Likelihood of GW2 coming to Steam

[Blude.6812]

Absolutely NOT!!!!! and hopefully this get merged to the original thread too.

 

[Virdo.1540]

> @"sigur.9453" said:

> > @"Virdo.1540" said:

> > is the game already close to death? I hope it wont go to steam anywhere soon

> >

>

> beause more players = bad for you?

> please explain

 

like most of the other games cases, if a game comes to steam, its the last hope to squeeze a bit more money out of a game.

[Trise.2865]

The Old Republic is on Steam because EA has given up on it. Is that what you want? ANet to give up?

[waxx.3619]

> @"Trise.2865" said:

> The Old Republic is on Steam because EA has given up on it. Is that what you want? ANet to give up?

I wouldn't say that. Lot of MMOs are on steam including big names like FFXIV ( the biggest MMO out right now probably ) and ESO( which I would say has more players than this game ). SWTOR already seeing big boost of players after steam. almost 30k players in game now based on steam concurrent numbers ( i don't even think GW2 has 30k players logged on at a given time ). And who knows maybe even 10k of that 30k will continue to play. And I know GW2 can retain players cause it's so much better than that game.

[crepuscular.9047]

> @"KrHome.1920" said:> Valve demands 30% of the revenues generated by your game on steam. That's significant and could already be too much to get any profit out of the "cosmetics" monetizing system GW2 uses.exactly! people yelling out at putting GW2 on steam does not understand the financials that's involved with putting games on SteamThe fact that EA start putting their games on Steam after so many years just says one thing, players still loaths Origin that EA is having trouble getting new revenueYou either have the game available as standalone installers or / and on steam, gamers really dislike having to deal with multiple distribution platformsonly very rare cases where an in-house distribution platform have succeeded, like Blizzard because of their royal fan base, and they have a massive war chest to back it up which Anet doesn't

secondly, Anet will need to make alterations to GW2's client how updates are appliedBDO's steam client is an example of a disaster of patching on steam, the update on steam actually downloads the entire game with every patch, bout 50GB, whereas standalone version was just 1GB

[coso.9173]

> @"Dawdler.8521" said:

>

>

> > @"Kronos.3695" said:

> > > @"KrHome.1920" said:

> > > Valve demands 30% of the revenues generated by your game on steam. That's significant and could already be too much to get any profit out of the "cosmetics" monetizing system GW2 uses.

> >

> > Consider this: Guild Wars 2 normally sells X, if it sells X + something (big)% due to Steam popularity, and Steam gets 30% of that, does the game earns less because of that? No, it earns more in money, visibility and everything else, even if Steam is getting 30% of the revenue.

> >

> > I've said it multiple times in the past: being on a platform like Steam always benefits a game if it's good.

> Except its not just basic sales. Steam take a cut from any ingame microtransactions and **that** is what publishers dont like. Thats why they built their own systems for it. Anet would have to hand over a percentage of the gemshop earnings.

 

only steam gemshop earnings though. if people don't use steam al the money goes to Anet.

there are probablt more costs and issues with gw2 for steam though. because if its only better revenue, they would obviously do it.

[maddoctor.2738]

> @"crepuscular.9047" said:

> BDO's steam client is an example of a disaster of patching on steam, the update on steam actually downloads the entire game with every patch, bout 50GB, whereas standalone version was just 1GB

 

Weird, my Steam patcher for BDO downloads just the update files and not the entire game. Not sure what you are doing wrong there but it's not the steam client's problem. Also that game is only 37 GB so you don't have the correct information. The disaster is on your computer and/or set-up not on Steam.

[maddoctor.2738]

> @"coso.9173" said:

> > @"Dawdler.8521" said:

> >

> >

> > > @"Kronos.3695" said:

> > > > @"KrHome.1920" said:

> > > > Valve demands 30% of the revenues generated by your game on steam. That's significant and could already be too much to get any profit out of the "cosmetics" monetizing system GW2 uses.

> > >

> > > Consider this: Guild Wars 2 normally sells X, if it sells X + something (big)% due to Steam popularity, and Steam gets 30% of that, does the game earns less because of that? No, it earns more in money, visibility and everything else, even if Steam is getting 30% of the revenue.

> > >

> > > I've said it multiple times in the past: being on a platform like Steam always benefits a game if it's good.

