Interview hints at steam incorporating p2p

[Hazar]

http://www.bit-tech.net/bits/2007/06/28/running_on_steam/1

But what about server load? This level of content doesn't come from thin air, it has to be stored somewhere. And that somewhere has to survive a load of user hits at once. It also can't slow to ridiculous levels like it did when HL2 launched, or it will lose much of that 'convenience' feature that it has. Blizzard's answer to this problem in the World of Warcraft world was to turn towards what most software manufacturers consider their enemy - P2P.

Would Valve ever consider bringing some P2P elements to Steam?

"Stay tuned..." Doug said with a smile.

 

[scotland1]

Could the release date be sooner then?

 

[Hazar]

release date isn't constricted by bandwidth.

price is however, and if it would make games cheaper I'm all for p2p implementation

 

[Narvi]

Oh, yeah, there have been rumours about this for ages. Steam Review has been speculating for quite a while... I suppose if it ships it would be optional, or only used for mods.

 

[Hazar]

never heard of them considering it before

 

[leib10]

That's fine with me.

 

[Exploder]

Isn't it logical to use P2P when the bandwidth hits the roof and beyond? I think Valve will reach a point where they can't deliver all the bandwidth so they'll turn to P2P instead.

 

[Planetary]

Exactly. I think this guy summarized it best, really:
http://qntm.org/bittorrent

 

[V-Man339]

V-Man's question on P2P

I know I may sound like a complete and total idiot here but, er..
What is "P2P" :I

 

[leib10]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P2p

 

[V-Man339]

Question from V-Man on the P2P

What exactly would this mean for Valve and it's consumers, because I'm not really feeling up to reading a whole wikipedia article.

 

[Exploder]

It basically lets the users of Steam handle the bandwidth by sharing little bits and pieces of their own data with each other.

 

[Hazar]

however, there are some issues. If you've tried to patch wow with the official patching process, you'll know what these are.