I'm not against BG:EE being on steam either. And some of the things you say about steam are spot on. But amazing sales? Sure some of them are good. But I've seen games on 75% off on steam and then I looked at a physical store in my country and there the same game was for less... without being on sale or being a used copy... (it was kingdoms of amalur: reckoning). You want all your games in one library? Use the method that Aosaw came up with. That way you can add the game to your steam library. Granted you wont be able to download it via steam but at least you can start it via steam. If overhaul is able to get steam keys for the people who've already bought the game via. beamdog then excellent. Let the people who want the keys have the keys. But I'd be against overhaul spending any money on it. And it is unlikely that valve/steam is going to give people who've already bought the game via. another client free keys.
Yeah, I was talking more about having all of your games on one library that you can constantly update and redownload as needed. I personally use Steam and GOG predominantly, but I have a few games on Gamersgate and Amazon and keeping track of which games' on which is kind of annoying sometimes. That said, I don't really find the need of adding games to your Steam library list just so you can start it off there. I suppose it could help organize your installed games a bit.
As for the deals, I almost never find nearly as good deals in a physical store where I live. Other online distributors, on the other hand, are a different story. There's usually a better deal somewhere for a brand-new stand-alone game on release.
However, it's extremely rare for me to find any deals that are superior to Steam's bundle packs. They not only cut off 50-75% per item, they usually usually cut off an extra amount on top of that afterwards. I usually end up buying a game with all of their DLCs this way, because the DLCs usually end up "free" after all of the price cuts. Franchise and Company bundles, in particular, are really ridiculously cheap during the holiday sales... You often can get an entire franchise bundle pack for about the same price as the newest game of that bundle (Darksiders during the Fall and Winter sale for example). And then there's the four-pack deals... XD
Oh god, just going through the discussion on steam and how people are saying it is over priced. Getting some amazing gems like:
"Oh by the way. Anyone knows if they added full time voice acting like in modern games?" "could have added achievements for this price." "Don't buy this game and wait Project Eternity." "Oh great, the braindead Beamdog fanboys will probaly be over here soon."
"I already bought this game twice. Last month and in 1998 so I think that's enough for now. To be honest, when they said they were making an "Enhanced" version, I was all horny for some nice, new, sweet Dragon Age-like graphics. Alas it was not the case. I find the game pretty unforgiving in it's gameplay. Like when a character dies is just a major pain."
Oh god, just going through the discussion on steam and how people are saying it is over priced. Getting some amazing gems like:
"Oh by the way. Anyone knows if they added full time voice acting like in modern games?" "could have added achievements for this price." "Don't buy this game and wait Project Eternity." "Oh great, the braindead Beamdog fanboys will probaly be over here soon."
"I already bought this game twice. Last month and in 1998 so I think that's enough for now. To be honest, when they said they were making an "Enhanced" version, I was all horny for some nice, new, sweet Dragon Age-like graphics. Alas it was not the case. I find the game pretty unforgiving in it's gameplay. Like when a character dies is just a major pain."
*bursts into laughter*
LOL!
However, there is actually a modding project for DAO that aims to port BG2 in DAO. So far they've only implemented Irenicus Dungeon and it looks like it is very well done. Of course, I like it just because I consider it an enhancement of DAO rather than BG.
One thing I don't like about steam is lack of control in terms of installation folder, and have fairly moderate loading time. Nowadays I try to buy games from GOG as much as I can. It's good news but I quite like Beamdog interface as well, it gives users more control and loading time is much faster than steam.
There's a thread in the Modding forum with a cutscene from right after Irenicus' dungeon, where the Cowled Wizards show up. It's really impressive.
On topic: It's completely unfair that Steam is taking such a ridiculous amount (especially since Atari and Wizards are also taking a cut) but every game sold does add a +1 Sell and a small amount of dollars into the coffers of Beamdog. It may not be as big amount, but it's better than no amount. I just hope BG2 will sell through Beamdog first, then Steam a month later so at least the first Gold Rush will be max profits for Beamdog. (That said, I'm buying BG for the fifth time in my life now, huzzah)
I'm buying BG for the fifth time in my life now, huzzah)
I may also consider to buy my 5th copy at the next Steam Sales. I have the CDs version, the DVDs+CDs version, BGEE and the GOG version already, I may as well get the Steam one.
Just to clarify something to all those who are on the fence between buying it direct from Beamdog or from Steam.
Beamdog will make less from each BGEE sale on Steam than Steam will themselves.
Not good news for a potential BG3.
100% agreed. Now that Valve is the newest addition to the money leeches, the chances of a BG 3 being released have decreased even further.
Not really. The most likely reason that Beamdog put BGEE on Steam now is that the PC sales had started to taper off. Most of the people that were going to buy this based on word of mouth/forum advertising probably already have. So while Steam does indeed take a cut from each sale made through their platform, they are actually adding to Beamdog's profit by advertising through the most popular digital distribution platform in the industry. 30% less money from sales you wouldn't have made otherwise is better than 100% less money made due to those people not buying the game.
