Nothing stops them and yet they mostly don’t. There is no good way for a dev to put a game before your eyes, so they have to have some kind of store to do it.
Skv@lemmy.world 22 hours ago
All launchers mustdie and devs need to go back to selling their games directly.
Nalivai@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
Skv@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
…yes there is - fucking socials. Make a cool trailer, that they do anyway, and use interns to spam it to gaming groups and just tag the hell out of it.
ClamDrinker@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
Exactly, this is the clear sign that Steam is providing actual value to both developers and players. The PC ecosystem has always had the guaranteed threat of an open platform, so you could cut out any middleman. Which is why it’s such a hostile platform to predatory middlemen. The fact this isn’t being done to Steam demonstrates them as an example of a (relatively) good middleman.
Best example of Steam being left out and still succeeding on PC - Minecraft launched in a time when Steam was already around and just said “nah, we’re good” (citing the 30% cut and concerns over monopoly status) and just went it’s own way. There are still plenty of games being created on PC without Steam in the mix, itch.io, self publishing. Steam just makes it a lot easier so many people legitimately want to use them, others don’t and can do so. And that’s how it should be!
carrylex@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
Cool, now tell me how you update the game without every game shipping it’s own crappy updater/launcher?
Skv@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
Say it with me now - P-A-T-C-H-E-S, like they do via launchers anyway…
TheDirtyBubble@sh.itjust.works 19 hours ago
The update could occur in game like it did before launchers were common. When you would enter the online/multi-player portion of the game it would inform you to update your game in order to use the online services. The game would then download and install the update with the game open then it would restart.
If you’re saying that all games would ship with a launcher because that’s the norm then I agree completely lol.
Skv@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
And literally all, say, MMOs come with their little custom updater/version check/file integrity things anyway, but they don’t run in the background.
chunes@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
By adding a new version to your download page.
HerbalGamer@sh.itjust.works 21 hours ago
I lost access to my googe account and with it my Steam account with 400+ games on it.
Tried to get it back through support but they won’t allow it because I can’t tell them the credit card details that were apparently used to buy a game once.
I have never owned a credit card so I have no idea what they’re on about and they kindly told me to get fucked.
7101334@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
Maybe a friend bought you a card at some point?
Or you used your parents’ card if you were younger?
For 400+ games I imagine you already thought of those possibilities though
TachyonTele@piefed.social 20 hours ago
That’ll be the same problem in steam.
But i agree with you.
Bane_Killgrind@lemmy.dbzer0.com 21 hours ago
Do you know any of the payment methods you used?
snooggums@piefed.world 19 hours ago
Maybe it was a debit card?
chiliedogg@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
I lost access to my PSN account because they want me to do third-party verification with an authorization app that I apparently had linked to it like a decade ago, but don’t know what it was.
Their alternative verification is to verify purchase histories on my PSN account, which is hard to do when the whole problem is I can’t access my PSN account.
HerbalGamer@sh.itjust.works 18 hours ago
The authorization app is exactly what got me: Lost my phone and can’t log back into anything now.