https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/26/2...steam-comments

And this was back in 2022.


I thought MS was beyond consoles sales and platform wars and just wants to be in the subscription game.

According to Phil Spencer, they want gamers to experience all the games on every platform, but when a platform partner offer's it up they don't wanna do it? I'd imagine sales would get a pretty big boost if Valve offered it via their platform given how most pc users seem to use steam and are loyal to it, even disregarding games completely on epic etc until it comes on Steam.

Why do they need gamepass on Steam if gamepass is already available on PC? Its not like if you have access to Steam you can't access gamepass. Putting it on Steam hust means they have to work with a different architecture and make sure there are no issues with the Steam storefront versus however they have the process going on the Gamepass app.

I'd venture they want to keep their main ecosystem (Gamepass) out of the Steam umbrella. I'm just guessing though. PC users are more weird than Console warriors with regards to which storefront they prefer.

I can already access gamepass on my pc, it's not like steam is offering them access to a platform they don't already have.

Valve offers to everyone, they don't give a fook. If Sony was doing what ms was doing they'd offer it to them too.

I'm sure they've offered to have fortnite on steam too, and epic probably laughed at them.

Not to mention valve has fees around 30% for games or somethin like that, might not work for Microsoft.

But Money wouldn't matter to Microsoft since they're a trillion dollar company that's worth more than Apple. I mean I have gamepass on pc too, but me personally I'd get rid of the microsoft store entirely and get it via steam ... I dont have a problem using multiple launchers, but just go on the internet and you have a ton of people that say that they wouldn't use anything other than steam. Even if Steam takes 30% or w/e ... Wouldn't it benefit them having it on steam to please the people that refuse to use anything other than steam? It's a win win situation for them rather than them just sitting on their asses hoping someone uses their storefront instead.

I think they probably know offering gamepass, to steam would annihilate the Xbox app.

The issue with this is that the Xbox app is a cross platform thing and that's how pc and xbone players connect and can use party chat and what not.

So it's more than just offering gamepass, they have to make sure that people playing their games can connect with Xbox users, which you can't do through steam. It's tied to their ecosystem and how people play together, not just where you buy and launch a game. Steam can't message Xbox users or share them clips or do any of the things that cross perform with Xbox.

They would have to either give up a ton of cross platform features, or have steam find a way to implement them, which they won't.

True, this makes sense . I have that little xbox app pinned to my taskbar but never realised it's for crossplay purposes too ... I mean that said, it's still possible to have crossplay between different parties, even though you can't set up private parties and chit but can interact via voice chat in game.

95% chance that Gamepass would just launch the Xbox app anyway (one of the more annoying things of PC gaming is companies using Steam as a front for their own launcher). There's no chance it'd be integrated into Steam somehow or they created a new front end for the store via Steam only.

It would be redundant since it's on PC.

My guess is Microsoft views Steam as a PC competitor. They like you buying games from their Microsoft Store, not a separate DRM like Steam. The more traffic to Microsoft Store, the better. The only way I can see Microsoft agreeing to this, is if their GamePass games are still tied to the Microsoft Store DRM.

This too. Try to play R6:Siege through Steam and you have to go through the Ubi launcher. Try to play BG3 through Steam and you have to go through their own launcher. It would just be a redundant third party.

Wut. Why make things more complicated?

Because it would annihilate microsofts chit programs.

This would be my guess as well.

Microsoft wants to compete against Steam, not work with them.

Does Steam even support cloud gaming? The app still feels like it's stuck in the late 2000's.
If people want to only use Steam they've got to accept the can only limit themselves to that program.

I can also think of many reasons why the wouldn't, a few being mentioned.