Comment by _puk | Hacker News Reader

Comment by _puk | Hacker News Reader

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Some must recall the drama that was the launch of Steam.

If I recall, it was optional for CounterStrike1.4, but then required for CS1.6.

The PC bunch were crying that they'd never use this DRM'd buggy POS.

That must have been 16+ years ago. Steam has come a long way since then, and has been credited [0] with helping reduce PC game piracy over the years. Likely because steam just works for the most part, and is as easy if not easier than the alternative.

I just don't see how Facebook can really disrupt this given Steams head start and positive mind share (not to mention the libraries of games that users have likely accrued over the years)

0: http://www.digital-digest.com/news-62904-PC-Gaming-Piracy-On...

>...and has been credited [0] with helping reduce PC game piracy over the years.

Their sales definitely had something to do with this as well. Before these kinds of sales, PC games were fixed at a certain price point and would take a long time to see a price drop. Now, I'll see fairly new games that may be marked down anywhere from 10% to 25% and, at least for me, I feel much more inclined to purchase it if I like it.

Granted I have a backlog of games to get through, but still it made purchasing games much more approachable as I know I won't be breaking my wallet over one game.

> If I recall, it was optional for CounterStrike1.4, but then required for CS1.6.

1.6 was the only version on Steam, 1.5 used the WonID servers, which they shut down a few years later.

The largest issue with Steam when it was released was the fact that the client was slow as molasses, and plenty of others had resource issues since you had to also run the client in the background along with whichever game you were playing.

The issue with Steam for CS players was the removal of WoN and needing to re-purchase CS instead of being given a license upon it if you had one on WoN already.

It was kinda a POS back then.

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