Steam vs BIS Store & Exclusivity - Explained

[EDcase 87]

Good explanation Sproyd ;)

Long post short...

Buy from BiS Direct (Sprocket)

[strych9 10]

Im still confused why someone wouldnt want to support steam. it helps friends stay grouped up,has all your games in a nice list(keeping your desktop clean of icons) push out updates when your asleep, helps small companies get noticed, helps the consumer when companies lie(warz=bs), they have sales all the time(you would never see sales otherwise), they update steamworks to make it run smoother all the time, consistantly work against hackers/cheaters(which Real Virtuality game engine needs help with),etc,etc. Yeah sometimes they have some connection issues, but those are mostly database updates that last only a few minutes. And they are improving on it consistantly. If they want to make a few bucks off of it, be my guest. I got a few friends to get arma 2CO because of steams sales, they were not planning on ever getting it. Now they are getting arma 3. so yeah, bis made a few extra hunderd dollars from steam, threw them(if not more from their references). I fully support steam, I got it when it came out. it has come a long way, and is improving all the time.

[sproyd 2]

Im still confused why someone wouldnt want to support steam. it helps friends stay grouped up,has all your games in a nice list(keeping your desktop clean of icons) push out updates when your asleep, helps small companies get noticed, helps the consumer when companies lie(warz=bs), they have sales all the time(you would never see sales otherwise), they update steamworks to make it run smoother all the time, consistantly work against hackers/cheaters(which Real Virtuality game engine needs help with),etc,etc. Yeah sometimes they have some connection issues, but those are mostly database updates that last only a few minutes. And they are improving on it consistantly. If they want to make a few bucks off of it, be my guest. I got a few friends to get arma 2CO because of steams sales, they were not planning on ever getting it. Now they are getting arma 3. so yeah, bis made a few extra hunderd dollars from steam, threw them(if not more from their references). I fully support steam, I got it when it came out. it has come a long way, and is improving all the time.

Good post. I guess the idea is that Steam doesn't so much need the 'support', and that Arma-fan consumer money is best distributed to BIS in as large a proportion as possible to improve and encourage resourcing for future releases. However, if you feel like you are happy buying directly from Steam then that's fine too. As per my OP though, I would strongly advise against buying retail box in Q3 (who am I kidding, Q1 2014), that is of course unless you want to support high street retail, truck drivers and warehousing staff ;)

[amadieus 0]

I want to support both Steam and Bohemia. So Steam it stays for me!

[jblack9 10]

Steam is fucking fine, I can't understand all the hate. Skyrim has a HUGE community fanbase and lots of Mods, and that game uses Steam, and the community got along with it fine! Armaholic will still remain far and away the most popular community website, and most people will download their mods from there, not Steamworks. People will still use SixUpdater to launch their game, just like people use the Nexus Mod Manager for Skyrim. I really don't understand all the Steam hate.

[cifordayzserver 119]

I will be buying form the BIS store... prob. multiple supporter editions, already confirmed with 2 of the devs on the team I'm working with they want it bad so I'm likely just going to buy it for them.

[SGT.cz90-CZ 10]

If I could get Supporter from Steam, I'd not think a second about it.

Valve is a good company. Not Activision or EA. What gives me a chuckle is that first Activision comes and ripps money off of people for CoD, then Valve comes by and says "MY CUT". And the thief gives some of the money to an actually good company.

I could NOT tell some of the last few CoD sequels apart, be it not for my great memory, but I could sure as hell tell apart every single location in Half-Life series, or ArmA series even without this kind of memory. They're just always so memorable due to good experiences, that vary.

Had BIS been there a little earlier, and did a little more mainstream titles, it might not be Valve, but BIS; not Steam but Sprocket. But it's Valve and Steam. And honestly, I don't give a damn WHO is it, but I give a damn about HOW they do it. HOW it works.

Be glad BIS isn't doing anal tourism with EA and their stupid Origin, and rather go for a good partnership with Valve.

[johncage 30]

"Valve comes by and says "MY CUT". And the thief gives some of the money to an actually good company."

which makes them just as bad as the thieves for accepting ill-gotten gains.

[dsi24 12]

BTW, the BIS Store will likely be the only place to buy the Alpha from, Valve tries to make a point of not selling pre-release stuff through Steam. (Though, if BIS ever fully opens up the pre-release stuff like as an open beta, we might see something like Trackmania 2 Stadium's Open Beta under the "Download Demo" button on ArmA3's store page)

[vegeta897 13]

"Valve comes by and says "MY CUT". And the thief gives some of the money to an actually good company."

which makes them just as bad as the thieves for accepting ill-gotten gains.

