That not a fact at all. That’s not what a monopoly is.
Comment on Dutch gamers file €220 million claim against Valve, operator of game platform Steam
richardwallass@sh.itjust.works 22 hours ago
You can like Valve but you cannot deny it’s dominant position in the market. It is a monopoly. It’s a fact.
Summzashi@lemmy.world 17 hours ago
dreamkeeper@literature.cafe 15 hours ago
Steam is absolutely a monopoly. It’s as clear as day you just don’t want to admit it.
Even at its height, Standard Oil never controlled 100% of the market.
Fluke@feddit.uk 3 hours ago
People genuinely choosing a certain option en masse doesn’t mean they have a monopoly, it means the competition are doing a fucking shit job.
A monopoly is where there isn’t a choice, like water and sewerage companies, for example. This isn’t like that at all, and is therefore not a monopoly.
Summzashi@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
The only thing that’s clear here is that you have no idea what you’re talking about
Soggy@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
I’m free to buy my PC games lots of places. Sometimes I go through GOG or itch.io. But I’ve uninstalled the Epic launcher and whatever Ubisoft calls theirs because they’re a worse experience than Steam in every way. It’s not a monopoly just because there’s a clear best option.
godsammitdam@lemmy.zip 19 hours ago
Why is it a monopoly? Epic, Xbox, Amazon, and more exist…they just don’t follow the steam template nor invest in their platform as much as steam does. 🤷♂️ how is Valve acting in an anti-competitive way?
dreamkeeper@literature.cafe 15 hours ago
Good lord valve fanboys are insufferable. Of any other company controlled 80%-90% of sales in one sector if the economy you wouldn’t hesitate to call what it is, a monopoly.
As if you aren’t aware that tons of AAA only launch on steam.
Fluke@feddit.uk 2 hours ago
No-one is forcing certain titles to only release on Steam, that is the developer/publisher’s choice, to make their own lives less complicated. Perhaps they’ve run the numbers and reckon that Steam’s cut is cheaper than doing all the infrastructure (and everything else steam does) themselves?
Your argument essentially boils down to; You’re angry that Etsy is a “monopoly” because the guy who sells particular shirts you like only sells via an Etsy storefront thing.
auzy1@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
Oh. PlayStation, Xbox and switch don’t exist?
Games are also sold on apples App store
Fairly sure at least 3 of these stores are bigger. Most people don’t even know what steam is
Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 13 hours ago
Most people don’t even know what steam is
Maybe those who don’t own a PC but only ever knew consoles. Everyone else sure does know steam.
auzy1@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
Consoles are PC’s. They’re just locked down. They even use the same processors.
I dated a few women who played games regularly. It was always on consoles and I had to explain what steam was.
You can’t narrow a definition to a limited subsection of what a PC is, simply because (ironically), some of them are locked down to block competiton
If you ask gamers unprompted what the biggest gaming stores are, I guarantee that Xbox, Playstation and Nintendo’s stores will be mentioned
Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 5 hours ago
Consoles are PCs, but that is totally irrelevant as they’re walled gardens with just a super-tiny fraction of all games there are.
You can’t narrow a definition to a limited subsection of what a PC is, simply because (ironically), some of them are locked down to block competiton
Of course one could. If you say “I’m PC-gamer” everyone knows you’re not on PlayStation or a smartphone. Despite them all, including wearables and my toaster, are kinda PCs.
If you ask gamers unprompted what the biggest gaming stores are, I guarantee that Xbox, Playstation and Nintendo’s stores will be mentioned
Mentioned of course. On top? I doubt it, but also lack data to prove it. Or the opposite. I know those stores too, despite only having had a console in the 80s (the Atari 2600) and a gameboy for a week.
Xbox might be a bit different, as to my knowledge, as you can also game their stuff on PC too with the same license.
Forced at gunpoint to get a console, it surely be steam deck. And I don’t even like steam. But it’s A) more than just a store. It’s a gargantuan gaming a community around a store. B) it made gaming on Linux totally viable
dreamkeeper@literature.cafe 15 hours ago
How are PS and and Switch an agent against a monopoly on PC game sales? This is quite a reach
auzy1@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
Interesting wordsmithing. Why did you ignore Xbox?
Oh yeah, Xbox client ships with windows lol . And Apple has made it increasingly difficult to install apps outside of their store
Furthermore, you’ve narrowed down gaming to a very narrow definition. Nobody is stopping PlayStation or Nintendo selling games on PC. Whether or not you like it though, they are selling games, and they do compete with steam
Or are you genuinely arguing that Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo aren’t competing?
d5273@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
Explain