Dear Sir,
Reference is made to your request filed with the Luxembourgish national data protection authority (CNPD).
Please note that we are carrying out an assessment of the Steam incident with Valve Sàrl.
We will keep you informed about the outcome as soon as possible.
Do not hesitate to contact us, should you have any further questions.
Yours sincerely,
Just got an answer from the Luxembourgish national data protection authority:
Finally got around to submitting complaints to the relevant parties.
All those defending Valve make me sick, it's almost as if they have invested so much into steam and have such a large library that requires steam to operate that it's almost a Stockholm syndrome effect.
The sad part is defending them isn't helping, if they don't learn humility from this fuck up - it's only going to get worse.
I've been considering dropping consoles and going full Steam, a friend of mine is a hardcore Steam exclusive gamer and has a good rig as well as a decent media box he built to be a TV "console".
It has seemed like a really good choice for me since I prefer controllers and couches, but love PC gaming.
This has kind of soured that though. I've had a lot of issues with Valve over the years and nobody ever gives a shit. They seem to be the one company you just can't acceptably criticize and I don't understand why. My friend usually has a million things to say anytime a company does something anti-consumer, but this Valve thing only got a "huh" from him.
Seems to be the general response from most people. They just don't want to criticize Valve.
Hell, it's why I hoped Microsoft would get off their ass and directly compete with them. The fact that we didn't get a store wide warning at first really pissed me off.
Yeah, pretty much. Valve has ton of PRs between players, basically.
They are marked as "PC savior". No doubt with Steam they brought new life into PC gaming, pushing other companies to do the same, but later they just turned arrogant basically because they have the monopoly (yeah, they have it: even if some games are only available on Origin, 99% of titles are available on Steam. If some games are timed exclusive for GOG, they will reach Steam eventually...even Witcher 3 is not even GOG exclusive. So basically if you want to play all PC games, you NEED Steam, you can't buy Resident Evil Rebirth in any other place, nor MGSV etc.)
I think the biggest problem is people have massive investments with Steam that can't be transferred.
Yeah, pretty much. Valve has ton of PRs between players, basically.
They are marked as "PC savior". No doubt with Steam they brought new life into PC gaming, pushing other companies to do the same, but later they just turned arrogant basically because they have the monopoly (yeah, they have it: even if some games are only available on Origin, 99% of titles are available on Steam. If some games are timed exclusive for GOG, they will reach Steam eventually...even Witcher 3 is not even GOG exclusive. So basically if you want to play all PC games, you NEED Steam, you can't buy Resident Evil Rebirth in any other place, nor MGSV etc.)
Same here, let's hope Luxembourg can get some answersJust got an answer from the Luxembourgish national data protection authority:
Anyway I find both funny and sad the fact Gabe did an AMA for the Bethesda Mods thing going on full damage control and they didn't bother to make a proper statement in this case.
Yet other than a short statement sent to Kotaku and other press outlets last weekThis issue has since been resolvedValve hasnt said a thing. They havent commented on how many people were affected. They havent contacted the Steam users whose information was exposed. Most alarmingly, they havent informed their 125+ million userssome of whom, sadly, do not read Kotakuthat this happened at all.
Valve said they were going to fix it this year, didn't they?2016 has to be the year where they fix their customer service. I know these things, they take time, but there's too many problems piling up that, from an outside perspective, don't seem to be getting tackled fast enough.
Valve time.Valve said they were going to fix it this year, didn't they?
Kotaku now has another article up where the issue and the lack of communication by Valve is mentioned in the second half.
Steam Problems Linger After Christmas Fiasco
I thought it was strange no emails were sent once I finished a couple transactions. So this means Steam Guard Email is worthless and Valve continues to be basically silent through this debacle.
Nice job Valve, nice fucking job.
Oh, absolutely.Even people that are pretty dedicated fans of Steam should want competition. Valve being pushed to make Steam a better platform (and in some cases like CS, a competent platform) is good for everybody.
Valve said they were going to fix it this year, didn't they?
"The more important thing is that we don't feel like our customer service support is where it needs to be right now," he said. "We think customers are right. When they say our support's bad, our initial reaction isn't to say, 'No, it's actually good. Look at all of this.' It's to say that, no, they're probably right, because they usually are when it comes to this kind of thing. We hear those complaints, and that's gonna be a big focus for us throughout the year. We have a lot of work to do there. We have to do better."
I would bet that only 0.1% or less of those 120m+ account owners are aware of this situation.
Yes, they did say that in March when they got an F by the Better Business Bureau.
Valve Is Not Psyched They Got An 'F' In Customer Service
We hear those complaints, and that's gonna be a big focus for us throughout the year. We have a lot of work to do there. We have to do better."
Yes, they did say that in March when they got an F by the Better Business Bureau.
Valve Is Not Psyched They Got An 'F' In Customer Service
The problem with Steam is how do you get publishers and devs to support another PC platform that doesn't actually separate players. Microsoft seems like the only one capable but they'll be all Xbox Live on Windows, Steam who ? Oh but you can screenshot and shit with our overlay! Microsoft would inevitably or pre emptively shoot themselves in the foot anyway. Windows 11, nah that Xbox Live PC thing doesn't work any more but this new thing...
Doesn't Jim Sterling post on GAF? Has anyone sent him a link to this thread yet?
I'd wager he's going to discuss this for his next Jimquisition video.
Hey cool they rehosted the support ticket image from Kotaku without attribution or permission. Great investigative journalism guys.
Question. Formerly known as EnigmaNemesis?Hahaha.
It truly is sad.
Question. Formerly known as EnigmaNemesis?
Maybe 0.5%, considering the attention it got from social media. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of those accounts are dead, fakes, alts, forgotten, etc.
Fair play to Jason and Destruction for continuing to push, I know it must be frustrating to scream into the void of Valve PR but we appreciate the effort.