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A move that isn't entirely surprising due to how limited it was, Valve is moving back to focus on gaming more than anything else with non-gaming videos being retired.

From the news post:

For the past few years, we have worked on expanding Steam beyond games and software by building a video platform that supports paid and free video content. In reviewing what Steam users actually watch, it became clear we should focus our effort on offering content that is either directly related to gaming or, is accessory content for games or software sold on Steam.

As part of this refocus, we have retired the Video section of the Steam Store menu with an expectation that video content is discovered via the associated game or software store page, or through search, user tags, recommendations, etc.

Over the coming weeks a number of non-gaming videos will be retired and will no longer be available for purchase. Previously purchased content will remain available to owners.

Why is it not surprising? Well, it makes sense for multiple reasons. Did you ever buy and watch any movies (or other non-gaming videos) on Steam? I didn't, it's far easier to use a different service like Netflix, Google Play or practically any other where you could watch your content across pretty much any device and browser.

On top of that, Valve's bread and butter is gaming and since they now have more competition actually focusing on that is obvious at this point.

The dedicated Videos link on Steam has already been removed.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Steam, Valve
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43 comments
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Eike Feb 20, 2019
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Click baity nonsense title on that article but it does raise the very valid and very worrying point about how reliant we are on Steam. It is something I have been uncomfortable with for a while, being someone who really dislike monopolies.

You hit the wrong article with your answer, I guess.
scaine Feb 20, 2019
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MS fanbois desperate to re-enforce their Helsinki syndrome.
I think you mean Stockholm syndrome. They're our neighbours, but they can keep their icky syndromes.

You made me look it up, since I definitely meant Helsinki Syndrome. Turns out, they're pretty much one and the same... except that Helsinki Syndrome doesn't actually exist. Confused? Helsinki Syndrome was a (joke) reference to Stockholm Syndrome in the movie Die Hard.

Several google searches turned up evidence that Helsinki Syndrome is now accepted as a term, but the "medical" definition of where the captee/abused starts to sympathise with their captor/abuser... you're right, it's Stockholm Syndrome.

Every day is a school day, eh?
Whitewolfe80 Feb 20, 2019
Very nice, less crap to clutter the store. Maybe visual novels can be next? :P

Oh if you ban the fap games you'll get the extreme nerd rage from people claiming they have deep narrative strength and gameplay.
scaine Feb 20, 2019
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Very nice, less crap to clutter the store. Maybe visual novels can be next? :P

Oh if you ban the fap games you'll get the extreme nerd rage from people claiming they have deep narrative strength and gameplay.

I've already banned them using a filter in Steam's preferences (on the web page). Also, text-based adventures. And "windows", which I don't remember doing...
Draconicrose Feb 20, 2019
I... didn't even know this was a thing. I never see any videos promoted on the store page. I guess I do have one video it's Free To Play, the documentary, but the way it played in the UI I just assumed someone made a "game" with the Steam API which had the sole purpose of playing a video. O.o
commodore256 Feb 20, 2019
I bought the New Game Anime, it was cheap.
vector Feb 20, 2019
Over the coming weeks a number of non-gaming videos will be retired and will no longer be available for purchase.
I am of the opinion that removing non-gaming-related video and non-gaming-related software from Steam would be a good move.

I have bought and plan on continuing to buy gaming-related video from GOG.com and Steam (e.g. I just recently purchased Fechtbuch: The Real Swordfighting behind Kingdom Come on GOG.com), and I prefer that gaming-related films and series remain available for purchase, as usually gaming-related films and series are a lower priority than actual games on my wishlists, so I don't purchase these videos as quickly, but I do purchase them eventually. My reading of this announcement is that, indeed, gaming-related films (e.g. Indie Game: The Movie) and series (e.g. Amnesia Fortnight) will remain available for purchase on Steam.

My question is, where is the cutoff exactly in terms of what is considered gaming-related and what isn't? Would Dead Space: Downfall and Dead Space: Aftermath (distributed by Lionsgate) be considered gaming-related videos? They are not documentaries, they are companion stories to the Dead Space games that flesh out the games' universe. If Lionsgate's non-gaming-related catalog (e.g. John Wick, The Walking Dead, etc.) is removed from Steam, would these Dead Space titles be lost as well?