> > Except its not just basic sales. Steam take a cut from any ingame microtransactions and **that** is what publishers dont like. Thats why they built their own systems for it. Anet would have to hand over a percentage of the gemshop earnings.

>

> only steam gemshop earnings though. if people don't use steam al the money goes to Anet.

> there are probablt more costs and issues with gw2 for steam though. because if its only better revenue, they would obviously do it.

 

It's not just a matter of revenue, if it was the game would already be on Steam. Extra visibility for a free to play game doesn't mean extra sales or revenue. If Arenanet believes there won't be enough conversions to paid customers from Steam users, then it won't be worth it to put the game on Steam as all it would do is increase the number of "free loaders", stress the servers, and not increase the revenue of the game in the long run.

 

They have the game's conversion data from non-steam users, they can project if it will be worth it to put it on a different platform or not. Conversions have been one of the official reasons for the game's revenue decline after the release of Heart of Thorns, and since little to nothing has happened to help with that regard (no big core game changes, as that's where the problem is) it's unlikely that situation is now any better.

 

If the game ever releases on Steam it should be accompanied by an expansion AND a massive overhaul of the core game. And obviously releasing on Steam mid-season is a dumb idea anyway as Steam players won't have access to the complete Saga. In the end, if with the next expansion Arenanet becomes confident that the game would be good enough to convert new players (and not simply aggressively monetize current players) then maybe it will be released on Steam.

[kharmin.7683]

To purchase items in-game for games on Steam, do you have to use Steam's currency? If so, Valve wouldn't offer that ability for free. They would have to take their cut from the sales which would mean an increase in the price of gems. Also, I only have a few games on Steam so I'm not entirely sure, but would the GW2 model of gold-> gem conversion continue or would Steam insist on some profit from all gem sales?

[Astyrah.4015]

> @"kharmin.7683" said:

> To purchase items in-game for games on Steam, do you have to use Steam's currency? If so, Valve wouldn't offer that ability for free. They would have to take their cut from the sales which would mean an increase in the price of gems. Also, I only have a few games on Steam so I'm not entirely sure, but would the GW2 model of gold-> gem conversion continue or would Steam insist on some profit from all gem sales?

 

steam has no currency. steam uses your local currency directly but you can store money on your steam wallet much like paypal's wallet.

 

purchasing from steam, depending on your country's available payment methods, can be done via: credit card, paypal, prepaid money cards, bank transfer, convenience store payment station, or via steam wallet funds (in your local currency...that you earned from selling skins/market place items/etc. or topping up with a gift card)

 

steam also charges prices localised to your country. some games if bought from the states cost 10 dollars, but the same game if bought from south east asia for example, would cost only 4.88 dollars.

 

this is why for non-americans, sometimes steam is the better way to purchase microtransactions like in Path of Exile since not everyone has a credit card, but they can buy prepaid money cards or steam gift cards much more easily and more affordable

[Blude.6812]

Nope , just another suggestion that needs a bit more thought before putting it in the waste bin.

 

[Halandir.3609]

> @"kharmin.7683" said:

> To purchase items in-game for games on Steam, do you have to use Steam's currency?

 

I only have experience with a single MMO on Steam (BDO) and they use a format that looks like the non-Steam version: You click a link to buy gems (pearls) but in the Steam client you are forwarded with a custom URL that includes game- and clientID to the shop. At checkout you are sent to the Steam checkout dialog, where you have the option to use your Steam wallet or all the payment options Steam supports. Once you confirm your payment, you are sent back to the game and your purchased in-game currency is available immediately.

As a user the experience is pretty slick: Log in to Steam and no further logins are required. (Well payment options possibly but that is your decision.)

 

I am not a huge fan of game-launchers and I usually buy directly from the publisher (GW2, ESO etc.) BDO was just something I saw on Steam and bought on a whim. The end result though, is that I have played (and payed) that game a lot more than I expected.

In game In BDO I can use "gamegold" to buy pearlshop items - No extra Steam involvement in that.

 

Someone posted about specific BDO Steam patching problems. Sounds like extremely outdated teething problems? As long as I have played (3 years+) the weekly patches are usually 200-500 Mb and the Steam servers are at least as fast as BDO-publisher servers.

 

To sum it up: In my Steam-MMO I pay the same as "direct buyers" for ingame purchases. I am a consumer (It's not MY company) and the userexperience is great (Single signon, ultra fast updates etc.)

