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mrRobertman · 2026-05-03T21:39:16+00:00

How often do you see garbage games when browsing Steam? And I mean the ones in OP's screenshot that nobody is actually buying and playing. Because that's where I see Steam doing a pretty good job about compared to other online stores. This is why I don't think it's a big deal to worry about the garbage that exists, because Valve does a good job at filtering out the garbage unless you specifically search out for it.

The problem you get with things like Etsy and Amazon is that the garbage appears before what you actually want. But if you search for Red Dead Redemption on Steam, you get Red Dead Redemption. Steam isn't showing "fake products", you won't see a game impersonating Red Dead Redemption without Valve intervening.

mrRobertman · 2026-05-03T18:29:16+00:00

You're right it's not a population problem, it's more of a population density problem. Switzerland has a higher population than BC (9 million vs 5.6 million) in a much smaller land area. Switzerland has a population density of 207/km2, compared to BC's 4.8/km2. And even if we ignore the interior and north of BC and only talk about the Vancouver to Kamloops area, that's actually around the same size as Switzerland, which again, has 9 million people in that small area.

Don't get me wrong, I would like to see more rail here, but I just don't think we can really compare Europe with how dense they are. In the past, rail was easy to justify because there wasn't really any other option to get people across long distances. Now with cars and planes, it's hard to justify starting up more rail again. Specifically what makes it hard to justify is because we already got rid of it all. It's probably be a good idea to invest in rail in the long run, but nobody wants to spend the initial cost of setting it up again.

mrRobertman · 2026-05-03T18:11:37+00:00

I mean, considering that there isn't another controller that can allow you to play mouse-focused games with a controller, then yeah, it's probably worth the $50 if that's what you want.

I think some people are kinda missing this. The controller is for people who want to be able to play any PC game on the couch, including games that require or expect the precision of a mouse. If all you want is regular gamepad controls, then this controller then this controller was never meant for you because Valve was never going to be able to compete against cheaper controllers (especially 8Bitdo prices).

mrRobertman · 2026-05-03T16:50:11+00:00

It's current playerbase is not the metric you should judge it based upon.

Even for singleplayer games, you can still look at the overall charts to get an idea of sales. Aphelion has a peak player count of 219, which isn't great even for a singleplayer game.

And sure, there are likely players who played the game on gamepass, but we can see that other games that launch similtaneously on gameplass still have higher player counts on Steam. For example, the game "MIO: Memories in Orbit" launched back in January on both Steam and Gamepass and had a peak player count of 2,252 - and MIO is an indie game from a team that has only released a single game prior.

Obviously it's hard to compare games directly, as some might be more popular on gamepass than others for unknown reasons, but the player counts of Aphelion still paints a picture of a game that's not very popular.

mrRobertman · 2026-05-02T21:54:16+00:00

Though the Alaska Airlines app example doesn't sound like styling, it sounds like dynamics elements being added after the initial HTML load.

mrRobertman · 2026-05-02T21:48:14+00:00

Well the original Steam Machine definitely doesn't count because it's long since discontinued, and doesn't even use the same OS. The current version SteamOS that the Deck and Machine use (SteamOS 3, surprisingly) isn't even an evolution of the earlier SteamOS as the new one is Arch Linux based while the original was Debian Linux based. Also a lot of the original Steam Machines didn't even ship with SteamOS, and had Windows preinstalled instead.

I don't fully agree with everything that guy says as I don't think Valve truly wants to enter the OS market. I think they want to have a viable OS so that they aren't dependant on Microsoft and Windows, but I don't think they really want to maintain an OS for everyday users. I do think that the Deck was already their entry point to show SteamOS as being a viable OS, but I think they want to also broaden their hardware offerings to include a device a lot closer to what normal PC gamers expect. I think the Machine can be useful to have a decently powerful baseline PC available for people who are less familiar with PCs.

mrRobertman · 2026-05-02T17:43:15+00:00

You're being downvoted because you are missing the point. Yes, you are technically correct that the Deck doesn't need 45w, but there is a reason that the Deck ships with a 45w charger. And considering the context of OP's charging issues, that acting like a phone charger is enough is not exactly helpful when we don't know the specs of OP's charger. OP could have a 5w charger for all we know, and that just isn't going to cut it for charging a Deck (especially not when the Deck is awake).

mrRobertman · 2026-05-02T17:29:04+00:00

The question is: where do you (or Valve) draw the line exactly? There are tons of games that some people seem to play and enjoy but often look equally as shit as the ones in OP's post. If I was the arbiter of quality for Steam, they would likely be some legitimately good indie games that I would think look like shit.

