Chris Taylor on PC Gaming and the Future of Steam

PC Gamer has interviewed Gas Powered Games’ Chris Taylor and has been releasing the interview in snippets for the last few days. While some parts of the interview fall outside our scope, two bits are particularly interesting.

The first concerning PC gaming and why, in Chris’ words, it’s “bigger than ever”.

PC Gamer: I’d like to ask you how you feel about the general state of PC gaming. We’re kind of at a weird time where sometimes it’s all doom-and-gloom and piracy is ruining everything, but then we’ve also got stuff like Steam, and it’s getting much easier for new developers to get something out there. Is this an exciting time for PC gaming, or a scary time?

Chris Taylor: It’s pure excitement, there’s no question. That’s an easy one.

PC gaming had one problem. We had a retail presence problem because we started to get into this transition, we lost retail space, so there was this reaction to that, so less product went into development. But I don’t know who was taking stock, because between The Sims, and World of Warcraft, and what’s happened in China with PC gaming, what’s happened in terms of PC games being played in the social and casual space, it’s all around us.

I think PC gaming went from a (Huh, is there a problem here?) To (Oh, not only is there not a problem, but PC gaming is bigger than ever.) It just had to go through a little bit of a reinvention.

And the second on Chris’ prediction that Steam’s dominance will shift in the next five years.

PC Gamer: What do you think of Steam? Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Digital distribution generally seems to be a good thing, but is it bad that Steam has something close to a monopoly?

Chris Taylor: I have games on Steam, I have an account, I buy games there. I have three different digital distribution platforms on my PC, it’s driven mostly from the game I want to play. If it’s on there, if it’s exclusive, it narrows the field. I actually don’t generally have to do a whole lot of soul-searching.

Your question though was what do I think of the fact that it’s taken a footing? It’s obviously extremely popular. Kudos go to the Valve guys for having the vision to build it. And they made a big bet they made a big, scary bet, and they get rewarded for that.