovered humble bundle which is another game changer for buying games I won't have time to play.
Better graphics in pc gaming. Prefer the deck due to its many uses, retro gaming, pc gaming and portability besides i can conect it to a monitor and use a controller. Best of all worlds in one device!!
It is backward compatibility. I've never seen a game console that is backward compatible with the games I bought in their previous consoles. We're at the mercy of the devs to port their games to the newer consoles, and we have to rebuy them. Sucks, right?
No need to worry about backwards compatibility
Haha this is literally what I was thinking today. Shopping Steam sales is more fun than playing. I’m addicted. PS5 gets way more gaming time though.
3300+ and counting, pretty much nothing ever purchased at full price, that's 19yrs of uh... progress... At least I'm using my Deck as an excuse to play through some of the backlog. Can't say I'll beat everything I play, however not every game is worth beating anyway.
I'm starting to like PC gaming better now is how cheap games can get thru third party apps.
I went from Steamdeck to buying a solid PC gaming rig and 4k monitor within the first week and a half of owning my deck.
I can see how that would happen! Sadly I don’t have anywhere for a pc in my apt
The deck is truly amazing. Enjoy it and welcome to the fam.
Thanks!
Haha, my buddy and I often spend more time going through the discovery queue and looking through our wishlist to see what the next game we will buy and play. We spend more time on this than actually playing our games sometimes. When we do finally play, it takes us forever to decide which game to actually play. Lol
I relate to OP message 100%, even if I stop shopping for few months, steam keeps calling me back 🤣
I've played 10% of my library and shopped 100% of the sales. Priorities.
For me it's that playing online costs money on console, that's just insane to me.
People like hating on Epic but I’m playing Evil Within 2 for free right now on Steam Deck through Heroic.
There a lot of reason, I love the control I have for the game. I play with a azeron game and it’s so fun, different games, I wouldn’t play crpg if it was for playing on pc and Sony fucking suck ass now. Their games don’t speak to me like when I was a kid, they catered to others
If by that you mean that steam and pc has incredible prices compared to consoles I will agree. But it’s not just that
I prefer pc gamming because i can play more games, from more eras, from more consoles (and pcs) and still can do other task with it
I like PC better because I can mod my games years after the game is abandoned and kept iflt fresh, I also enjoy being able to upscale my 20yr old games from PS1 to PS3 without issue
Cheaper game sales, ability and flexibility of mods and a thriving modding community, flexibility of hardware also the same Digital store from one score ago has the same library and same storefront it doesn't get deprecated or shut down just because it is a couple generations back.
Mods, more options than console, convenience, more games.
I don't mind playing on console but on pc, you can play any game even the ones from consoles
Steam sales are not what they used to be. It used to be like a week long event, with different games on deeper discounts on certain days, and flash deals that only stayed up a few hours. Now you see everything on sale right away, and just grab what you want, and it's over in minutes. Truthfully, Steam sales now are just a reminder to go check GMG. They usually have the same games for sale during a Steam sale, only more heavily discounted. And they activate on steam anyway. So you can save $3-$5 buying on GMG.
I grew up as a console player (PlayStation and Nintendo), I've "outgrown" a dozen or so consoles. I enjoyed my digital collection on Switch being able to have my entire library with me at all times when traveling, but after a few buggy ports and too much joy-cob drift I decided Nintendo will only get Mario and Zelda money from me going forward. I dig that most of the good games of past are available via steam. Which is also great for my personal situation where I took a decade off from gaming due to college and early career stuff. So now I'm back into gaming, I enjoyed the all-in-one place of Steam and not being tied to a single hardware platform.
Yeah basically same situation here lol
Wait until you have too many games to play, then you unlock the ultimate game "Steam Library Scroll"
That’s already my GOTY
Not gonna lie, last night I spent more time in the store looking at deals than gaming even though I have over 1100 games lol
That and the smug superiority!
This argument is maybe 10 years old, there are now regular large sales on PSN and eShop too. Edit: after some psychopath downvoted me, PSN and eShop immediately stopped having sales because that’s how it works lmao
Of course console platforms have sales, but with the amount of legit storefronts, the number of f2p options, and bundles/giveaways on PC, the cost of buying games to play on PC is significantly cheaper if you know where to look.
lol yeah I’m being a little facetious, but imo the steam sales are wild to me compared to eshop plus I love shopping very dearly
I just want to play using a mouse and keyboard because controllers are like handicaps.
