Valve - Why PC is the Future

[CSN NewsBot]

Eurogamer has a rather extensive write-up on last month's visit to Valve HQ. A visit in which Gabe Newell really pushed hard the fact that the future of PC gaming will be as strong as ever before.

Valve sees 200 per cent growth in these alternative channels - not just Steam, but including the likes of cyber-cafes as well - versus less than 10 per cent in bricks-and-mortar shop sales. Steam has a 15 million-strong player-base with 1.25 million peak concurrent users, and 191 per cent annual growth; none too far off a console platform in itself. The PC casual games market, driven by the likes of PopCap, has gone from next to nothing to USD 1.5 billion dollar industry in under ten years, and has doubled in size in just three. Perhaps most surprisingly, Valve has found that digital distribution doesn't cannibalise retail sales - in fact, a free Day of Defeat weekend on Steam created more new retail sales than online ones.

The article spans three full pages, but it is some of the most realistic and thought-provoking looks at the state of PC gaming I've seen. It's well worth the few minutes spent reading through it.

[Kira_zRo_]

This is mostly unrelated but, is this legit?



http://stashbox.org/145759/1214395963819.png



If so, yessss

If not, dammit

It looks real, if not it was really well done. Heh, maybe this has been out for ages and I just never saw it...

[RP]

It's looks very real, except for the community map pack which is exactly the same as the pyro update which can mean two things:

1. This is fake, a very well done fake, but still, fake

2. It's as real as it gets but it's not finished yet.



What makes me think it's real is the achivement, I mean I really doubt someone actually sat down and thought about 35 achivements for a spy just to make a fake page...



EDIT!!!!! look at the bottom, at the end of the copyright thing...

epic fail



EDIT#2: http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=1663 it's a new one.

[Kira_zRo_]

Haha, goodeye RP, I didn't even see that thing at the end of the copyright. Oh well, I guess it was too good to be true...

[-:Nighthawk:-]

Try to keep in mind that while the article isn't published by Valve themselves, those at Valve definitely have a vested interest in promoting the PC market, given that their current business model revolves around their Steam distribution platform and making it an appealing outlet for publishers.

[pwnedbyIbanez]

It's good that Newell continues to support his product; however, many people have found game consoles more appealing than continually spending time and money to put in new graphics cards and other hardware into their computer.