Timboli: Steam cannot fail, wouldn't be allowed to by the many game providers that have attached themselves and thus their reputation to the Steam ship. If it ever started to sink, plenty would help rescue it.
AstralWanderer: Hmm...weren't people saying something similar about Enron?
The reality is there are plenty of ways
any company can fail - management failure or fraud, a takeover that changes the company so it can't continue, failure to adapt to changing markets, critical security breach, etc.
Valve is different in one respect - it can dramatically increase income by imposing a monthly fee on accounts (especially if not paying means losing access to all games previously purchased) and this is certainly a more likely outcome than outright failure.
But Steam can still fail - a combination of monthly fees, security breaches in Valve's client allowing Steam users to be compromised and enough lawsuits from disgruntled publishers is one route. Regulatory intervention could be another.
You can in no way shape or form compare Enron with Steam. Steam is a totally different kettle of fish.
Steam may be owned and run by one company, but in reality everyone who provides a game to Steam is also a contributor, and like I said nailed their reputation to the Steam mast.
Steam can of course fail for any number of reasons, but it would likely only be a declaration. The reality would be many many stepping in to support it in our (gamers & devs & pubs) hour of darkness. Steam ultimately won't be allowed to fail.
Think about it for a moment .... What would Steam failing, in reality mean?
Think of the billions of folk who have games at Steam. How are they gonna feel about it and react? How would that impact those who have staked a large degree of their reputation on Steam? In fact what would all those gamers expect?
What would Steam failing, mean for the Steam DRM model, which all other DRM stores basically share in some form?
DEVs and PUBs still need to sell their games, and in a climate where trust has just been dealt an absolutely huge blow (i.e. Steam actually failing), how do you think that would turn out?
If no support for Steam was forthcoming, there would be total loss of trust, a huge amount of anger, and it wouldn't just be directed at Steam. Anyone who supported Steam by providing their games there, would be some kind of target too.
Trust is not a one way street or a single layer.
And can you imagine how many gamers would all of a sudden love the GOG model, which would also mean huge ramifications for those supporting any DRM model. Can you imagine any big players letting that happen.
And think about the huge boost of support for piracy.
So in short, Steam failing is about far more than Steam the company failing.