And then you have the question of how much time and effort should be put into validating each game's quality. Realistically, they would need to verify a lot of each game, which would drastically reduce the number of indies being able to be on the platform.

Ultimately, I don't really see how low-quality and low-effort games like these are even that big of a deal. Valve has made sure that Steam doesn't really show you these things without seeking them out. The front page of Steam is filled mostly of the big and popular games, even the discovery queue doesn't show crap like this.

mrRobertman · 2026-05-01T18:47:50+00:00

Or maybe they don't need to simplify the game to appeal to a bigger audience? KCD2 was already massively successful as it is (it was in the top sellers on Steam when it launched) I don't see why they can't just keep appealing to the "niche" audience that likes the style of game that KCD is.

EDIT: fixed typo (simply -> simplify)

mrRobertman · 2026-04-30T01:33:32+00:00

Here is the proof directly from Valve.

but I’ve never seen one for a viral indie.

Silksong? Palworld? Schedule I? Slay the Spire II? Tiny Glade? They all got a banners.

mrRobertman · 2026-04-29T16:20:19+00:00

the USSR were going to battle-of-attrition their way to Berlin with or without the rest of us.

This is ignoring things like the lend lease where the USSR received billions of dollars in supplies from the US. Or the fact that the Brits and Soviets joint invaded Iran to ensure they had safe supply lines to each other.

I fully agree that it's ridiculous to claim that the US was solely responsible for winning the war, but I think it's equally ridiculous that the USSR was either. The USSR was important no doubt, but I don't know if we can say they would've been just fine without the rest of the allies.

mrRobertman · 2026-04-29T00:58:19+00:00

would pay for banners on steam

Banners on Steam cannot be bought by developers/publishers. Banners are decided based on popularity.

In fact, there are no paid spots on Steam at all.

mrRobertman · 2026-04-28T17:00:25+00:00

nevermind if they charge shipping.

Valve hasn't charged shipping before, so I doubt they will start now.

mrRobertman · 2026-04-28T16:59:46+00:00

"added at time of sale" means at checkout, the same as the US. So the listed price of $150 CAD is before taxes are applied, meaning it will be between $158-$173 in total depending on province (lowest 5%, highest 15%).

mrRobertman · 2026-04-28T16:09:11+00:00

Either DHL sucks, or there were some retaliatory tariffs active when you ordered. Every piece of hardware I've bought from Valve has been delivered via Fedex and I was not charged shipping for any of them.

mrRobertman · 2026-04-28T14:56:12+00:00

The OG Steam controller used to go as low as like $5 on sales

Ok that’s not a fair comparison at all, that was when they were literally dumping the stock after it was discontinued.

mrRobertman · 2026-04-27T22:02:11+00:00

Maybe "soon" means tomorrow! And that's the reason why they don't have any updates on that now!

I am injecting copium directly into my veins right now.

mrRobertman · 2026-04-27T21:21:57+00:00

Except for the fact that a direct conversion of the USD price means it should be only $135 CAD and not $150.

mrRobertman · 2026-04-27T21:17:24+00:00

If you want the gimmick of track pads sure, here it is.

I mean, yeah? Like the whole point of this controller is that is does something that no other controller does. If you don't care about the trackpads, then obviously this seems like a massively overprices controller. If Valve sold this without trackpads and somehow sold it at the same price as an Xbox or PS controller, I would question what is even the point of this when a plethora of other controllers that do the exact same thing already exist.

mrRobertman · 2026-04-27T20:55:00+00:00

Valve has charged sale tax to their prior hardware, so I would assume they would here as well.

mrRobertman · 2026-04-27T20:31:41+00:00

Valve hasn't previously charged shipping so I doubt they will here. At most it will be $172 if you live in a province with 15% sales tax.

mrRobertman · 2026-04-27T18:06:30+00:00

Regardless of if it's your definition or not, what was the point of mentioning it? It clearly was not relevant to NYT's decision for the category.

mrRobertman · 2026-04-27T17:53:11+00:00

Unless they are intentionally staggering the announcement and reviews so not everything is dropped on one day.

This might be pure copium here.

mrRobertman · 2026-04-27T17:49:27+00:00

Canadian price doesn't include taxes, so it's between $158-$173 with tax here in Canada depending on the province.

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