 

Anet have probably spent a lot of time analyzing that the integration effort and 30% blood tax vs. the marketing value simply is not worth it. Maybe they will look at other platforms such as Epic's?

[crepuscular.9047]

> @"maddoctor.2738" said:> > @"crepuscular.9047" said:> > BDO's steam client is an example of a disaster of patching on steam, the update on steam actually downloads the entire game with every patch, bout 50GB, whereas standalone version was just 1GB> > Weird, my Steam patcher for BDO downloads just the update files and not the entire game. Not sure what you are doing wrong there but it's not the steam client's problem. Also that game is only 37 GB so you don't have the correct information. The disaster is on your computer and/or set-up not on Steam.they must have fixed it, I played BDO since western launch, I remember the forum was flooded with mass complaints from steam users about their update was re-downloading the entire game, Kaoko had to put out a statement that there was nothing they can do because the way steam's update process was different to their in-house (after all they are just a publisher, they need to get Pearl Abyss to fix it)pearl abyss must have done some compression with the remaster, I remember the game folder being ~48GB, but that was long before remaster when I quit playing

\_Edit\_found the tweet, https://twitter.com/bdo_news/status/923168764245499905?lang=en~15GB, looks like the complaints that I remembered were overblown, but still a huge difference, about 10x more in size

[Halandir.3609]

> @"crepuscular.9047" said:

> they must have fixed it, I played BDO since western launch, I remember the forum was flooded with mass complaints from steam users about their update was re-downloading the entire game, Kaoko had to put out a statement that there was nothing they can do because the way steam's update process was different to their in-house (after all they are just a publisher, they need to get Pearl Abyss to fix it)

 

I guess you're right. Thought I had the game for 3+ years but actually turns out I got it in december 2017 so it was probably fixed around that time.

[Kolsyrad.2807]

Now that you mentioned it, it actually surprises me a bit too.

Releasing it on Steam too would probably give a nice player bump, I've found so many games or simply been reminded of their existence on Steam before and ended up buying them.

[aspirine.6852]

> @"Atomos.7593" said:

> For what it's worth, seeing SWTOR on the steam store reminded me of the game again. Currently downloading SWTOR on steam and am ready to log in to my character again.

 

Am trying it right now. It kinda feels and looks dated, and the combat is ehhm weird... But I guess all combat is weird when you come from GW2. So far the story is pretty nice, did my first flashpoint mission(no idea what that means) and I am really enjoying it.

[Astyrah.4015]

> @"aspirine.6852" said:

> > @"Atomos.7593" said:

> > For what it's worth, seeing SWTOR on the steam store reminded me of the game again. Currently downloading SWTOR on steam and am ready to log in to my character again.

>

> Am trying it right now. It kinda feels and looks dated, and the combat is ehhm weird... But I guess all combat is weird when you come from GW2. So far the story is pretty nice, did my first flashpoint mission(no idea what that means) and I am really enjoying it.

 

flashpoints are dungeons and you automatically get matched up with other people queue-ing for the same via swtor's version of Dungeon Finder. no need to make parties and wait for it to fill up, you just queue solo or with a friend/premade

 

there are some flashpoints that are "story mode" which is mean to be done solo and some are group-only

 

the story is the best part of SWTOR... the graphics (shaders and armour textures most especially) and the engine is quite dated, the combat is your typical wow-style tab target, if you're coming from GW2 you'll miss being able to dodge and cast/channel abilities while moving, but most if not every aoe in SWTOR and other tab target games are pretty obvious (like bright orange/red circles) so they're hard to not see and easy to avoid most of the time

[Atomos.7593]

> @"aspirine.6852" said:

> > @"Atomos.7593" said:

> > For what it's worth, seeing SWTOR on the steam store reminded me of the game again. Currently downloading SWTOR on steam and am ready to log in to my character again.

>

> Am trying it right now. It kinda feels and looks dated, and the combat is ehhm weird... But I guess all combat is weird when you come from GW2. So far the story is pretty nice, did my first flashpoint mission(no idea what that means) and I am really enjoying it.

 

Whenever I play another MMO the combat rarely feels as fun as in GW2. I think the combat and associated movements are one of the special things about this game. The story is definitely great and feels so much better than the story in GW2. Of course that is just my opinion. I am also playing Final Fantasy XIV and I also find the story to be much better than the story in GW2, although the combat isn't as fun.

