Likelihood of GW2 coming to Steam

[KrHome.1920]

Valve demands 30% of the revenues generated by your game on steam. That's significant and could already be too much to get any profit out of the "cosmetics" monetizing system GW2 uses.

[Rex.3602]

For what it's worth, seeing SWTOR on the steam store reminded me of the game again. Currently downloading SWTOR on steam and am ready to log in to my character again.

[Astyrah.4015]

well gw1 is already on steam. it wouldn't hurt to put gw2 in steam too

plus i'd love to have all my games on one launcher platform (even if it would still launch the gw2 launcher from steam, like it does with ff14)

all i want is that if they ever do add GW2 to steam, is that we can link our existing account(s) to our steam account and not have to make a new one just for the steam version

[Susy.7529]

0%.

/10characterslimit

[sigur.9453]

@Virdo.1540 said:is the game already close to death? I hope it wont go to steam anywhere soon

beause more players = bad for you?please explain

[Danikat.8537]

How is Steam publicising information the company behind the game must have already known beneficial? What does this do to help players, or the developers?

[Sarrs.4831]

I wonder how much of this is a component of integration with the gift store on Steam. Having a relatively low-population MMO in that market seems really helpful.

I also wonder how much attention EA is going to give to SWTOR with moving onto Steam as the game was basically dead in the water.

[Kronos.3695]

@"KrHome.1920" said:Valve demands 30% of the revenues generated by your game on steam. That's significant and could already be too much to get any profit out of the "cosmetics" monetizing system GW2 uses.

Consider this: Guild Wars 2 normally sells X, if it sells X + something (big)% due to Steam popularity, and Steam gets 30% of that, does the game earns less because of that? No, it earns more in money, visibility and everything else, even if Steam is getting 30% of the revenue.

I've said it multiple times in the past: being on a platform like Steam always benefits a game if it's good.

[Astyrah.4015]

@Kronos.3695 said:

@"KrHome.1920" said:Valve demands 30% of the revenues generated by your game on steam. That's significant and could already be too much to get any profit out of the "cosmetics" monetizing system GW2 uses.

Consider this: Guild Wars 2 normally sells X, if it sells X + something (big)% due to Steam popularity, and Steam gets 30% of that, does the game earns less because of that? No, it earns more in money, visibility and everything else, even if Steam is getting 30% of the revenue.

I've said it multiple times in the past: being on a platform like Steam always benefits a game if it's good.

what's also nice about steam is how they use that 30% it funds it's R&D and other software projects like Steam Play / Proton (which literally made a lot of Linux converts and basically helped open up gaming on linux with their contributions to wine and dxvk) and other things like VR etc.

they don't pocket it all like Epic does. but enough about that.

one good thing if GW2 comes to steam is that, it might get a huge front page banner just like SWTOR just got. that's huge huge marketing for GW2 and well worth it. (steam is after all one of the, if not, the biggest digital platform for PC ---- meaning, even non-mmo gamers would see it and might recommend it to their mmo-playing friends)...

and like i said on the other thread, gw1 is already on steam... why not gw2 too?

[Rex.3602]

@Astyrah.4015 said:

@Kronos.3695 said:

@"KrHome.1920" said:Valve demands 30% of the revenues generated by your game on steam. That's significant and could already be too much to get any profit out of the "cosmetics" monetizing system GW2 uses.

Consider this: Guild Wars 2 normally sells X, if it sells X + something (big)% due to Steam popularity, and Steam gets 30% of that, does the game earns less because of that? No, it earns more in money, visibility and everything else, even if Steam is getting 30% of the revenue.

I've said it multiple times in the past: being on a platform like Steam always benefits a game if it's good.

what's also nice about steam is how they use that 30% it funds it's R&D and other software projects like Steam Play / Proton (which literally made a lot of Linux converts and basically helped open up gaming on linux with their contributions to wine and dxvk) and other things like VR etc.

I am loving the new Steam Link. Such a useful feature.

[KrHome.1920]

@Kronos.3695 said:

@"KrHome.1920" said:Valve demands 30% of the revenues generated by your game on steam. That's significant and could already be too much to get any profit out of the "cosmetics" monetizing system GW2 uses.

Consider this: Guild Wars 2 normally sells X, if it sells X + something (big)% due to Steam popularity, and Steam gets 30% of that, does the game earns less because of that? No, it earns more in money, visibility and everything else, even if Steam is getting 30% of the revenue.

