Will we ever see "Steam" for music software? What will it look like?

[journey33]

As my title says, what are people's thoughts on this? It seems Steam (www.store.steampowered.com for those who have never seen it) solved a lot of issues for the gaming industry (piracy, reach, ease of access etc.) and I wonder if we'll ever see it for the music software industry?

I don't know how doable it will be with Kontakt libraries, and maybe it won't have authorisation, but it would be interesting to see what would be possible? Maybe everything in one place at last? No more Continuata? Bigger reach for smaller developers?

[VariKusBrainZ]

I guess Splice and Gobbler are similar

[DJ Warmonger]

It's just a matter of market. Seemingly every company wants to have their own store with own content in proprietary formats, incompatible with the rest of the world. For now I don't see any reason for the market to unite.

[Burillo]

games are relatively easy to deal with - you install, you run, each game is more or less a standalone thing. audio software is much too diverse for such a model to work well from a technical standpoint, because every "product" is not necessarily self-contained. that, and audio software is relatively tiny market compared to games.

[ATS]

I can promise you video games will never see an ilok.

[swatwork]

What will Steam for music software look like?

Probably this: http://store.steampowered.com/search/?t ... production

[whyterabbyt]

What will Steam for music software look like?

Probably this: http://store.steampowered.com/search/?t ... production

I like the look of that Portal2, do you think it sounds warmer than a virus?

[swatwork]

What will Steam for music software look like?

Probably this: http://store.steampowered.com/search/?t ... production

I like the look of that Portal2, do you think it sounds warmer than a virus?

Well the Portal2 page talks about a "Perpetual Testing Initiative", so it's probably more like Viper.

[Apratim]

I can promise you video games will never see an ilok.

at max plugins have ilok and can still run
what about the DRM by early ubisoft games ("always connected to internet during the whole duration of game")

[Mace404]

What will Steam for music software look like?

Probably this: http://store.steampowered.com/search/?t ... production

http://store.steampowered.com/search/?t ... egory1=994
That's a much better filter. (Tag 'Audio production' and type 'software')

[clangorous]

I would not wish this on anyone. I despise Steam and it's complete lack of support.

[JonSolo]

For this to work a lot of things would have to be in motion. And I don't think devs could come to an agreement because, as was mentioned, the audio world is considerable a speck compared to the gaming world. Too many factors make it cost prohibitive in the long run.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

What will Steam for music software look like?

Probably this: http://store.steampowered.com/search/?t ... production

I like the look of that Portal2, do you think it sounds warmer than a virus?

The level I'm currently stuck on could sound like sweet angel farts. Doesn't change how pissed off I am about it

[braj]

I could see iLok opening something like the Reason RE store with iLok compatible apps that could be purchased and managed within it, but then a lot of people hate iLok. But I would think for something like this to be successful, DRM and updates would need to go through the store, not around it, and I don't know how many developers would want to limit their business to one centralized hub.

[ATS]

I can promise you video games will never see an ilok.

at max plugins have ilok and can still run
what about the DRM by early ubisoft games ("always connected to internet during the whole duration of game")

Every Blizzard game you have to be connected to the internet the whole time. So pretty much every game I play is like that. It's not an ilok though.