The Dead Space films are just examples, there are several titles I am wondering about. Will Valve give sufficient (preferably at least a week) notice for titles it will be removing (specifically naming the titles to be removed), or is this the extent of the notice? If I know some of the gaming-related films I want to buy are going to be removed, I will buy them now; however, if I know they will be available indefinitely, then I can prioritize my purchases accordingly.
pb Feb 21, 2019
Steam was the *only* online store I ever bought a movie from. And I bought a few dozen movies. Several reasons, but mostly fair prices and worldwide availability (there were some regional restrictions esp. on some series, but not that many).
dubigrasu Feb 21, 2019
In any case, you can still easily find all the movies using the Steam client in Big Picture mode, section Store > Videos. Check out for example Oats Studios movies (plenty of them free), some of them are really good, some of them downright funny, if somewhat disturbing...
Salvatos Feb 21, 2019
Steam was the *only* online store I ever bought a movie from. And I bought a few dozen movies. Several reasons, but mostly fair prices and worldwide availability (there were some regional restrictions esp. on some series, but not that many).
Yeah, I was actually kind of hoping to see them expand their catalog since I don't really want to buy DVDs anymore but I'd like to show proper support to the few movies and series I watch nowadays, and every rental streaming service I've found seemed to not be Linux-compatible, be subscription-based, be more expensive than actually buying a physical medium or belong to Google and the likes.

At this rate I'll have to start walking to the store again *shudders* and hope the discs aren't borked on Linux.
14 Feb 21, 2019
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Click baity nonsense title on that article but it does raise the very valid and very worrying point about how reliant we are on Steam. It is something I have been uncomfortable with for a while, being someone who really dislike monopolies.
Surely, you meant to post this here...?
jasondaigo Feb 21, 2019
wow now they have so much free manpower to deliver excellent gaming content. at least 100 people are now free'd
Eike Feb 21, 2019
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I've already banned them using a filter in Steam's preferences (on the web page). Also, text-based adventures. And "windows", which I don't remember doing...

To me, text adventures (real ones, not the multiple choice games) are quite an opposite to visual novels. They give you so much freedom to try what you want. Think there might be something under the doormat? Look under it! Try that in Witcher, Fallout, ... or a visual novel.
If you're not into it, you're not into it, but I can whole-heartedly recommend playing Thaumistry.


Last edited by Eike on 21 February 2019 at 7:52 am UTC
tonR Feb 21, 2019
Never use so no lost. We got iflix, viu, netflix and many *flixes.
Me? I mostly watching local vlogger on Youtube and for movies, I bought legal bluray/DVD. Nowadays, physical movies are reasonably cheap than 5-10 years ago.

So Valve... 1, 2 and then what number after that?
tuxutku Feb 21, 2019
so now a gaming store should start removing games?

Very nice, less crap to clutter the store. Maybe visual novels can be next? :P

"games".

Yes dokidoki is for example a game, and it feels like a game.
pb Feb 21, 2019
every rental streaming service I've found seemed to not be Linux-compatible, be subscription-based, be more expensive than actually buying a physical medium or belong to Google and the likes.

Yeah, the ability to keep the movie is another thing that encouraged me to buy at Steam. I don't want any more subscriptions than I have and I don't like the idea of VOD where I pay half the price of a dvd for watching the movie once or twice before it's gone. I'm not a big fan of discs either, with them cluttering my shelves or the basement.

By the way, a recent study showed that the growth of different subscription services is driving users back to piracy, because every new platform aims to have its own exclusives and people refuse to pay for more than two subs. Valve might be missing a good niche with their decision, but maybe publishers weren't much interested in Valve's model of distribution and that's the real reason.
dubigrasu Feb 21, 2019
By the way, a recent study showed that the growth of different subscription services is driving users back to piracy, because every new platform aims to have its own exclusives and people refuse to pay for more than two subs.
Huh, this is a good point.
I have Netflix and for a while I had also Hulu and some others, but the content was somewhat overlapping so got rid of them (except Netflix yes)
Nevertheless, I was missing out certain shows and eventually resorted to Stremio, it has Linux support and works pretty good.
My main movie/TV shows resource is still Netflix, for which I pay gladly, but heck, occasionally I do step into the dark side.
Nanobang Feb 21, 2019
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I've always been so disgusted by how poorly videos perform on Steam's Store pages that I wasn't about to pay to watch anything from them, which is a pity because there are a few indie joints that have always intrigued me. (It only occurs to me now that I could test their technology with a free movie like Kung Fury.)

But yeah, dump that shiz. Dump music too, as far as I'm concerned. It's one thing for a locked down system like a console to offer ways to play vids and tunes, but we're on PCs and it's trivial to fire up a playlist in VLC and play games at the same time. Take whatever man-hours and money being spent on videos and music and put them into something useful to gamers---like Proton! :P


Last edited by Nanobang on 21 February 2019 at 2:16 pm UTC
massatt212 Feb 21, 2019
i know this is not for here
but proton keeps updating and redownloading my game, if i verify them they gonna redownload an entire 50gb which i cannot take atm
can some one help me
elbuglione Feb 21, 2019
VOLVO... Stop the crap.
Just Focus on HL3.

SONY wants to Destroy Steam.
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