European Commission is opening investigation in Valve for geo-blocking Steam keys
Antitrust: Commission opens three investigations into suspected anticompetitive practices in e-commerce
Video-games
The Commission is investigating bilateral agreements concluded between Valve Corporation, owner of the Steam game distribution platform, and five PC video game publishers, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax. The investigation concerns geo-blocking practices, where companies prevent consumers from purchasing digital content, in this case PC video-games, because of the consumer's location or country of residence.
After the purchase of certain PC video-games users need to confirm that their copy of the game is not pirated to be able to play it. This is done with an "activation key" on Valve's game distribution platform, Steam. This system is applied for a wide range of games, including sports, simulation and action games.
The investigation focuses on whether the agreements in question require or have required the use of activation keys for the purpose of geo-blocking. In particular, an "activation key" can grant access to a purchased game only to consumers in a particular EU Member State (for example the Czech Republic or Poland). This may amount to a breach of EU competition rules by reducing cross-border competition as a result of restricting so-called "parallel trade" within the Single Market and preventing consumers from buying cheaper games that may be available in other Member States.
The Commission is carrying out this in-depth investigation on its own initiative.
When we consider any new features or changes for Steam, our primary goal is to make customers happy. We measure that happiness by how well we are able to connect customers with great content. We’ve come to realize that in order to serve this goal we needed to move away from a small group of people here at Valve trying to predict which games would appeal to vastly different groups of customers.
Thus, over Steam’s 13-year history, we have gradually moved from a tightly curated store to a more direct distribution model. In the coming months, we are planning to take the next step in this process by removing the largest remaining obstacle to having a direct path, Greenlight. Our goal is to provide developers and publishers with a more direct publishing path and ultimately connect gamers with even more great content.
What we learned from Greenlight
After the launch of Steam Greenlight, we realized that it was a useful stepping stone for moving to a more direct distribution system, but it still left us short of that goal. Along the way, it helped us lower the barrier to publishing for many developers while delivering many great new games to Steam. There are now over 100 Greenlight titles that have made at least $1 Million each, and many of those would likely not have been published in the old, heavily curated Steam store.
These unforeseen successes made it abundantly clear that there are many different audiences on Steam, each looking for a different experience. For example, we see some people that sink thousands of hours into one or two games, while others purchase dozens of titles each year and play portions of each. Some customers are really excited about 4X strategy games, while others just buy visual novels.
Greenlight also exposed two key problems we still needed to address: improving the entire pipeline for bringing new content to Steam and finding more ways to connect customers with the types of content they wanted.
To solve these problems a lot of work was done behind the scenes, where we overhauled the developer publishing tools in Steamworks to help developers get closer to their customers. Other work has been much more visible, such as the Discovery Updates and the introduction of features like user reviews, discovery queues, user tags, streamlined refunds, and Steam Curators.
These improvements have allowed more developers to publish their games and connect with relevant gamers on Steam. One of the clearest metrics is that the average time customers spend playing games on Steam has steadily increased since the first Discovery Update. Over the same time period, the average number of titles purchased on Steam by individual customers has doubled. Both of these data points suggest that we’re achieving our goal of helping users find more games that they enjoy playing. (You can read a more detailed analysis of our recent updates here.
A better path for digital distribution
The next step in these improvements is to establish a new direct sign-up system for developers to put their games on Steam. This new path, which we’re calling “Steam Direct,” is targeted for Spring 2017 and will replace Steam Greenlight. We will ask new developers to complete a set of digital paperwork, personal or company verification, and tax documents similar to the process of applying for a bank account. Once set up, developers will pay a recoupable application fee for each new title they wish to distribute, which is intended to decrease the noise in the submission pipeline.
While we have invested heavily in our content pipeline and personalized store, we’re still debating the publishing fee for Steam Direct. We talked to several developers and studios about an appropriate fee, and they gave us a range of responses from as low as $100 to as high as $5,000. There are pros and cons at either end of the spectrum, so we’d like to gather more feedback before settling on a number.
Just the beginning
We want to make sure Steam is a welcoming environment for all developers who are serious about treating customers fairly and making quality gaming experiences. The updates we’ve made over the past few years have been paving the way for improvements to how new titles get on to Steam, and Steam Direct represents just one more step in our ongoing process of making Steam better.
We intend to keep iterating on Steam’s shopping experience, the content pipeline and everything in between.
As we prepare to make these changes, we welcome your feedback and input on this and any other Steam issues. As always, we'll continue to read the community's discussions throughout the Steam forums and the web at large, and we look forward to hearing your thoughts.
玩家在《P.A.M.E.L.A.》一开始将扮演刚刚在伊甸园苏醒的入梦者。玩家将想办法揭开导致文明灭亡的背后悲惨秘密,同时将可能面对视玩家为入侵者的伊甸园灾民的攻击,必须为了个人的生存而战。游戏具备个人导向的 AI 系统,使得不同玩家在游戏中的遭遇将可能是不同的,玩家可以与不同派系互动,包括灾民、机器人等,每个派系都有独特的行为,同时会因为玩家的反应而和玩家成为敌人或盟友。
Open World Utopian Survival Horror Game P.A.M.E.L.A. launches March 9th on Steam Early Access
Indie development team NVYVE Studios today announced that P.A.M.E.L.A., the first-person, open world, utopian, sci-fi, survival horror game, will launch on March 9th on Steam Early Access. In P.A.M.E.L.A. you must survive against all odds by wielding unconventional technology as you explore Eden, an unforgiving paradise that explores the unforeseen consequences of humanity's craving for technological and biological advancement.
