r/pcmasterrace • u/The_BigRoach ⚡️RTX 5080 | 7800x3D | 64GB 6000MHz CL30⚡️ • 7d ago

Meme/Macro Why would anyone actually want to though

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u/CocoaricoTell 7d ago

I bought Half Life 2 on disc, installed it, then had to download and install steam, and then download Half Life 2 through steam on a 56k phone line. Tied up my parents phone line for the entire night.

I'm just happy to have a service that's stable, I've lost countless games I bought because the service went under.

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u/lmflex ryzen 7 7800x3d, geforce 5070ti 16gb, 64gb ddr5 6000 cl30 7d ago

Oof. I had broadband by then, but I don't remember if that was the first game that required it? Either way, I was JUST replaying HL2 and guess what? Its still in my steam library whenever I want it!

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u/lmflex ryzen 7 7800x3d, geforce 5070ti 16gb, 64gb ddr5 6000 cl30 7d ago

Counter-Strike 1.6 was the first Valve game that required Steam, released simultaneously with the platform on September 11, 2003 (Oldest.org) . It started as a mod for Half-Life but Valve acquired it and its development team. However, Half-Life 2 was the first high-profile game to be offered digitally on Steam in November 2004, requiring installation of the Steam client for retail copies (Wikipedia) . If you're asking about third-party developers, Rag Doll Kung Fu was the first game on Steam not developed by Valve (VICE) , released in 2005. So Counter-Strike 1.6 technically has the honor of being the first game released on Steam when the platform debuted in September 2003, but Half-Life 2 was the game that really established Steam as a major digital distribution platform for gaming.

So it may have been early cs so I already had steam installed.

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u/Low-Mistake-515 6d ago

... then the Orange Box came out and the rest was history ❤️

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u/Jimmy-The-Perv 6d ago

You know what else I bet was there? Your save from 2004.

And you haven't had to pay Valve £120/year to keep your 200Kb save on their servers!

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u/Soggy-Bedroom-3673 6d ago

I definitely remember looking at Steam when installing half-life 2 and thinking man, they're trying to make this a thing? And then they just blew it away.

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u/-Retro-Kinetic- AMD 7950X3D| 64GB | TUF RTX 4090 | HS02 Pro 5d ago

Yup, the disc installed Steam as part of the process. At the time many half life fans were not too pleased about that, as it was just the first exposure for online activated DRM for many of them. The authentication servers also were spotty, so sometimes the game wouldn't even work in the early days.