- "Atari did the integration for #BGEE on Steam, so it is a very basic setup. We were not involved." - "Atari is responsible for the Steam version, so there will likely be no Steam cloud saves or other features." - "Our plan is to do cloud saves via our own service. Steam cloud saves wouldn't work cross iPad, Android, Mac and Linux." - "With regards to updates, we have to submit updates to Atari for them to prepare for Steam. There will be a delay." - "We'll be doing everything we can to help Atari keep the other versions out there up to date." - "No. We make less on a Steam sale than Steam does." via @TrentOster
Well, that's quite a bunch of reasons not to want #steam version
Well, to be clear, Beamdog did not put it on Steam, Atari did, without Beamdog's consent. Furthermore, beamdog is likely losing more than 30% of revenue per sale from its perspective. Consider how complicated the licensing is.
Let us say, hypothetically, that for each copy of the game sold, Atari gets 25%, Wizards gets 25%, and Beamdog gets 50%. In this example, if the same game gets sold on Steam, the license holders split a smaller pie, with Steam's 30% taken off the top. So for every hundred dollars sold, beamdog would get 35 dollars instead of fifty.
It could be even worse. Say atari and wotc get an un-adjustable percentage of sales (not uncommon). That would mean Steam's cut has to come directly at the expense of beamdog, meaning beamdog would make twenty dollars instead of fifty, per hundred dollars sold.
The second scenario would also square wuth what Trent has posted, that beamdog is now making less per sale than Steam is.
Nice to see all the Steam haters coming out of the woodwork *rolls eyes*
Ive (damn broken keyboard) been hating steam before it was cool. steam and other shit like that have basically killed pc gaming by paving the way for online-only and download-only games. fuck steam to hell
I realize contracts are contracts, but I still think it would be more fair if the 30% Steam cut came from Atari's share, since they wanted it on Steam.
To know from trent that they make less than Steam does from each sale is a bit sad. But guys it is not Steam's fault... Steam will still sell thousands copies and do "its job" I guess if we must blame someone here for a "rushed/forced" release and % taken is atari. But its not our place to discuss these things, Overhaul must do what they feel its better for everybody.
I dont know if you know a but but BGEE is second place top seller and that is great news! But I notice that the miniature BGEE logo seems low quality on the list IMHO, I know it may be atari doing, but look into it @Beamdog because its details like that the influence sales.
Its really not pratical at all. Now everytime overhaul sends a patch they must send it to at least Atari and Apple.
Even if overhaul is getting 2 or 3 $ a copy its still better to be selling well than the opposite... I'am sure many people like you want to support the devs and for those buying Beamdog version is the way to go. Especialy if the patches take this long to get to steam.
I must say that I feel a bit cheated. I purchased the game from Beamdog for only one reason - before release we were told that it will never be released on Steam... If they said "it's possible" I would have waited...
You were never told that. @lordkim collated official responses from the team in the other Steam/BGEE thread which say it would likely go to Steam at an unspecified point in the future after release.
You were never told that. @lordkim collated official responses from the team in the other Steam/BGEE thread which say it would likely go to Steam at an unspecified point in the future after release.
Well how lovely. But the first FAQ published on the webpage and not in the forum had the word exclusive and not "temporarily". Not going to argue though.
I'm actually surprised that the Steam version seems to include all of the new DLC as part of the package.
I like Steam for the social aspect of it. People are seriously whining about friends ("strangers," really?) chatting with them during games? You know you can get rid of people on your friend's list and adjust the settings to fix that, right?
I enjoy playing with friends. I regularly give and exchange gifts, make trades, and interact with my two brothers and close friends. Steam made my holiday much easier this last year
The less places I use my personal debit/credit card online, the better, IMO.
Dollars generated or lost having it released on Steam will only be determined, or I should say "projected" by Beamdog themselves. We can only speculate the good or bad of Atari making a move like this. In the end this is all just a business - whether it's Atari, Steam or Beamdog/Overhaul. And I'll speculate this is similar to the cuts that iTunes and the Play Store will take out of Beamdog/Overhaul's profits.
I'm not a Steam supporter, never have been. I just don't sit down on the desktop any more. And my laptop has turned into a tablet... which comes with a multitude of shortfalls. Personally I've been waiting on BG:EE, sometimes not so patiently, for the Android release. Now I might consider the Steam option, which would bring Beamdog/Overhaul more revenue that they would not have received from me... Not sure - I'll have to think on that one.
You were never told that. @lordkim collated official responses from the team in the other Steam/BGEE thread which say it would likely go to Steam at an unspecified point in the future after release.
Well how lovely. But the first FAQ published on the webpage and not in the forum had the word exclusive and not "temporarily". Not going to argue though.
I never saw a FAQ on the webpage as you claim, the only faq/pre-faq I have encountered were posted on the forums only
You were never told that. @lordkim collated official responses from the team in the other Steam/BGEE thread which say it would likely go to Steam at an unspecified point in the future after release.
Well how lovely. But the first FAQ published on the webpage and not in the forum had the word exclusive and not "temporarily". Not going to argue though.
I never saw a FAQ on the webpage as you claim, the only faq/pre-faq I have encountered were posted on the forums only
Several comments by trent on twitter _seemed_ to indicate steam was never going to happen, that could be the source of most confusion(it is/was for me).
