Apart from running gambling for children (pretty hefty thing to put aside, but still), what do you mean?
ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Valve does a lot of things pretty badly, it’s just that they and the fans control the narrative.
Nalivai@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Yerbouti@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
They basically take away most of the profit margin of games created by studios. 30% is a huge cut for a virtual storefront. A single medium studios usually employ more people than steam as a whole.
deus@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Don’t Sony, MS and Nintendo take the same 30% cut from third-party games sold on their platforms?
ClamDrinker@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
It doesn’t really seem to be publicly verifiable, but if this article is to be believed, then yes. Would be kind of weird if they wouldn’t either, since selling games is their business too, and they have to compete with PC.
Yerbouti@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
Whataboutism. The fact that someone is a POS doesn’t justify you being one. But if you really want to compare, they all have major studios under their wing and thousands of employees (sub 300 for steam). Epic also only takes 12%, and GOG let’s you actually own your games, DRM free (your steam library dies with you). I’m not defending any of these stores, just pointing out that steam isn’t the good guy gamers think they are. They care about profit, that’s it, yet any critisism is met with an army of gamers ready to give their life for capitalist selfish business.
ClamDrinker@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
This isn’t really a problem though, more a consideration or trade off. If Valve’s services are worth that 30% cut, because you reach more people or don’t have to make other costs that would dwarf the cut, it’s worth it. Nobody’s forcing companies to sign up with Steam, other than indirectly because it turns out doing so is a sensible deal.
architect@thelemmy.club 5 weeks ago
Quarter machines and Pokémon cards are gambling, too. Parents are shitty. Their kids shouldn’t even be on steam until older and then why do they have credit cards? Parents are crap.
Nalivai@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Parents have nothing to do with a company that designed and implemented a gambling machine into your kid’s favourite game about killing people.
Earthman_Jim@lemmy.zip 5 weeks ago
What are you talking about?
Jacob_Mandarin@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Allowing and Promoting child gambling for example.
They are still way better than the other megacorps but they also have some skelletons in their closet.
Earthman_Jim@lemmy.zip 5 weeks ago
That singular example is certainly valid. Is there anything else?
Yerbouti@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
Honytawk@discuss.tchncs.de 5 weeks ago
Not allowing games to be sold at a lower price on other platforms. (Not steam keys)
ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Also there were honeymoon periods for Google, Elon Musk’s companies, even Microsoft during Windows 7.
First you’re grateful for quality product. Then society will force you to be grateful for them giving you “potential job opportunities”, and you must treat some underpaid and infuriating job like it was free money.
kshade@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
The Conspiracy
THE_GR8_MIKE@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
The narrative of 4 massive sales per year and constant smaller sales in between is prettay great, let me just say.
snooggums@piefed.world 5 weeks ago
I also like the narratives of continuous game support, easy updates, being able to install games any number of times forever, making a fantastic handheld gaming device that can be hooked up to a TV that is easy to update and modify, convenient ways to communicate and play with friends, reviews, and basically everything except for the forums (which should be moderated by the game publishers).
The only complaints I recall people making about steam are losing their account because they forgot their password and valve being thorough in not just giving it to someone or that easy streaming killed physical games. To be honest, the first sucks but isn’t valve’s fault and the second is just convenience and reliability being more attractive than physical media. I have played and have had continuous access to far more games since steam than prior because I don’t have to manage physical media and the benefits outweigh the negatives of not really owning the games. Everything is a tradeoff, and I chose to get rid of old consoles because they were too much work compared to using online games services like steam.
I also did use several of the other ones in the meme and dropped them because they offered only downloading games and weren’t even very good at that.
dreadbeef@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
ur right, ever since steam came out, games have been getting less expensive
ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Those sales are on the devs.
THE_GR8_MIKE@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Whoever they’re on, I like 'em.
ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Then be grateful for the devs, not the platform!