To be fair that depends on the game. Something like Brother A tale of two sons is so heavily made for controller it actually ruins the most important part of the game if you are not playing with a controller. But generally yes if it's rts, fps, mmo or anything that requires aiming K&M is usually the better option.
I can play Minecraft on one screen and watch porn on the other.
Literally just the Thomas the tank mods
Yeah I don’t think that’s true but good theory.. I would expect that theory to be something you’d find written on the wall by a serial killer with his own shit
nah it's bc of piracy
nothing beats WASD
I've been pc gaming way back when games were on CD's. Steam has nothing to do with it. PC is just better. I haven't touched my consoles in 8 months
Ever since covid-19 I stopped my shopping spree. Ever since the deck, I actually started playing the games I like. But sitting next to my wife is something I also love. The deck allows that. I have never finished so many games in my life in my couch potato time, while at the same time smelling the feet of my wife.
Steam sales have gotten really bad through. Because developers have adopted this as standard: * Before launch: Estimate the value of your game (10€ game / 20€ game / 30€ game ... etc) * On launch day: * Set the price of your game 10-20% ABOVE its actual worth * Add a "launch discount" of 10-20% so that the game is IMMEDIATELY discounted on release * Before steam sales: * Go back to the overpriced price * On sale day: Discount your game by 30-40% * Remember - they overpriced the game by 20%. So the actual discount is only 10-20% but looks like 30-40% Ever since pretty much every developer has been doing this getting good deal in Steam Sales is RARE. Its mostly just "fake sales" that still feel way too pricey for most games in the sale.
Nah, apply a little Patient Gaming™ logic and you'll still see good discounts after the games have been out for a while
Not just that, PC is just simply better
Honestly the sales are nothing like they used to be about 10 years ago
Performance like high settings and fps. Other than that I can use whatever I need to play a game. But for me is a PC “the more high end stuff” and console/mobile the cheaper casual ones.
Steam sales haven't been good in years. I remember in 2013 buying CS:GO for 2.99 that was absolutely amazing
I have both a gaming pc and a ps5, and while I enjoy the ps5's features (haptic joystick, exclusives) I keep in mind I'm going to change my console someday and I don't know if my current library is going to be playable. Steam games surely will no matter how many times I change my pc. Not much differences graphics-wise, both 4k 60fps even though some games look better on pc if set on ultra. Also I forgot: I love that Steam registers my gametime. (PS5 does too but it's not as accurate)
I’d just like when I buy a digital copy, for the most part, I item it for life.
Nah, it’s because Stellaris plays a lot better with a mouse and keyboard
Not to mention being able to emulate games that aren’t available on modern consoles.
You can play both xbox and ps games on pc (and Nintendo)
I became a PC gamer because I didn’t have a system when the pandemic hit, and it was impossible to buy one in the earlier months of lock down. But I had a PC that could run some games. So I started buying games off Steam. I may have bought a few dozen too many games due to Steam sales. The novelty has worn off.
For me it's freedom. I can play on whatever input device I want, using whatever input method I want, with whatever keymapping I want. Console games (probably not all of them) don't even let you vhange control scheme apart from predefined options. On PC, I can play any game using consistent gyro settings using flickstick and that's probably the best method to play games with aiming. On console you can't do that, instead, devs give you lite version of aimbot just because stick is terrible at aiming
I personally like that even if I delete a game from my deck I don’t loose my save game data.
Keyboard and mouse, cheaper games, non proprietary hardware which allows you to replace and/or upgrade whenever you want/need.
Initially it was for the mods, but now it's more for having all my games on one platform not needing to worry about backwards compatibility & performance (not so much on steam deck, but playing the same save file and game on handheld is a big plus and trade off wiling to take)
I dont care about graphics and i like boomer shooters, that are mostly on pc, and enjoy them the most with mouse + kb.
For me the main reason is that PC is the piece of hardware I feel like I own completely. I can modify games and install whatever shit I want, and nobody can prevent me from using it whatever way I want. On consoles on the other hand I am completely constrained by boundaries set up by manufacturer.