He said several times that BGEE would launch exclusively in beamdog, I would had taken it as a "temporarily exclusive" if one of those posts didn't use Starcraft 2 and blizzard as an example.
Anyway, it was just a wrong assumption/comprehension mistake, not really worth much drama, even less when we still don't know if they'll manage to get steam keys for us making this whole argument pointless.
Comments
As for the deals, I almost never find nearly as good deals in a physical store where I live. Other online distributors, on the other hand, are a different story. There's usually a better deal somewhere for a brand-new stand-alone game on release.
However, it's extremely rare for me to find any deals that are superior to Steam's bundle packs. They not only cut off 50-75% per item, they usually usually cut off an extra amount on top of that afterwards. I usually end up buying a game with all of their DLCs this way, because the DLCs usually end up "free" after all of the price cuts. Franchise and Company bundles, in particular, are really ridiculously cheap during the holiday sales... You often can get an entire franchise bundle pack for about the same price as the newest game of that bundle (Darksiders during the Fall and Winter sale for example). And then there's the four-pack deals... XD
Here comes my personal favourite:
"I already bought this game twice. Last month and in 1998 so I think that's enough for now. To be honest, when they said they were making an "Enhanced" version, I was all horny for some nice, new, sweet Dragon Age-like graphics. Alas it was not the case. I find the game pretty unforgiving in it's gameplay. Like when a character dies is just a major pain."
*bursts into laughter*
However, there is actually a modding project for DAO that aims to port BG2 in DAO. So far they've only implemented Irenicus Dungeon and it looks like it is very well done. Of course, I like it just because I consider it an enhancement of DAO rather than BG.
Brilliant work !!
On topic:
It's completely unfair that Steam is taking such a ridiculous amount (especially since Atari and Wizards are also taking a cut) but every game sold does add a +1 Sell and a small amount of dollars into the coffers of Beamdog. It may not be as big amount, but it's better than no amount.
I just hope BG2 will sell through Beamdog first, then Steam a month later so at least the first Gold Rush will be max profits for Beamdog.
(That said, I'm buying BG for the fifth time in my life now, huzzah)
Beamdog will make less from each BGEE sale on Steam than Steam will themselves.
Not good news for a potential BG3.
Well, to be clear, Beamdog did not put it on Steam, Atari did, without Beamdog's consent. Furthermore, beamdog is likely losing more than 30% of revenue per sale from its perspective. Consider how complicated the licensing is.
Let us say, hypothetically, that for each copy of the game sold, Atari gets 25%, Wizards gets 25%, and Beamdog gets 50%. In this example, if the same game gets sold on Steam, the license holders split a smaller pie, with Steam's 30% taken off the top. So for every hundred dollars sold, beamdog would get 35 dollars instead of fifty.
It could be even worse. Say atari and wotc get an un-adjustable percentage of sales (not uncommon). That would mean Steam's cut has to come directly at the expense of beamdog, meaning beamdog would make twenty dollars instead of fifty, per hundred dollars sold.
The second scenario would also square wuth what Trent has posted, that beamdog is now making less per sale than Steam is.
EDIT: Ninja'd
I realize contracts are contracts, but I still think it would be more fair if the 30% Steam cut came from Atari's share, since they wanted it on Steam.
I dont know if you know a but but BGEE is second place top seller and that is great news!
But I notice that the miniature BGEE logo seems low quality on the list IMHO, I know it may be atari doing, but look into it @Beamdog because its details like that the influence sales.
Its really not pratical at all. Now everytime overhaul sends a patch they must send it to at least Atari and Apple.
Oh wait! they get less than steam for each copy sold
Its so unfair be a small company and be forced to sign creepy contracts
I am to the Dev side and i will support the dev, because Steam don't care a crap about Bg and what can become.
In my eyes Atari and Steam are only leeches of the great job of the true developers!
It sucks that as a developer they get less than steam but that's more about unfair deals than it is about money I would think.
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/237096/#Comment_237096
I like Steam for the social aspect of it. People are seriously whining about friends ("strangers," really?) chatting with them during games? You know you can get rid of people on your friend's list and adjust the settings to fix that, right?
I enjoy playing with friends. I regularly give and exchange gifts, make trades, and interact with my two brothers and close friends. Steam made my holiday much easier this last year
The less places I use my personal debit/credit card online, the better, IMO.
I'm not a Steam supporter, never have been. I just don't sit down on the desktop any more. And my laptop has turned into a tablet... which comes with a multitude of shortfalls. Personally I've been waiting on BG:EE, sometimes not so patiently, for the Android release. Now I might consider the Steam option, which would bring Beamdog/Overhaul more revenue that they would not have received from me... Not sure - I'll have to think on that one.
He said several times that BGEE would launch exclusively in beamdog, I would had taken it as a "temporarily exclusive" if one of those posts didn't use Starcraft 2 and blizzard as an example.
Anyway, it was just a wrong assumption/comprehension mistake, not really worth much drama, even less when we still don't know if they'll manage to get steam keys for us making this whole argument pointless.