Last year, they all came crawlin' back to Steam, and this year was another strong one for Valve.
  • Rob Bos
    31•11 months ago

    The Epic games launcher is total trash on Linux. I know we’re a small chunk of the market, but Valve has bought a lot of loyalty from me for their work there.

    Valve has pretty much singlehandedly prevented Microsoft from using their monopoly to take over gaming. Effectively they’re a monopoly themselves, but it’s better than the alternative. If Valve is dependent on Windows, Microsoft has some major points of leverage. Their support of Linux is good for everyone, not just us. In an alternate universe, Valve is dead and Microsoft is skimming off 30% of every game sold by now.

    • Malgas
      12•11 months ago

      The Epic games launcher is total trash full stop.

      • Rob Bos
        6•11 months ago

        Yeah, I suppose you’re right, I overstated it.

        • @[email protected]
          14•11 months ago

          But Steam is pretty dominant. Steam is also pretty well behaved and privately owned. If they ever went public, I could see all sorts of hijinx Steam could pull with their PC gaming dominance, between exclusive release deals, leveraging publishers to use Steam exclusive tools, etc.

          That’s all hypothetical though at this point, but I still like to buy stuff on GoG and Humble Bundle at least sometimes, even though with my Steam Deck, and just Steam’s Linux support, Steam is by far the best and easiest way to buy games.

          I think as long as Gabe and actual Steam employees continue to run things, we are okay. It’s when the venture capitalists and such get in, that they start to “maximise profit”, and everything gets enshittified, the service tanks, becomes a shell of it’s former self, and yet the vultures all take off with mad stacks. Steam has earned my trust, and they seem to continue to deserve it.

      • Primarily0617
        -4•11 months ago

        steam is a monopoly

        they’re engaging in price fixing, which is pretty much by definition monopolistic activity, by denying publishers the ability to price games lower on other distribution platforms

        if ea, the otherwise second largest distributor on the platform, can’t compete without crawling its way back to steam, then it’s pretty clearly a monopoly

          • Primarily0617
            0•11 months ago

            “exposes your wild hyperbole” lmao

            your argument is that all these organisations are successively: setting up shop, attempting to compete with steam, and then failing, should be all the proof you need that steam has a monopoly on the PC market

            comcast doesn’t have less of a monopoly on internet just because google fiber exists in one city somewhere

    • @[email protected]
      6•11 months ago

      You don’t need to do any imagining by the way. Games for Windows Live existed and I’m sure some people remember that. And that’s the vision they had for windows gaming.

    • @[email protected]
      8•11 months ago

      That’s why I still buy things on GoG and the Humble Store sometimes, even though Steam is such a good service. As much as I appreciate how awesome Steam is, and as much as I trust Gabe, things can change.