For years the mainline source of games for all those playing on their PC has been through Steam. It is the staple platform that houses a multitude of big brands and keeps the indie titles to be trustworthy due to their clearing process. While this is a great safety net, it is time that players start looking into more platforms as their mainline source of PC games.
The reason I think we should start looking into more options is two summarized reasons.
The monopoly of it all! This is easily the main reason I would like to mention because Steam has held the hearts of PC gamers for countless years. They host the domain to majority of the games that people play and is one of the software’s that players have boot up right along with their computers initial set up. When you want a new game or are looking into getting a new game, the first place majority of gamers check is the Steam store. Their sales get us to buy games that we haven’t even played yet and their magnitude of games stashed keeps us searching for the next hidden gem without looking into other platforms.
Backlash after backlash… the line must be drawn somewhere. Now, what I mean by this is that over the past couple years there have been a few instances where Steam wasn’t on the highest of opinions for both gamers and the community. There was the shutting down of the Steam Greenlight, which many ended up stating was a positive change. Now there is the Steam Direct style, which sounds like a good idea, yet they took the hands off approach with this change and now we have the issue of a horrid title like Rape Day trying to make its way on the platform; as reported by Nerd Reactor. Recently they shut down the video section of the platform. At what point will they allow or remove something that just pushes you over the edge to look elsewhere for games?
There are a plethora of options out there for us to choose from when it comes to finding new platforms. The problem is, none of them have nearly as many games as Steam does or ever will. Then there is the fact that some don’t want to have multiple engines downloaded at the same time with their games dispersed through the multiple fields. It would be like console players owning all three of the latest generation platforms, PlayStation 4, Xbox One S, and Nintendo Switch, and having their games strewn between them. However, at least we will still be able to game with the same friends without any hassle as the PC connection remains the same and having the different platforms will give us diversity if we ever feel the need to remove a platform, regardless of reasoning or personal loss.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying to stop using Steam moving forward. I just think we need to start accepting more platforms for our source of games. Go download the Epic Games launcher and start checking out what they have in store. Get yourself set up on Origin and look into that EA pass membership they offer that lets you play all their games for a monthly fee. Set up an account on Gamejolt and Itch.io so that you can look through the largest field of indie games you will ever see; just be wary of these games as they’re download files and aren’t sourced through any in-house checking system, so read everything and make sure it is trustworthy. In the case of these indie site options I would suggest Gamejolt more so as they even have a Client like the other major platforms. Hell, I even recommend looking into some of the upcoming stuff like the Abyss, which is planning to be a mainline source for MMO titles of all kinds, that will be available sooner rather than later.
It’s like going to the same restaurant we always have and ordering a coke, per usual, but the waiter responds with, “Sorry, we serve Pepsi now. Is that OK?” Well, it is OK. In fact, it is down right perfect because coke can not be our only source forever. Take that secondary choice with pride and firmly plant yourself in the versatile ring of gaming opportunity!