[aspirine.6852]

> @"Atomos.7593" said:

> > @"aspirine.6852" said:

> > > @"Atomos.7593" said:

> > > For what it's worth, seeing SWTOR on the steam store reminded me of the game again. Currently downloading SWTOR on steam and am ready to log in to my character again.

> >

> > Am trying it right now. It kinda feels and looks dated, and the combat is ehhm weird... But I guess all combat is weird when you come from GW2. So far the story is pretty nice, did my first flashpoint mission(no idea what that means) and I am really enjoying it.

>

> Whenever I play another MMO the combat rarely feels as fun as in GW2. I think the combat and associated movements are one of the special things about this game. The story is definitely great and feels so much better than the story in GW2. Of course that is just my opinion. I am also playing Final Fantasy XIV and I also find the story to be much better than the story in GW2, although the combat isn't as fun.

 

Sith Assasin here, so far the story is lots of fun.

[Atomos.7593]

> @"aspirine.6852" said:

> > @"Atomos.7593" said:

> > > @"aspirine.6852" said:

> > > > @"Atomos.7593" said:

> > > > For what it's worth, seeing SWTOR on the steam store reminded me of the game again. Currently downloading SWTOR on steam and am ready to log in to my character again.

> > >

> > > Am trying it right now. It kinda feels and looks dated, and the combat is ehhm weird... But I guess all combat is weird when you come from GW2. So far the story is pretty nice, did my first flashpoint mission(no idea what that means) and I am really enjoying it.

> >

> > Whenever I play another MMO the combat rarely feels as fun as in GW2. I think the combat and associated movements are one of the special things about this game. The story is definitely great and feels so much better than the story in GW2. Of course that is just my opinion. I am also playing Final Fantasy XIV and I also find the story to be much better than the story in GW2, although the combat isn't as fun.

>

> Sith Assasin here, so far the story is lots of fun.

 

Nice, I chose Sith Sorcerer first. I might try Sith Assasin next. The story feels more engaging and interactive than GW2. I like that you frequently get to make a choice in how to respond in dialogue. Some of the options are hilarious.

[Nadesh.7953]

I would like to see GW2 on steam, it does offer me options to buy the game that Anet doesn't

[Adry.7512]

GW2 is already packed with players, I imagine that steam will grow the population by a good amount. I really hope they take the opportunity to use steam to sell player designed weapons for fan/designers to make money.

[TracksOne.2548]

I dont see the point. Valve takes a hefty chunk of the profits. Id rather arena net get all the money if i chose to buy a skin or something rather than valve taking it.

[Halandir.3609]

> @"TracksOne.2548" said:

> I dont see the point. Valve takes a hefty chunk of the profits. Id rather arena net get all the money if i chose to buy a skin or something rather than valve taking it.

 

The point is having an outlet that reaches potential buyers that would not notice or try the game otherwise. I doubt the 30% Valve "tax" is what's keeping Anet away - There are some other overhead and possibly restrictions involved that Anet feels the deal is not worth it.

Thinking that people will just go to this site, create an account and download/buy an 8 year old game on a whim (without recommendations)? Not much profit in that illusion :-)

Sure - It's not like there is a MMO-shortage on Steam and that might have been one of the factors that made Anet decide against it.

(Oh - And for "Hefty chunks of profit": Do you really think Amazon etc. sold GW2 and gem-cards at cost?)

 

[TracksOne.2548]

> @"Halandir.3609" said:

> > @"TracksOne.2548" said:

> > I dont see the point. Valve takes a hefty chunk of the profits. Id rather arena net get all the money if i chose to buy a skin or something rather than valve taking it.

>

> The point is having an outlet that reaches potential buyers that would not notice or try the game otherwise. I doubt the 30% Valve "tax" is what's keeping Anet away - There are some other overhead and possibly restrictions involved that Anet feels the deal is not worth it.

> Thinking that people will just go to this site, create an account and download/buy an 8 year old game on a whim (without recommendations)? Not much profit in that illusion :-)

> Sure - It's not like there is a MMO-shortage on Steam and that might have been one of the factors that made Anet decide against it.

> (Oh - And for "Hefty chunks of profit": Do you really think Amazon etc. sold GW2 and gem-cards at cost?)

>

 

And my point is valave takes too much of the profit. This game doesnt need steam