Valve has no plans for a 'Steam Pass,' but would help Microsoft put Game Pass on Steam

Valve has "nothing philosophical" against making it happen.

[lonewolf10]

Now that would be something if achievable.

[Kerppamaister]

I'm seriously contemplating about thinking about possibly getting a Steamdeck perhaps

[TheEroica]

So glad I reserved mine day 1... I would gladly take a functional gamepass on steam deck and never look back.

[EvertonFC]

So basically MS have a handheld without actually making one ?
It's what Sony should do also with there new version of psnow

[RickRoland]

Microsoft wouldn’t make money on steam deck sales so no…nor will the steam deck be wildly popular. PC gamers don’t want to play on a handheld. This is a great concept that will fall by the wayside.

[EvertonFC]

They'd make money off extra GP subs being on it and using it as a handheld instead of a phone.
Nobody cares about streaming on the go but having a option to have a steam deck on the go with GP or PSNow would he Huge downloading the games on it?

[TheEroica]

Microsoft doesn't care about steam deck sales. They would make money on gamepass sub... They don't care which piece of hardware the gamer is playing. It's why these publishers are buying studios. So they control the flow of money surrounding the games.

Also, there are waaaay more people than just "pc gamers" who covet a handheld that plays top tier games on the go. Way more.

[Michiel1989]

PC gamers dont want to play on a handheld, and how about the opposite? Console gamers dont wanna play on pc, but can still play pc games now without buying a pc. There were already alternatives for steamdeck beforehand, but now thats its got the Valve/Steam name behind it and from what ive seen its a pretty well designed device, I think you underestimate this machine by a mile.

Also why wouldnt i wanna continue playing my games on the go as a pc gamer?

[RickRoland]

“They'd make money off extra GP subs being on it and using it as a handheld instead of a phone.
Nobody cares about streaming on the go but having a option to have a steam deck on the go with GP or PSNow would he Huge downloading the games on it?”

The appeal of the steam deck is emulation more than anything from what I see from gamers. I don’t think having a subscription for a handheld is a lure in any way. PC gamers already have gamepass on their PC’s if they want it. I don’t think anyone is buying a steamdeck for mobile gamepass. The percentage of people that would do that is VERY small. The majority of people that would use gamepass on a steamdeck would already have a subscription on their desktops.

[Andrew336]

Yea, because when I spent the $650 on it the first thing I wanted to do was load up some super old games I could literally play anywhere and on anything else. Having gamepass on the steam deck is exactly one of the things I would want to do. I don't get your logic.

[DaCajun]

Wow, do you even grasp how game pass works. I can use it on my desktop, laptop, and even my phone. It's not just tied to one piece of hardware. I can't take my desktop everywhere. That's why i have a gaming Laptop. Which by the way is my way to remote play my PS5 games also when on work trips and it works great. But if game pass comes to steam then that would make it easier than dual booting windows to my Steam Deck. Plus more mobile than my laptop.

Obviously you have no clue what PC gamers want so stop trying to speak for us. Keep your opinions in the first person, you not us. Bet you don't even own a gaming PC of any kind or if you do, you don't utilize it like most PC gamers. Because we just run emulators only, right? Because PC obviously has no games? Emulating is just one of many many many things PC gamers can do with hardware, not the only thing. So why the F would we just want to just emulate games when we can also play current AAA games on a Steam deck. You can even have multi OS boot on it.

Wow crawl back under your bridge TROLL

[Michiel1989]

the appeal of steamdeck is emulation? there are so many devices now that can do emulation, phones, psp/vita, pi's. I've seen how it ran control, and it actually ran it really well. Not with ultra graphics on 4k ofc, but from what i could see on the captured footage it looked great. I doubt it will run god of war well at max settings, but imagine playing that on the go, count me in.

[RickRoland]

Yea, because when I spent the $650 on it the first thing I wanted to do was load up some super old games I could literally play anywhere and on anything else. Having gamepass on the steam deck is exactly one of the things I would want to do. I don't get your logic.

The poor screen quality, 720p resolution and 1.5 hour battery life is exactly why new games won’t be the target for this device. Not to mention every reviewer says you cannot use it outdoors. It’s a cool piece of tech but it’s still incredibly niche.

[Si-Fly]

Why does handheld gaming mean playing a game outside to you? I have a PC (and both PS5 and Series X), my Steam Deck won’t replace those but I will be able to use it when I’m away from home or on Holiday just like I do with my Switch. Gamepass on the Deck would be awesome, I could carry on with the games I’m playing on GP when away from home.

[Outlawzz]

This alone would make me want to buy a steamdeck if I could download the games, nevermind the huge steam catalog.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

I see that'll be cool to see.

[TheCaptainKuchiki]

There has to be a reason why nobody other than MS is doing Gamepass.
...
Oh it's not profitable.

[Andrew336]

And? It making money or not has nothing to do with me enjoying it on steam deck.

[Thegr81]

Isn’t Sony making their own version according to industry analysts?

[LucasRuinedChildhood]

Sony likely won't have the big games day 1 though unless they're making a u-turn from their previously rumoured plans. Apparently, a big focus will be on classic games.

Putting your $50m-150m games on a subscription can only be profitable past a huge number of subscribers. Hard to know how exactly that number is but if Netflix has 221m subscribers and only made more money than they were burning fairly recently, it's hard to imagine that 25m GamePass subscribers is yet profitable. It's a long term strategy to reach more consumers.

MS are more than willing to burn the money to become a market leader in the subscription space, but it doesn't make financial sense for many other companies. Valve, for example, do not have enough content of their own to prop up a subscription like this.

[Lightning77]

Netflix wasn't profitable when it went steaming for several years. Now they're worth almost 180 billion.

Netflix had WAY more to lose than MS. Considering that's their only buissness model.

[TheCaptainKuchiki]

Netflix still isn't profitable. A company can make losses but be worth billions because investors LOVE big numbers like "100 million subscribers". Since investors love subscription models, they will keep pumping money into Netflix.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

Netflix is great as a service, but I would never invest in it, they just burn way too much money, especially when there's so much competition in the streaming space.

[Zhipp]

@Captain
Last i heard Netflix has been profitable for at least the last couple of years. Keep in mind they spend far and away way more than M$ annually when it comes to content creation and licensing as well -- acquisitions notwithstanding, of course.

[WGAF]

Netflix depend on subscriptions alone. Gamepass is different in that it can still sell dlc, microtransactions, monthly subscriptions and can also sell the game on gamepass too. People may be more lienient toward buying microtransactions or dlcs if they get to access the game without extra charge.

Retaining subs isn't as hard as Netflix either (Netflix need consistent contents like episodic shows, not movie, to keep subs) because most games have MP element to them.

You cant really compare the two directly because the gamepass isn't reliant on subs alone like Netflix.

[Zhipp]

Agreed. The cost of a AAA game is somewhat in line with a Netflix original ($100+ million), but I'd argue gamepass users will spend significantly more time on a title then the equivalent on Netflix, just due to the nature of how people play games.

[Orchard]

Honestly, they should move to support Steam with game pass. I never have any issues installing games with steam, meanwhile installing through the Xbox app/Windows store is a complete mess.