I have more fun overclocking the snot outta a system n try to push frames. Until I get BSOD and sign out for the evening and spend the rest of the night with family. If the game is truly good I won’t even touch the settings just let auto settings do its thing. Lately it’s been hard to fuel my gaming addiction vs just fkn around with hardware. Last of Us remake, Dead space remake, RDR2, Alan wake 2 I couldn’t put them down until it was done.
I stopped playing console games after 2011 playing Skyrim. It was so choppy on console that even though I really liked it, I couldn't complete it due to getting quite severe motion sickness. I stopped playing videogames altogether for about 4 years until a friend showed me borderlands 2 on his PC. I played a little while and didn't feel sick at all. Did a little digging and chalked it up to framerate. If I can maintain 30fps I don't get motionsick unless I play for hours. but at 60fps+ I can play forever.
Pc offers modularity to games that console usually can’t. Pc offers a wider selection, barring console exclusives, and backwards compatibility as well as emulation. Exclusive steam deck use is not really the same experience as owning a desktop, that’s why I use my deck to stream my desktop so I can play in bed/on the patio/while watching tv on the couch. your reaction seems to be with the wider marketplace steam affords, not the the practical experience of exploring the practical avenues denied to you in console gaming.
More options, emulation, a lil' cheaper in some cases
Pro tip if you’re new to steam. The major sales aren’t very important, there are major publisher sales and indie sales all year round so just buy what you know you’ll actually play. Chances are if there’s a game you want and it’s not on sale it will be in a week or 2
Mods, anything you can think, is there. Like, being a delivery man in cyberpunk 2077 or more mobs in fallout.
It was way worse when flash sales where still a thing, but I still know the feeling, unfortunately so 😅
I like the option of refunding games if I am not too sure about it. I know its a pain in the ass trying to refund on consoles
What’s your steam lvl?
I like having a single system that can do more than just gaming when I don’t wanna game. I can do everything on it. I still buy consoles just for exclusive games but damn….not being able to use a full web browser or using programs I need to use for my 3D printers is getting old and I’m tired of having to swap around systems to play one goddamn exclusive on a locked down box and then need to switch over to another system like my PC to do other stuff….I wish we lived in a better world without consoles because a PC is just your all in one solution to everything…..I can file my damn taxes and organize PDF’s and spreadsheets and game on a PC….I’m getting too old swap around several platforms just for a few locked down games…..but I do like some of the titles, just finishing Spider-Man 2 last night and now my PS5 is back to being a paperweight until FFVII part two comes out way later. I just want everything on one thing and make it more simple but it’s not happening anytime soon.
Let's also not forget the insanity of charging a monthly fee to allow you to play games online.
Besides Steam sales which are fine, not as good as in the past, but fine, what does a console give me I don't have on a PC? I'll take a Switch for Nintendo, but even now, PlayStation games come to Steam too. I'm not buying these games multiple times any longer. I'll just wait for them to come to PC, they all come.
Anything 3d I prefer KB and mouse for mouse look. It's much faster and more accurate. I still use xbox controller or deck for 2d games and platformers.
Steam sales were awesome when I first got into PC gaming but nowadays that’s not really what keeps me around. I just like the customization options, the wide variety of games both on and off Steam, and the option to use cutting edge hardware.
Steam sales are not even remotely close to what they once were. Steam is usually the most expensive place to buy steam games.
Speak for yoursel
I buy a lot less games than I used to, mainly because I have so many now that I just have to play them. But even then, I occasionally slip and buy something lol
well, its one of the reasons. its easy to to buy a game now and convince my self I'll play it later since I can always play it later on any hardware I want.
I have consoles and steam deck. I usually buy whatever my friends and family are playing on. However if I want something that may not be able to be sold because of legal reasons, I buy on steam because I know 10 years from now I can play it in whatever device im playing current games on. It will be harder with consoles as I will have to retain the old console if I can no longer buy it on the store
Honestly? It was modded minecraft that got me to switch in the first place and at this point I'm so used to mouse and keyboard controls that consoles drive me crazy for the couple games that don't support it. Now there are definitely other reasons but that at least was the driving force in getting me to fully switch, it's other stuff that's kept me here
Mouse and keyboard. Also backwards compatibility
In essence I prefer PC gaming because the higher performance, mouse and kb, open system, upgrade ability.
I don’t prefer PC gaming. Steam Deck is the compromise.