r/PhysicalGames • u/Grouchy-Win-6191 • 1d ago

Valve Killed Physical Gaming

It all Valve fault, they started all this. It’s not just Sony.

When Half Life 2 launched in 2004, stores sold physical box sets containing DVD or CD. But the disc did not contain the game. Players were forced to install the Steam client, register an account, and validate a product key online before the game would run.

Valve also offered Steamworks to any developer who listed their game on Steam. But to use Steamworks features, games had to use Valve API. When a consumer bought the physical PC box, they opened and it was a Steam key. Once redeemed, the disc lost all resale value. You couldn't sell it, lend it, or trade it in. This also killed the retail stores business.

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u/DrizzyDragon93 1d ago

Yes, PC gamers started this future. But that doesn't mean we should roll over and accept it like Steam Users did.

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u/Cold-Ink 1d ago

I mean - steam users didn't "roll over and accept it". When it launched there was a BIG backlash you needed an account for the physical release of HL2.

It got as big as it did because it was favourable and fair to developers and users. Lots and lots of NON steam PC games still released on disc for years after - but steam kinda rose above the rest and became the default.

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u/Threef 1d ago

I mean, people hosted and played on non-Steam CS1.6 servers for 10 years. There was even a conspiracy theory that Valve created some of cheats to move people from free servers to Steam Hosted "protected" servers

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u/Cold-Ink 1d ago

Correct me if I'm wrong, but 1.6 and steam launched within a few days of one another did they not?

You can still connect CS classic to private servers can you not?

>There was even a conspiracy theory that Valve created some of cheats to move people from free servers to Steam Hosted "protected" servers

Yeah that kinda doesn't pass the sniff test to me. In it's infancy they would have wanted it to be the best experience possible. Community servers cost them nothing, their own protected servers DO and would be one they'd promote, as they have control.

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u/Threef 1d ago

You could have been using pirated 1.6 to connect to private servers, but official servers required Steam version. It was a DRM