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WHAT IF...: A "Steam Pass" for $199/ year to download and play Everything!

Pro:
  1. Download and play any games in the steam store for $199/a year ($17/month)
  2. Discount on single purchased games with pass.
  3. Cloud save
Con:
  1. The games in your library wont start if the subscription is canceled. Must re-subscribe or buy the game individually to play.
hypothetically speaking i think Valve would cut themselves short given their PC dominance. they could probably ask for $299/year with better perks i cant really think of right now.
 

LectureMaster

Gold Member
Lol yeah it's impossible, Steam would lose profit like crazy to compensate all publishers and devs for the service.

It that did happen, I guess other platforms could also possibly pull off a plan like it, so it's hard to say whether it would be the killshot for PC dominance.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Steam used to have this - it was a package given away to employees of Valve so that they could test every game. Once the store exploded in popularity and Steam Greenlight was a thing that let hundreds of new games on the store every week, they had to do away with this because the licensing costs were too high.

If it cost too much money to be a perk that Valve paid for their employees, it's definitely not something that us regulars are going to get for $200 a year.
 

Daneel Elijah

Gold Member
It was tried in aviation, and was a costly mistake:
But I would be in. I wonder how long could Steam sustain such deal before being forced to end the deal or be bankrupt?
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Lock non subbed users out of cloud saves, are you nuts? What's next, require a sub for multiplayer connectivity? The total opposite of what they're doing with even adding online features like remote play free?
Steam used to have this - it was a package given away to employees of Valve so that they could test every game. Once the store exploded in popularity and Steam Greenlight was a thing that let hundreds of new games on the store every week, they had to do away with this because the licensing costs were too high.

If it cost too much money to be a perk that Valve paid for their employees, it's definitely not something that us regulars are going to get for $200 a year.
Wait, they had to pay to have essentially personal (employee) access to their own catalogue? That doesn't make sense. So they were also paying to hand out those old press accounts? Sure glad mine still works.

I have to imagine their own such accounts also still work otherwise with all the backend updates they'd have abandoned that "add game" button function stuff so it would have stopped working by now though.

Actually iirc there were a couple times through the years where it seemed like they canned that and even removed access to all games added with the feature rather than normally but it was quickly restored 🤷‍♂️
 
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pauljeremiah

Gold Member
It will be easier for them to start a subscription service and slowly add games to it, starting off with all the games on Steam will be a nightmare
This. If Valve could do this and maybe over time if they tiered it and if you add EA Play and Ubi+ to the subscription too, and have a pay once and get all subscription services.
 
Pro:
  1. Download and play any games in the steam store for $199/a year ($17/month)
  2. Discount on single purchased games with pass.
  3. Cloud save
Con:
  1. The games in your library wont start if the subscription is canceled. Must re-subscribe or buy the game individually to play.
hypothetically speaking i think Valve would cut themselves short given their PC dominance. they could probably ask for $299/year with better perks i cant really think of right now.
That’s honestly not unthinkable, there’s so many games on Steam now; I would of never imagined this many games being available for something that was only just a Half Life 2 proxy in the beginning.

Give me a toggle option to disable splash logos and I will definitely subscribe for full access to all the available games on Steam.
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Pro:
  1. Download and play any games in the steam store for $199/a year ($17/month)
  2. Discount on single purchased games with pass.
  3. Cloud save
Con:
  1. The games in your library wont start if the subscription is canceled. Must re-subscribe or buy the game individually to play.
hypothetically speaking i think Valve would cut themselves short given their PC dominance. they could probably ask for $299/year with better perks i cant really think of right now.

That would never work for £199 per year.

For this to work for Valve and publishers/developers, the cost would need to be at least £70 per month.

And you know what? I'd be happy to pay that. If it gave me access to every game on Steam and will ever be on Steam, then £70 per month is a steal. I'd even be happy to pay £80 per month for that killer service
 

DaGwaphics

Member
I'd sign up for that. :messenger_tears_of_joy:

I think if it ever comes to pass though it will be just a subset of games like GP or PS+. And in the case of steam that would be a good thing because there is a lot of hot garbage on there alongside the good games.

Seriously though I'm surprised they haven't done this already, even if it was indie focused. They already have all the infrastructure for it and with the Humble monthly thing and GP already on PC they know their are some interested customers out there.

Epic seems willing to pump a lot of money into their store to try and gain any kind of relevance so you might see them give this approach a try as well.
 
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DaGwaphics

Member
There's no way that would release at that price point. EVERYONE would buy that if somehow publishers couldn't opt out. That would literally be the best deal in gaming.

People fear subs will cause people to not buy games and I generally laugh at that, but this would be the deal that would actually make it happen. :messenger_tears_of_joy:

The servers would shutdown just from people trying to sign up.

The crazy thing is the math as far as total revenue might not be that bad, they generate like $7 or $8b in gross revenue a year so with maybe 45m subs you might actually equalize the math. The issue would be how do you decide how the money is divided and all that. I don't see an all you can eat service like Spotify working with games. Much better to operate like PS+ and GP and just negotiate for specific games.
 
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jaysius

Banned
Steam Pass Sharing would be more popular than the pass itself at $200, also no way you'd get EVERY DEVELOPER on Steam to agree, especially not the grifters with $2000 non-finished games.
 

Jigsaah

Gold Member
Pro:
  1. Download and play any games in the steam store for $199/a year ($17/month)
  2. Discount on single purchased games with pass.
  3. Cloud save
Con:
  1. The games in your library wont start if the subscription is canceled. Must re-subscribe or buy the game individually to play.
hypothetically speaking i think Valve would cut themselves short given their PC dominance. they could probably ask for $299/year with better perks i cant really think of right now.
Gamepass is 180 bucks a year if you're paying for ultimate full price. For EVERYTHING on Steam?50 dollars a month....minimum.

I'd do it, but Steam would go out of business probably. They make insane money I would imagine with their library
 
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But I would be in. I wonder how long could Steam sustain such deal before being forced to end the deal or be bankrupt?
Let Valve figure that out.

Even though Valve’s hardware engineers are still aesthetically stuck in the 1990s with literally no concept of the fucking word ‘trim’ I think we will all be surprised by what they come up with as a solution.
 

Sorcerer

Member
The fact that the games would not disappear after a certain amount of time is intriguing. But this would bankrupt Valve and no developer would agree to this because so many games would never get played or paid attention to which is probably the current problem with Steam anyway.
 
I'll pass on that. This model has no appeal to me. I'd rather just buy the games I want and play them whenever I want. I usually wait for sales anyway
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
Weekend GAF in full swing I see.

You cant even do a Gamepass Ultra Ultimate Edition for 199 a year to play every game on Xbox.
You think Valve can afford to do a Steampass that has every game on Steam for 199?

Be serious man.
 
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