I've said it multiple times in the past: being on a platform like Steam always benefits a game if it's good.That's highly speculative.

We don't know anything about the exact numbers. Popularity can be generated in different ways. If anet or ncsoft think that optimal market penetration is achievable with their current marketing, then it makes no sense to bring the game to steam and earn 30% less for no reason from everybody who bought it there, when the same person would have bought it anyway.

And of course there are some other downsides when you publish on a third party plattform instead of or additionally to your own. Patch/update synchronisation is one of these. Others are regional problems, like software bans in certain countries. And so on...

[Astyrah.4015]

@"KrHome.1920" said:And of course there are some other downsides when you publish on a third party plattform instead of or additionally to your own. Patch/update synchronisation is one of these.

FF14 (Steam) doesn't have this issue because Steam just launches FF14's patcher/launcher it doesn't replace the patcher/launcher (and you can totally bypass steam if you wanted to by going to your steam library folder and launching ff14 from there.)

i believe SW:TOR (Steam) does the same and steam just opens the swtor patcher/launcher and you patch from there.

all steam does for either game is download the base/core/vanilla content and you patch from there once the game's patcher/launcher comes up.

the issue with this (atleast with ff14 from what i remember) was that you should never "Verify steam cache" or you risk re-downloading everything.

so basically with the two games, once you install the game, just patch normally with the rest of the (non-steam using) playerbase.

[Dawdler.8521]

@Kronos.3695 said:

@"KrHome.1920" said:Valve demands 30% of the revenues generated by your game on steam. That's significant and could already be too much to get any profit out of the "cosmetics" monetizing system GW2 uses.

Consider this: Guild Wars 2 normally sells X, if it sells X + something (big)% due to Steam popularity, and Steam gets 30% of that, does the game earns less because of that? No, it earns more in money, visibility and everything else, even if Steam is getting 30% of the revenue.

I've said it multiple times in the past: being on a platform like Steam always benefits a game if it's good.Except its not just basic sales. Steam take a cut from any ingame microtransactions and

that

is what publishers dont like. Thats why they built their own systems for it. Anet would have to hand over a percentage of the gemshop earnings.

[zinkz.7045]

Redacted .

[Naxos.2503]

A question out of pure curiosity regarding that :Let's say Anet Does go to Steam and put Guild wars 2 in there. In that case, is it owed 30% of any sales done by Steam users ? or 30% of -any- sale done by -all- players as soon as it is joined to Steam ?

I wish I could reasonably say it's the first, but herein lies the catch, how do they tell the difference ?

[Omega.6801]

@"Korval.3751" said:Continuing from https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/107568/likelihood-of-gw2-coming-to-steam

Why didn't you just continue that thread?

[maddoctor.2738]

The way the servers are at the moment the last thing the game needs is a massive influx of FREE players.However, it's clear that SWTOR prices didn't go up when the game got on Steam, it's the exact same prices as if you get it from the official website.

[kharmin.7683]

@maddoctor.2738 said:However, it's clear that SWTOR prices didn't go up when the game got on Steam, it's the exact same prices as if you get it from the official website.Yes, but according to that screen shot, SWTOR is a subscription game? Maybe with their subscription base, any fees to Steam are acceptable to their bottom line? If GW2 went to Steam, would a subscription then be required to maintain their finances?

[saye.9304]

op is right, steam opens up the door to regions like india, there are millions of indian players who do not have credit card, or have local card not international, but many of them buy steam gift card and buy steam games, i myself i remember i could not buy RIFT from trion website back in 2011 instead i went on steam and bought RIFT, although game is dead, i still have it on my steam list and it is installed and log in from time to time, yes steam opens up door to those parts of the world, and EA did smart thing to put swtor on steam, at the very least game will receive temporarily boost from steam, which is good anyway considering last NCSOF financial report. if super greedy EA does it then it is not bad thing or EA would be the first who will not do it given how greedy they are.

[maddoctor.2738]

@kharmin.7683 said:

@"maddoctor.2738" said:However, it's clear that SWTOR prices didn't go up when the game got on Steam, it's the exact same prices as if you get it from the official website.Yes, but according to that screen shot, SWTOR is a subscription game? Maybe with their subscription base, any fees to Steam are acceptable to their bottom line? If GW2 went to Steam, would a subscription then be required to maintain their finances?

SWTOR is free and has an optional subscription. I doubt anyone that is already paying a subscription to the core game would suddenly go and buy a subscription on Steam, all possible subs from Steam are new players, which is the best part about bringing a game to Steam, getting LOADS of new players to try the game.

