663
Streaming Has Reached Its Sad, Predictable Fate | What should I watch? is now a much easier question than How do I watch it? (www.theatlantic.com)
submitted 2 years ago by [M, B] to c/technology@lemmy.world
206 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Streaming Has Reached Its Sad, Predictable Fate | What should I watch? is now a much easier question than How do I watch it?::What should I watch? is now a much easier question than How do I watch it?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 124 points 2 years ago (3 children)

They were never competing with cable but with piracy. Of all media sellers it seems Gabe Newell was unique in understanding that

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
    •
  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    What did Gabe do differently? I can’t recall any specifics

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
    •
  • [–] 78 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    He noted piracy was an issue of service and ease of availability, not price. Case in point, it’s far easier for me to wait for a Steam sale and have a legal game than it is for me to go through all the effort of waiting for a decent crack, torrenting the game, and then waiting for the crack to the patch because of something that doesn’t run well.

    I used to pirate games to “sample” them, and now it’s simply easier to just buy through Steam. If I hate it…oh, well. It only cost $10 through a Steam, GOG, or Humble Bundle sale.

    Video streaming used to be somewhat like this when everything was through Netflix. One place to get everything you wanted was far easier than trying to acquire things through piracy.

    Now, however, you’ve got to have 6 different streaming services to get what used to require only one, and with the price of hard drives going down every year, it’s actually easier to torrent what I want and just have things in my personal collection that’s never going to just get removed suddenly because NBC Universal decides that they want a piece of the pie as well.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
    •
  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago

    From a business standpoint that might make sense. In my opinion though, what we now call "piracy" is really a superior model of universal access to information. As-is we're needlessly holding back humanity in the name of promoting profit for rights holders.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 37 points 2 years ago

    Provides a better service and doesn't just jack up the price. Steam sales are some of the best discounts around. Embraced Linux and worked to build upon its open foundations to deliver a great handheld which is open . Great customer service in general. Obviously there will always be people pissed off but going by sales and the general vibe I think it largely favors a positive position.

    I think steam is a private company so there are no shareholders to crack the whip. They seem to be good to their staff too and give back to the Linux community.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 20 points 2 years ago

    He specifically stated that before, and also in general just focused on making steam accessible. Some people have issues with steam and what it has for annoying DRM, but compared to what EA and Ubisoft did with their platforms, Steam doesn't shine itself down your throat, doesn't bloat everything, and has a massive library.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent