Steam Adding Creativity Software in September - Important Context for SL's Move to Service

Steam is adding non-game creativity and productivity software tools to the service next month, a pretty major shift for Valve's online distribution service, which has only distributed games since its inception over a decade ago. At the risk of dating myself, I first chatted with Valve's Gabe Newell about it shortly after he announced the service at GDC 2002, and when I wrote an update in 2006, it only had 5 million monthly active users; since then, the userbase has grown to 40 million. Now, if I'm reading the announcement right, the plan is to also turn Steam into a cloud-based platform for creating and sharing content:

Many of the launch titles will take advantage of popular Steamworks features, such as easy installation, automatic updating, and the ability to save your work to your personal Steam Cloud space so your files may travel with you.

That announcement came shortly before Valve announced it's also adding more features for sharing user-generated game content:

This update focuses on highlighting and enabling the best user-created screenshots, videos, and Workshop items for games across Steam while making it easier for the community to discuss their favorite games. Every game on Steam will have a new Game Hub. The Hubs highlight the most popular user-created screenshots, videos, and Steam Workshop items as rated by the community and combine it with related news, discussions, and comments for the game all in one central location.

For regular New World Notes readers, this is important context for understanding the recent news that Second Life is also coming to Steam. While SL will likely be marketed to the userbase as an online gaming platform, it'll also become a part of Steam after the service has shifted its focus from mere games to user-generated content around games and beyond games. If Linden Lab is smart about this (and since CEO Rod Humble is a game industry vet, I kind of think he is), they'll also market SL to the Steam community as a creativity tool for machinima, screenshots, 3D prototyping, and other content, which will in turn be shared on SL's Game Hub.

Hat tip: Bay Sweetwater, who has worthwhile thoughts about what this move means for machinima and other user-generated content.

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Comments

[Ezra]

It looks like Steam is going to have a 'Software' category along with a 'Game' category if I'm reading right. But it looks like the 'Game Hub' feature is only going to be available to the 'Game' category.

If Second Life launches in the 'Software' category, it won't have those 'Game Hub' features of sharing screenshots and videos, right?

[Archangel Mortenwold]

I seriously doubt this will have any appreciable impact one way or another. For one thing, Steam appears to be focusing on bringing content creation to its gaming platform, which may or may not work well for Steam and its users. Good for them. But Second Life is not now, never has been, and never will be a gaming platform, so continuing to market it as such is not only dishonest but may very well backfire on both Steam and Linden Lab for false advertising. For another thing, the tools to make SL into a gaming platform simply aren't there and no serious effort has been made by LL to incorporate them into the grid. So what's happening is that an overpriced virtual environment is being falsely marketed as a game in order to attract gamers, who may or may not show up and even if any do probably won't be in anywhere near the numbers hoped for. Of those who do come to SL, most will take one look around and leave because they will realize they were lied to and that there's nothing for them to do here for gaming.

[Seven Overdrive]

It would be smart for LL to list SL on Steam as both a gaming platform and a content creation platform.

Listing as a gaming platform may attract more consumers of created content and listing as a creation platform may attract more builders and sellers of content. Targeting both categories may also bring in some of those that fall between the two that create and sell as much as they buy from others.

SL is many things to many people and it would be a shame for them to advertise through Steam to a narrow demographic. I can't see how merchants in SL will be happy with the increased competition for sales if SL is only billed as a creativity tool. Most builders I know like to build and sell their own stuff rather than buy it from others. Advertising as a gaming platform may bring in more casual users that will be more interested in buying created content to enhance their experience in SL.

[Arcadia Codesmith]

The incorporation of mesh in Second Life means it could be used as a sandbox for cross-game compatible virtual objects.

But... that's pretty much meaningless unless the client includes a full set of tools for creating mesh objects in-world.

[Aprilleshepherd]

Do you remember rumors of Linden Labs being bought by Microsoft so they could make SL the Home for Xbox Gamers (similar to how Sony PS has Sony Home)? Well, Linden has done it without selling out to Microsoft. They will now have access to a huge pool (40 Million) (4 million concurrent) of 30 something computer (not console) gamers who have money to spend.

Perhaps SL will become the "Home" for Steam users and there are lots of interesting linking opportunities like sitting in your home in SL and sharing a link with your friend to play a certain game...and poof the two of you are transported to the game play direct from Second Life and perhaps back home once the game is over.

There will be 2 groups of "Steamers" who will come to SL.
1 - Those who know what SL was and is and a thin band of these will return to look again and perhaps some will stay.
2 - Those who, for whatever reason do not know about SL and a thin band of those will visit and stay.

But, when you have 40 Million (4 Million Concurrent) users like Steam, the 2 thin bands mentioned above can easily translate into 100,000 concurrent new users in SL and this could double the normal 60,000 SL concurrency to 120,000. What effect would 120,000 concurrent users have on the SL economy? Especially ones with a little money to spend!

As for Sex and Adult stuff, Linden can deny it all they want, but the revenue from users who participate in all things related to sex, kink or just being sexy is massive and represents a huge chunk of their revenue and revenue made by content creators and providers.

When Steam comes on line with SL, I think we will see a big boost in concurrent users and those new users will enjoy some of the Adult and Social things they cannot in traditional games...and they will have the money to do it.

~ Aprille Shepherd

[Aprilleshepherd]

It really could work the other way around...SL users will link to and play games in Steam and return to SL for Social, Learning, Shopping and Adult Stuff. Use Steam for what it is meant to be and SL for what it is meant to be -- and create a simple linking system (URL based) between the two.

[Aprilleshepherd]

Sooooo... this was one of the most exciting bits of News for SL in a long time. Where has this gone? Why has SL not been launched on Steam? When will it be rolled out? Abandoned?