The question for GW2 is how many of those will find the Core experience good enough (for 2020) to pay up for cosmetics or buy the expansions, otherwise they'd simply cause extra lag on the already stressed servers (or network infrastructure). If Anet thinks their game isn't good enough to attract new players and "force" conversions, they won't go on Steam

[Astyrah.4015]

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@kharmin.7683 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:However, it's clear that SWTOR prices didn't go up when the game got on Steam, it's the exact same prices as if you get it from the official website.Yes, but according to that screen shot, SWTOR is a subscription game? Maybe with their subscription base, any fees to Steam are acceptable to their bottom line? If GW2 went to Steam, would a subscription then be required to maintain their finances?

SWTOR is free and has an optional subscription. I doubt anyone that is already paying a subscription to the core game would suddenly go and buy a subscription on Steam, all possible subs from Steam are new players, which is the best part about bringing a game to Steam, getting LOADS of new players to try the game.

just adding that based on my experience playing SW:TOR, a lot of people who tried the game, and liked it subbed for 1 month to unlock all current expansions for free (and all story content in between expansions) and then cancelled it right away.

accounts had 3 tiers: FREE > PREFERRED > SUBSCRIBER

spending anything on the cash shop or being a former subscriber automatically makes you a Preferred account (basically a free account but with less restrictions) and you keep all the expansions you unlocked by being a former subscriber. so basically there's a huge chunk of people who just sub for 1 month whenever a new expansion drops and then continue playing without subscribing

subscribing removes all restrictions. free accounts had every restriction you can dream of which is why i subbed right away when i was first playing that game since it was just so... unplayable for me.

based on the OP's post in this thread, many bought a sub for a month which they probably wont renew

[maddoctor.2738]

@Astyrah.4015 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@kharmin.7683 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:However, it's clear that SWTOR prices didn't go up when the game got on Steam, it's the exact same prices as if you get it from the official website.Yes, but according to that screen shot, SWTOR is a subscription game? Maybe with their subscription base, any fees to Steam are acceptable to their bottom line? If GW2 went to Steam, would a subscription then be required to maintain their finances?

SWTOR is free and has an optional subscription. I doubt anyone that is already paying a subscription to the core game would suddenly go and buy a subscription on Steam, all possible subs from Steam are new players, which is the best part about bringing a game to Steam, getting LOADS of new players to try the game.

just adding that based on my experience playing SW:TOR, a lot of people who tried the game, and liked it subbed for 1 month to unlock all current expansions for free (and all story content in between expansions) and then cancelled it right away.

accounts had 3 tiers: FREE > PREFERRED > SUBSCRIBER

spending anything on the cash shop or being a former subscriber automatically makes you a Preferred account (basically a free account but with less restrictions) and you keep all the expansions you unlocked by being a former subscriber. so basically there's a huge chunk of people who just sub for 1 month whenever a new expansion drops and then continue playing without subscribing

subscribing removes all restrictions. free accounts had every restriction you can dream of which is why i subbed right away when i was first playing that game since it was just so... unplayable for me.

based on the OP's post in this thread, many bought a sub for a month which they probably wont renew

Well if for 15$ someone could get both expansions and every living world episode unlocked in GW2, that would sell very very well.

[TheQuickFox.3826]

I bet Valve would take quite a chew out of the GW2 sales via Steam.

Would it be too much effort to go to guildwars2.com and buy the game from there?

[kharmin.7683]

@TheQuickFox.3826 said:Would it be too much effort to go to guildwars2.com and buy the game from there?Seems so, in some cases@saye.9304 said:op is right, steam opens up the door to regions like india, there are millions of indian players who do not have credit card, or have local card not international, but many of them buy steam gift card and buy steam games

[waxx.3619]

@saye.9304 said:op is right, steam opens up the door to regions like india, there are millions of indian players who do not have credit card, or have local card not international, but many of them buy steam gift card and buy steam games, i myself i remember i could not buy RIFT from trion website back in 2011 instead i went on steam and bought RIFT, although game is dead, i still have it on my steam list and it is installed and log in from time to time, yes steam opens up door to those parts of the world, and EA did smart thing to put swtor on steam, at the very least game will receive temporarily boost from steam, which is good anyway considering last NCSOF financial report. if super greedy EA does it then it is not bad thing or EA would be the first who will not do it given how greedy they are.

100% agree with this.