SteamPoweredReviews 99

Really like the site... buy a lot of games from them... just be careful and see if anything id going on sale before you buy it... I bought a game and 2 days later it went on sale for 25% off... I emailed steam to see if I could get that discount (the money refunded to me) and they said no :( so I'm only going to buy from them when the thing I want is on sale... so I don't lose out again... other than that its a really great site!

Stay away from steampowered products for the following reason:

I installed Steam for Mac and registered as a user. I searched for "AVGN adventures" in the store of the Steam application. The application offered the game and I paid it through iDeal.

However, after paying I wanted to install the AVGN game, but the game is not for Mac although I can buy it through the Steam on Mac application.

Note that the system requirements were not given when the search was performed, or that the application warned me that the game is not suitable for Mac.

I contacted support but they will not refund the money.

In addition, since I paid with iDeal under Dutch Law I am entitled to revert the deal within 7 days of the purchase.

Support is completely ignoring the law it should respect.

Stay away from steampowered products.

Rob

Found a Game series I loved, XCOM, released with all the new graphics and game options. I bought 2 XCOM games because it was multiplier to us on my LAN. Loaded it and had to make a Steam Account. I loaded XCOM game 1 and password for my computer and XCOM 2 for the guest computer. Only the Guest Computer XCOM game worked. Then I got sent overseas with limited internet access. NOW none of the games I paid for from Steampowered.com will play. I can see the game on my computer and the space it takes up! However, my Steam Account can't even find the f-ing game online of offline. $120 USD up in smoke. I guess the XCOM patches and art books should supplement the actual product... or lack there of (not). Don't buy computer games with "STEAM access" required. If you go to another country or don't have constant internet access all that money you just handed over to them and you will not be able to use the program on your computer. STEAM is only good for people with constant internet access. Bottom line, no internet, the game you bought with your hard earned money is just space taken up on your hard drive. Avoid this company!

Bought a game. It didn't work. They refuse any sort of refund. There is no UK telephone number and their registered UK address appears to be a mail forwarding company (1000+ other companies use same address). So, you cannot easily sue them and since you have no "hard copy" of any game purchased, they could simply delete your account, or go bust, and you loose hundreds of pound worth of games. Better to buy a DVD even if it costs a little more. Also, you can sell the DVD when you get fed up of it!

I purchased an online game from them that i couldn't launch after downloading.
I submitted 3 tickets on it and got "no reponse!" I'm not even sure if I completed the customer service request correctly because their site is so vague about how to go about doing it. They obviously don't give a damn about their customers. Typical for anything you buy online: after they have your money, if anything goes wrong you're screwed! Do not but anything from this site unless you fell good about being screwed out of your money! Instead, find a company that cares about it's reputation and drop your dimes on them! The funny part is: after no email response to my problem, I am still getting their advertisements for their products!

Not only do they require you to install and program giving them access to your computer, they also do not stand by their products. I purchased a product from Steam, and there were numerous bugs in the software that rendered the program unusable. After more than a month of arguing with a customer service team that didn't actually respond appropriately to the questions I asked, they continutally refused a refund based on the fact that "they do not offer refunds even if the software does not function as specified at the time of purchase."

DO NO PURCHASE FROM STEAM. There are many other vendors that do not require you to download a privacy invading program that consumes computer resources and mines data, and sell the SAME software at SAME OR BETTER prices. Oh, and I have never had any issues with any other software vendor that denies refunds when they ADMITTEDLY SELL YOU A FAULTY PRODUCT.

NEVER AGAIN.

Alrighty, the Jeff U's review is borderland tin-foil-hat, aliens are coming to get us, the big brother sees everything.

Did you know Windows had admin privileges on your computer? Or even decides who is an admin and what privileges are? Of yeah it also has access to your files on the hard drive, of wait it even decides how and where to allocate them. Did you know windows keep constantly connecting to Microsoft? Don't you know Microsoft is evil?! ZOMG! You have to secure your system, here's a hint: best secured system is the one which is not plugged into the power grid. Yes, please pull the plug out of the outlet, and then maybe cut it up with scissors in multiple places - just to be sure.

As you may've guessed I am a Valve supporter. Valve is the company behind Steam - the most exceptional, revolutionary gaming service to be available to mere mortals like us.

Let's get the downsides out of the way:
1) You have to install Steam software to run games purchased on Steam (duh)
2) You are expected to have regular internet connectivity for updates and to launch into off-line mode (weird)
3) You will be part of a biggest, most dedicated gaming community. (oh wait this is still the bad part)... never mind that

The good parts:
1) Valve is a game producer and a distribution provider, they know games, and they listen to their users.
2) Games bought from Steam do not require CDs/DVDs and you can redownload/reinstall them as much as you want - new computer - no problem.
3) Valve made some of the world's most acclaimed games, Half Life, Half Life 2, Team Fortress, Left For Dead all of which are awesome!
4) Support/Community/Social integration is beyond amazing - it's mind blowing.
5) Their sale's are on very often, and you can get unmatched deals for multi-packs of games which you could not get anywhere else.
There are plenty more advantages to Steam, which you'd have to find out about on your own.

And coming back to the issue of trusting software on your PC. In my view, Valve > Microsoft. So they can have admin rights to my PC!

As a consumer that just discovered the SteamPowered website, I was under the impression that this was a online store that I can buy and download games from.

Well, the catch is, although you download the software to your computer, you still need to log in through their website in order to access and run the software. They give you a little program to do this.

When you run this program, it will need to 'update itself' and to accomplish this, you need to provide it with your administration rights, so that it can download the software to an alias HD copy that it creates in your applications folder. This is different than authorizing something to be downloaded.

Sorry if I don't want to give this company access to my computer. So, I did not download any software and and requested a refund - since I did not take possession of the software.

They continue to respond to my emails with inane responses as if I had trouble downloading or something.

Gamers beware. Search the web for other complaints about this company before you send them money.