MODs and Steam

Hey Gabe,

Your platform helped cement me as a PC gamer. I've converted dozens of people over, paid for my library of 500 games over the past decade and bolstered the library of many friends.

You've given us a platform that has helped to create such an astounding, powerful community of like-minded gamers that I'm proud to be a part of. You have always been dedicated to the user experience, and we've shown you that we'll trust your vision and reward you for doing right by us.

But this move is strictly revenue based. Nobody called for it, nobody wanted it. It brings about a million different ownership issues and throws greed into an equation that existed prior out of purely furthering our enjoyment of the hobby. This is so much unlike Valve that I was shocked and confused when I read about it. The decade of goodwill took a massive blow. I have the utmost respect for what you've done, but I really feel like you've lost your roots.

Your customer base is well-informed, generally intelligent and very vocal, and the backlash from using this store is going to hurt. Low overhead means you'll get profit from this project almost regardless of how many people buy in, but customers are going to hit the developers, and Valve's catalogue in general.

I'm a former army intelligence officer focused on economic effects and a current business analyst MBA concentrated in marketing analytics, so that gives me at least a little credibility when I say financially it isn't doing you any favors, but I think the most important part of my credibility is that I'm a passionate, loyal PC gamer, and this course of action almost makes me feel personally betrayed for having Valve in such high esteem. You're going to damage my hobby.

My two cents.

/r/gaming Thread Parent