How Valve fights the Nash-Equilibrium.

STEAM prices, usually full retail price for 49.99€

Just one word on pricing: STEAM games generally cost quite a lot for what you get. I have yet to figure out what economical rules apply for being able to sell a digital download for so much more bucks than when ordering the DVD on Amazon.

Strangely, you can have them cheaper, almost all the time, by not using digital downloads.

Imagine, Valve is saving cost for pressing the disc on DVDs, saving the shipping cost from the DVD plant somewhere in China probably, saving the plastics for DVD packaging, no ink and paper for booklets, manuals, sort of. I assume that bandwidth cost have to be far less than the savings they accrue when distributing online.

Nevertheless, you pay a premium for a dependency on some internet based servers, who have to be online in order to start your game. Maybe someone can explain to me, how, with this strategy on pricing, a company can actually make any profit.

Territory locked video games on STEAM

} Why you should think twice before buying a game on Valve's STEAM or with a necessity for a STEAM account.

Everyone who has thought about buying games on Valve Corporation's STEAM - online video distribution platform, should carefully read on, and consider to maybe spend the hard earned bucks on something else. This is what happened to me last November, some days after the 17th, when Left 4 Dead 2 was released. I happened to be in India at that time, unexpectedly seeing the newly released Left 4 Dead 2 videogame on the shelves of some store in the midst of Chennai. For 699,- rps (approx. USD 15,-), I thought it a ridiculously cheap offering, carefully reading the fine print on the packaging for anything suspicious. It reads, you have to be connected to Steam during play and so on, but since I was buying the game to be able to play online, I got no problem with that sort of copy protection anyway. Besides, it read "NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION OUTSIDE INDIA" - words that should prove my undoing soon enough.

Distribution in its extended meaning: more than to supply goods to retailers

Ok, so I bought 4 copies of the game, to give them to my fellows when I'd come back. Back home, and after giving each of my pals a copy by mail because we happen to be not living in the same area, I was about to install the game. But that was not really easy because: Steam Error: Game not available in your territory Steam simply would not let me install the game from the DVD. Luckily, I still have some friends over in India. With help of one of my Indian friends, our games got finally activated, which took another 2 weeks, since we are all working people and have still more important things to deal with than some flawed video games. But we still cannot play the game, because Left 4 Dead 2 closes itself, right after the loading of a level is completed. Stating something like:

Steam Error: This game was activated with a product code that is valid only in a specific geographic region. Since you are not currently in that region, Left 4 Dead 2 is not available to play.

For sure, I contacted Valve's support. To make things short, I tried to get back my money or new CD-keys for over 2 months. They refused to do either of that. I sent them photos of the Indian packaging, of the receipt, sent them error messages, but still they refused to help me in any way.

"CD keys that are regionally locked are permanent and for a reason. We can not change this on our end. I'm sorry but there isn't anything we can do to make the copy of your games work outside the region they are locked to." - STEAM support

Fact is, in my humble opinion, territory restrictions are not noted on the packaging of the games I bought in India. The problem here is that Valve implies region locked games with the wording "NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION OUTSIDE COUNTRY X" After discussing the matter with some Steam support guy, who goes by the name Dwight, my last hope was Mr. Valve himself, Gabe Newell, who should not like DRM restrictions either, according to some Wikipedia entry. I called my mates, convinced them to return their gifts and finally mailed all four copies, the receipt as well as the Steam support discussion to millionaire Newell.

Valve Corporation

Mr Gabe Newell
PO Box 1688
Bellevue, WA 98009

With the outcome, that Support guy Dwight is still convinced we deserve no better than ... spending money without service in return. The advice to return the games to the store where I first bought them is plain stupid. All packaging are opened, the games registered to Steam accounts. I would never hear from the Indian seller ever again. Therefore, I strictly advise you not to buy region/territory locked video games - which could be any video game - on Valve's STEAM platform. Other games I bought in India, like Dragon Age Origins, NFS Shift and GTA 4 all work flawlessly.

All games work, except the ones connected to or distributed through STEAM

It is ridiculous that an online game library prohibits me to play games from wherever I like to. So, to all users out there: Beware of Valve's STEAM.