single-use codes and ‘activation’ were around and gaining traction before steam came about. but steam did help dig the hole and put the some of the nails in the coffin.
Comment on Killing ownership is the method, killing the secondary market is the objective.
BrightCandle@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Steam very successfully destroyed the resale and lending of PC games and the same approach with digital rights management of downloads will do the same to the consoles.
adarza@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
edible_funk@lemmy.world 22 hours ago
Dude cdkeys were already a thing before steam. There wasn’t really ever a secondhand pc game market.
Don_alForno@feddit.org 17 hours ago
Of course there was. It was very much alive on our schoolyard. (A “market” doesn’t need a man in the middle siphoning off a profit for it to exist.)
givesomefucks@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Steam very successfully destroyed the resale and lending of PC games
What?!
You think before Steam people could resell and loan PC games like console?!
Why just make shit up? You know Steam ain’t that old and people remember pre-Steam…
Right?
Venator@lemmy.nz 1 day ago
I think steam might be older than Bright Candle…
grue@lemmy.world 23 hours ago
You forgot the leading
@and your username mention turned into a mailto link.
Noja@sopuli.xyz 1 day ago
Not 100%, you can share your (almost) whole digital Steam game library via family share. There are very few games that block this feature.
grue@lemmy.world 23 hours ago
I’m not convinced it wasn’t mostly dead before Steam, TBH. I mean I guess there was “lending” (read: copying), but there was never a “GameStop for PC games” the way there was for console games. And even the “lending” was somewhat curtailed by CD-keys and account registration before Steam existed.
GeneralEmergency@lemmy.world 22 hours ago
G*mers made their bed. And are now complaining that it smells like their shit.
HakFoo@lemmy.sdf.org 1 day ago
Used games held the console market in balance. You knew if you didn’t like a game, you could trade it and get something back, or at least buy a cheap used copy if you weren’t sure on a title.
The PC game market is kept in balance by constant discounting and availability. You manage risk by saying “I’ll wait a few years and get it for $4.98 instead.”
The presence of secomdary sellers (Fanatical, Humble Bundle etc) and even distinct markets (GoG, itch, service games that sell through their own accounts) means Steam still doesn’t have the same market-defining power Sony will in a post-disc world.