For many PC gamers, Steam has been and continues to be the go-to platform for gaming. However, this doesn’t stop competitors like Microsoft and Epic from trying to claim a piece of the market. While these two companies have impressive capabilities in various areas, they are actively fighting for a share, whereas Steam seems to be comfortably maintaining its position with its strong fanbase, robust storefront, and numerous additional features.
In the past, Amazon and Google sought to increase their annual income by exploring the Windows PC platform. Google’s rapid rise and quick decline with Stadia left a dizzying impact on around a dozen users, whereas Amazon seems unwilling to concede total defeat. However, one of Amazon’s former gaming executives has indicated that they might be facing a setback in this area.
In a LinkedIn post, Ethan Evans shared memories of his previous defeat while heading the division against Steam, stating, “Although we were approximately 250 times larger, and we employed every possible strategy, in the end, it was the giant who fell.
When you compare their market shares, it’s intriguing to note that Amazon is a gigantic company on its own, far surpassing Steam in terms of size. However, no other company has ever claimed a piece of the PC market like Steam has. In my opinion, Steam has always been a Goliath; it’s just been other Goliaths entering the fray with similar tools and identical features, but they’ve done so while wearing different costumes.
Ethan acknowledges that he failed to grasp the complexities of confronting the colossal competitor, stating, “At Amazon, we thought size and prominence alone would draw customers in, but we overlooked the strength of established user behaviors. We didn’t verify our fundamental assumptions before pouring significant resources into solutions. In reality, gaming enthusiasts already had their own solutions to their predicaments, and they weren’t inclined to switch platforms simply because a new one emerged.
If someone is content with their current situation, they see no need to seek out alternatives, even if better options are presented. However, when a game enthusiast boasts an extensive collection of games, accomplishments, connections, and time invested within a specific gaming platform, what could possibly prompt a change?
Frequently, gamers express that exclusive titles can enhance a platform’s attractiveness. Has this strategy been effective for Epic? Weekly, they distribute new games while preserving a reasonable number of PC exclusives such as Alan Wake 2. Certainly, some are timed releases like The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria.
Despite these advantages, there hasn’t been a significant change in preference towards the Epic Games Store across continents. Most of my peers openly confess that they refuse to claim free games from Epic due to it being associated with Epic itself.
Ponder this for a brief moment: Gamers often skip out on claiming free games if they are offered through a different software for free download. Given this trend, what were the odds of success for Amazon?
Amazon initially made several attempts to compete with Steam by entering the market for online game stores. One method they employed was through acquisitions, such as purchasing Reflexive Entertainment, a small PC game store. However, this attempt did not yield significant results. Later, after acquiring Twitch, they established their own PC games store, expecting that gamers using Twitch would naturally gravitate towards them for purchases. Unfortunately, this assumption proved to be incorrect.
Despite offering appealing games as incentives, they still struggled to attract viewers, much like Twitch games, freebies from Amazon Prime, or Discord occasionally do with their free handouts.
Ethan’s last try was named Luna – an online game streaming platform allowing users to play without needing a powerful PC. Simultaneously, Google introduced Stadia with the same concept but neither managed to attract substantial user base. Throughout this period, Steam remained popular despite being comparatively smaller in size compared to tech giants like Amazon and Google.
As a tech enthusiast, I find it peculiar when people pit Luna and Stadia against Steam. You see, Steam has always been more about local gameplay rather than being a streaming-centric platform from the get-go. Sure, Steam’s “Connect” feature allows for device-to-device streaming, but cloud gaming has never been the primary focus or defining aspect of the Steam experience.
Despite the integration of Twitch and Amazon Prime, the storefront failed to resonate with gamers. They seemed disinterested in the platform’s services, as they hadn’t found anything that appealed to them yet. Later on, Ethan pinpointed the core problem. Gamers, despite their substantial spending power, didn’t seem to care because we had overlooked what made them use Steam – it was a store, a social network, a library, and an achievement showcase all rolled into one.
In Amazon, we thought size and visibility would draw customers, but we overlooked the strength of established user behaviors. We didn’t verify our fundamental assumptions before heavily investing in solutions. The fact is that gamers already had their own solutions, and they weren’t inclined to change platforms just because a new one emerged, as Ethan clarified.
The most logical theory I’ve come across so far for Steam’s persistent market dominance is that it offers little incentive for gamers to switch, even when competitors with comparable skills, talents, and features enter the scene. Since there’s usually nothing new or enticing on the other side of the fence, why bother looking, let alone crossing over?
In the realm of PC gaming, all competitors aiming to dethrone the leader are comparatively larger than Steam at present. Despite Google’s withdrawal from the market, Amazon, Microsoft, and Epic Games persist in their efforts to carve out a niche for themselves within the Windows PC ecosystem.
Regarding Amazon, it seems they have essentially abandoned the pursuit of a significant presence in the PC market, as evidenced by their recent strategies. Despite the fact that Ethan Evans no longer works there, his absence and the company’s current direction strongly indicate that their efforts to establish a competitive PC marketplace have slowed down significantly.
Amazon concentrates primarily on Twitch streaming and game creation, yet they persistently distribute their games across multiple platforms such as Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation. Their portfolio includes New World, Lost Ark, and in future years, an MMO based on Lord of the Rings. It’s possible that this could be the game they eventually build a new platform around.
Lol, I laughed too.
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2025-02-21 03:39