“Several years ago, we formed NVYVE Studios with the goal of creating a game that took the survival genre, and built upon it with a hand-crafted sci-fi setting to create a wholly unique experience. The Steam Early Access launch is a culmination of those years, and will form a base for P.A.M.E.L.A., challenging players to explore and survive within the fallen utopian city of Eden”, said Adam Simonar, Studio Director of NVYVE Studios. “We are looking forward to working with the community as we continue to evolve P.A.M.E.L.A., adding new features and content in the run-up to a full commercial launch”.
“P.A.M.E.L.A. represents a bold step for us. Having previously utilised Unity in our architectural practise, we’re excited to bring those skills into game design. I am very proud of our incredible team - It’s been a dream come true for everyone involved. A lot of sacrifices, sleepless nights, long days, sweat and tears went into making the game and we hope the gaming community enjoys it”, said Marvin Maalouf, President and CEO of NVYVE Studios. “We see P.A.M.E.L.A. as the first in what will hopefully be a long line of quality titles to come out of the studio and want to show the world that a small team with a huge amount of passion can create beautiful, immersive and fun worlds for players to explore.”
P.A.M.E.L.A. begins as your character awakens from cryosleep in Eden, a fallen utopian city. Pamela, Eden’s lone AI overseer, provides information on how to survive within the city while bestowing amplified abilities upon the player. As you explore Eden, uncovering insights into the lives of individual citizens of Eden through discoverable data logs, you discover the tragic story behind the fall of Eden and learn about the way society used to function in this former utopia. Search the city for over 200 unique pieces of loot and resources, ranging from food to building materials and hi-tech weapons and upgrades, while using your hacking skills to unlock salvage containers or doors to access secret areas of the city.
As you learn about the city and your place within it, you will encounter and battle the Afflicted, the maligned citizens of Eden driven mad by a horrific biological outbreak. Governed by their excruciating pain and disfiguring disease, the Afflicted react in unpredictable ways, presenting a formidable, harrowing threat. As part of your arsenal, you have the holographic “AARM UI” system which projects the game interface directly into the game world, seamlessly heightening immersion and building tension during battles. Acquiring and upgrading the modular weaponry attachments for your AARM device allows you to further even the odds on the offensive. Defence is just as important, though, made possible by the game’s freeform base-building system, which enables you to build a personal safe haven amidst Eden’s hostile world. You can also use the Pandora IVG Multitool to discover even more items and manage your base.
You’ll eventually learn how to manage and upgrade Eden’s power systems to keep the lights on and use services such as elevators and vendor kiosks. But take care to avoid encounters with Eden’s security system. The deadly Seeker droids are still functional and will respond harshly to illegal activity, an additional threat. As every decision in Eden has consequences, you must tread carefully and think about the ramifications of your choices. What is the cost of enhancing your body with Bio-Augmentation? Sure, it might help in the short-term but the long-term implications may affect you in unforeseen ways.
This offers just a glimpse of what NVYVE, has planned for the future of P.A.M.E.L.A. and its full commercial release. NVYVE redefines ideas of what a small team can do and will be revealing more about its release calendar and how players can help shape the future of this exciting new open world survival game over the coming months.
Nightdive Studios, a company specializing in the restoration of classic PC game titles and the publisher behind the successful release of Turok in 2015, is pleased to announce that it will be releasing the sequel, Turok 2: Seeds of Evil on March 16th, 2017.
Turok 2: Seeds of Evil is a first person shooter where players assume the role of Turok, an intrepid warrior, fighting their way through a host of new enemies, weapons, and missions. When the game was first released for the Nintendo 64 console, it sold over one million copies, making it a smash success. As Turok, players can run, jump, climb ladders, swim, dive underwater, and even explore a futuristic setting. The remastered game transports players into a sprawling environment with vicious enemies lurking behind every corner. Fans can look forward to new grotesque bosses and over 20 new weapons, including the skull-drilling favorite – The Cerebral Bore – that will send enemy brains flying!
In a thrilling new feature, Turok 2: Seeds of Evil also adds a multiplayer game mode in “Last Turok Standing” where players can battle with friends for an even more visceral gaming experience.
Stephen Kick, CEO and Founder of Nightdive Studios, explains, “Turok 2: Seeds of Evil does more than just continue the series. From the moment that a player first begins their quest in the Port of Adia, they will face a whole new series of challenges and puzzles to solve. Players will also get to use a whole new series of weapons to overcome these challenges. And best of all, players will get to use these weapons against their friends in multiplayer mode!”
Stephen Kick added, "When restoring these classic games, it is important to ensure that they will play on as many different computer hardware configurations as possible. Working with Intel allows our developers to tune the game's performance to achieve those results." As a member of the Intel game development community, Nightdive Studios relies on Intel’s tools to optimize game PC performance and to ensure compatibility with today’s modern computers.
At this year’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, on March 1st, 2017, from 10AM until 2PM, Turok 2: Seeds of Evil will be available to play and demo at the Intel booth on the GDC Sky Bridges.
Turok 2: Seeds of Evil will be available to consumers on March 16th, 2017 for PC on digital platforms including Steam, GOG.com, and the Humble Store. The pre-sale for the game is available now at: store.steampowered.com