From reading this thread, there's a lot of people talking past each other. If I might summarize the objections and issues:
You basically have 3 groups from as far as I can tell.
Group 1: Doesn't like Steam.
- Some had problems with it
- Some object to being hassled when playing the game (i.e. it really wants the player to be connected to the net when the game is started).
- Some object to having an extra client running in order to play a game.
Myself, I don't belong to this group. I like Steam. I have never had any problems with it except when it first came out. Steam got a big head start because of Valve's own games but I can tell you that it is the market leader because it has earned it.
Group 2: Doesn't like Steamworks.
- They fear (based on other games that have used Steamworks) that it will cripple modding.
- They don't like that it requires the Steam client to access its features.
I have concerns over this but I tend to see this as a developer issue than a problem of Steamworks. SecuROM has an undeserved bad reputation because some publishers made use of draconian features they make available. Steam and Steamworks can certainly lock down a title so that all players have to have the same CRC but it doesn't have to be that way. This is an issue that people, I think, should wait and see on.
So I don't belong to group 2 either.
Group 3: Doesn't want PC gaming to become a closed platform.
- Object to major publishers locking the purchasing options of a title to a platform that already has 70% of the digital market share.
- Object to "special editions" of third party titles being made available exclusively on the platform with 70% of the digital market share (i.e. Civilization Deluxe).
- Know how other closed platforms work already - what is released and how it's released is determined by the platform owner (no Google Voice on the iPhone, tons of Xbox 360, Wii, and PS3 titles never see the light of day).
- Can easily envision a day where all titles require Steamworks (using achievements and such) to be sold on Steam, updates cost the publisher money to go through certification and thus DLC becomes non-free for certain (this was the GFWL original concept btw).
I belong to group 3.
As a game developer, I want to be able to sell my PC title however I want with the knowledge that I have multiple options to make money on it. It's the biggest single reason why we're able to make the kinds of games we make and publish. If we had to hand a third of our revenue to a third party to sell it digitally that would be a quick end to us making the kinds of games we do. It's one of the reasons it's rare to see new IP in the PC market now. It's all Game IV or remake of Game Z now as a first person shooter.
Group 3 doesn't have an issue with Steam, Steamworks (other than it forcing anyone who uses it to bundle a third party store) or Valve.
It's the concern or consolidation on the PC platform and the consequences of that. I'll say it again, use archive.org, don't rely on "some guy"'s forum post and look at digital distribution sites. It wasn't until Impulse showed up that these aggressive Weekend sales (i.e. for those who insist on being obtuse, no one is claiming that there was never a sale in digital distribution history before Impulse) became a consistent, weekly thing. That's competition in action. You don't see it on closed platforms.
