In the current economic climate, digital business innovation is the key for success. Valve Corporation officially launched Steam in 2013, the main idea was to create a platform which allows users to download PC games which is stored in their database, so that they can be accessed with their account from every computer with on which Steam is installed. In the early 200X, where Xbox and Play station obtained most of the market share in gaming industry. In that time, Steam was just based on the concept of providing games to PC users, which was the beginning of Steam to save the PC games. Steam also offers the opportunity for individual developers to take foot in the gaming market without taking many risks.
Steam changed the PC gaming industry in a few ways. Firstly, Steam provides a new mean to game collecting. With steam, you don’t have run the risk of losing their games if a problem happens with game CDs and computer files; instead, everything is stored in your account, which is store permanent. Secondly, Game price is lower because the risk and cost of making a game is decreased. Finally, it seemed like the PC gaming industry had really stuck, and Steam revitalized the computer games by figuring out new types of games like (MOBA) Multiplayer Online Battle Arena.
The future of Steam is expected to extend to non-gaming software. The next step is Steam’s prototype of their first PC including a controller to challenge the console industry. The strategy to link the software and service they already got with the new hardware components makes the whole package perfect. Comparing to XBOX and PS4 there is a big advantage for Steam; the Steam Machine can be freely modified and upgraded by users. Personally, I believe Steam will leads the PC gaming industry development, the main challenge would be the emergence of Virtual Reality games.
References:
http://venturebeat.com/2014/02/24/why-steam-matters/
http://www.gamersdecide.com/pc-game-news/10-ways-steam-has-changed-gaming-industry