I hope either you didn't understand what he meant, or you're joking.

BTW, the BIS Store will likely be the only place to buy the Alpha from, Valve tries to make a point of not selling pre-release stuff through Steam.

But the alpha is going to be running on Steam. It would be weird to have a game that is on Steam only, and not be able to purchase it there.

[strych9 10]

i dont see why valve wont have the alpha. bis has a good rep with them. im sure they would like to use steam for the updates too. although i look every day and have not seen anything regarding A3 in the store(damn tuesday isnt coming fast enough).

Id also like steam for the "never having to look for the cd/key again". I hate trying to sift threw 1000 dvd's to find my game, just to find out i left it on some sandpaper. ive had to torrent a few games because i treat dvd's like coasters. all i need now is to remember a name and password.

[call_911 10]

<<<<<BIstore.com/supporter

[sproyd 2]

BTW, the BIS Store will likely be the only place to buy the Alpha from, Valve tries to make a point of not selling pre-release stuff through Steam. (Though, if BIS ever fully opens up the pre-release stuff like as an open beta, we might see something like Trackmania 2 Stadium's Open Beta under the "Download Demo" button on ArmA3's store page)

wrong http://www.arma3.com/buy Alpha and DDE available to purchase via Steam.

[Binkowski 26]

I may have to purchase the supporter edition solely for the FACT that Valve won't get a cut of the profit.

[carlwinslow 10]

I will be buying from BIS, my hopes is that it will release on arma3.com/bistudio.com at 12:00 am Tuesday Czech Republic time.

[sancron 32]

Personaly i am not a Steam hater, i like it for some games, but i was made a bad expirences with Arma 2 CO on Steam. So i was buy ArmA 2 twice, the socond buy was directly from BI and Downloaded via Sprocket. So on one side, i want to have A3, but on the other side i don't want to have A3 only on Steam, personaly i wish a non-Steam Version. But after the Anoucement, that ArmA 3 is Steam exclusive, i don't think BI will provide two versions like ArmA 2 (i know there are more but i mean Sprocket and Steam).

[SGT.cz90-CZ 10]

ArmA 2 was not meant for Steam in the first place. They had to adjust a whole bunch of things to get it working, and in my honest opinion, never fully succeeded, which is not what will repeat with ArmA 3, simply due to the fact it is build as a Steam game from the very start.

[scaramoosh 10]

I'm just gonna buy through Steam, it's easier and I think Valve are doing a great job as well so why shouldn't they get a cut?

[k3lt 3]

I'm just gonna buy through Steam, it's easier and I think Valve are doing a great job as well so why shouldn't they get a cut?

+1, some people are short sighted.

[Winfernal 2]

I'm just gonna buy through Steam, it's easier and I think Valve are doing a great job as well so why shouldn't they get a cut?

Because Supporters Edition isn't avaiable on Steam ;)

[Binkowski 26]

I'm just gonna buy through Steam, it's easier and I think Valve are doing a great job as well so why shouldn't they get a cut?

What makes you think that?

[antoineflemming 14]

Oh, while on the issue of the BIS Store, I wonder why the price for the Supporter Edition on the BIS Store is a whole lot cheaper than the price on the ArmA3 webpage? On the BIS Store it's $75.20, 50-something euros.

[Winfernal 2]

What makes you think that?

My two cents:

For actually developing the game, BI deserves the money. But i also think Steam deserves a small cut, for the "integrating ArmA into Steam"-part. Since they're giving BI the tools they need, for them to improve the developing and publishing by using Steam. And for us players, to give us a smoother gaming experience.

[kernriver 4]

TL;DR = To best support BIS buy digital copy from BIS Store, validate on Steam and don't buy a physical copy upon release.

....

What about buying digital (from BI store) and retail (from whereever) later on, which I certainly intend to do? ;)

[k3lt 3]

My two cents:

For actually developing the game, BI deserves the money. But i also think Steam deserves a small cut, for the "integrating ArmA into Steam"-part. Since they're giving BI the tools they need, for them to improve the developing and publishing by using Steam. And for us players, to give us a smoother gaming experience.

Also promoting Arma 3 on their platform, which will also yield more $$$ for BI.

I seriously feel sorry for people which dont get it, and all they see is the small cut for Steam - sigh.

Edited March 4, 2013 by k3lt