Comment on As Xbox and PlayStation flounder, Steam is reportedly having another record year

cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

• rtxn@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Steam has promised they will never do that

  Can you give us a credible source?

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  • Elting@piefed.social ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I have never seen anyone back that claim up, despite it being a very popular one to make. People like to pretend they own their steam games but until that gets enforced by law; you don’t.

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    • GreyEyedGhost@piefed.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      You don’t own any software! All software is licensed, yes, even FOSS software. The only software you own in a traditional sense is public domain which not only is a vanishingly small portion of software made, but is also a category that is difficult or impossible for software to be made a part of, depending on the laws in your country.

      This is no different for Steam vs. anywhere else you can buy games, even with physical copies. The only benefit of physical copies is that it’s much harder to remove access to those games after you purchase the license, unless there is online activation or DRM.

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      • Elting@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Tekinukly. Software might still come with a license, but that license has no teeth without some form of DRM. This is a stupid way to try justifying the DRM steam has.

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      • rtxn@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        The ESA won’t thank you for spreading their rhetoric, you know.

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    • can@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I want to say I read it in an interview like 15-20 years ago

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  • justdaveisfine@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    If you reach out to Steam support, you’ll get a response like this.

    (Not my support ticket, this was stolen from Reddit)

    Image

    But who knows what measures are in place and if that would include all games.

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• FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Valve has not jacked up prices: Their game prices have been consistently among the cheapest and the only reason their hardware is expensive now is because part manufacturers are mostly price gouging (lying about AI being the cause of ALL the increased costs, which isn't true, just like it wasn't entirely true with the bitcoin mining craze).

  It's also worth pointing out that Valve has made massive contributions to Linux gaming (and Linux in general), which enables people to game on potato-spec machines and compared to other gaming platforms, they are far better than almost all of them except for GOG.

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  • cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Well, if the Steam Deck hasn’t gone up in price where you’re at, you might wanna buy a couple. Keep them sealed, you can sell them for a profit later. Most places, they’ve gone up quite a bit.

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    • wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

      Being a scalper on the internet? It’s more likely than you think

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    • FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      The cost of making the Steam Deck has gone up. Valve can't sell them at a massive loss or they'll go out of business. That's not Valve jacking up the price, like I already pointed out:

      Go re-read my post, because you clearly missed an important part

      the only reason their hardware is expensive now is because part manufacturers are mostly price gouging (lying about AI being the cause of ALL the increased costs, which isn't true, just like it wasn't entirely true with the bitcoin mining craze).

      Building a PC has skyrocketed in price too, blaming Valve is just ridiculous.

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• magikmw@piefed.social ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  DRM is up to publishers, not Steam. Valve doesn’t enforce or require it, and it’s unlikely publishers would lift DRM from their games because Valve asked.

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  • Sonotsugipaa@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Steam does have a DRM mechanism - it’s optional and easy to circumvent, but it’s there

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    • magikmw@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

      Yes, and Steam doesn’t force it on a publisher. They can opt out.

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  • artyom@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Steam itself is DRM

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    • magikmw@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

      Not by my definition. Not in the same way as denuvo or dvd movie drm is.

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      • artyom@piefed.social ⁨40⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago

        It is in the sense that you can’t play the games without it.

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• RedIce25@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Even if Valve promised DRM-free downloads if they go belly upn there’s no chance in hell they’ll ever actually do that

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  • wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

    I’ve heard it requires a DLL to disable steams basic drm, and it’s been that way for 20+ years.

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  • FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Why do you think that? Turning off DRM would be trivial and they might even end up being legally obligated to do just that either because of laws or because of how whatever hypothetical bankruptcy they go through might be structured. Never mind Valve going belly up seems highly unlikely to begin with. If it does ever happen and it happens in the way you describe, piracy will absolutely skyrocket and people will stop buying games online after they've had their trust shaken.

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• yermaw@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  and that they can take your content at any time for any reason.

  Its less that they can and more that they definitely will. The fact that they can has been fear-mongered and pearl-clutched over since the dawn of online sales.

  Until now its been handwaved away as obviously nobody would actually shoot themselves in the fucking face like that. But then they did.

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• Tango@piefed.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  How have Epic and GOG been faring?

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  • Quazatron@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Epic is run by an idiot.

    GOG had its ups and downs, but I’ve been able to build a sizeable library there.

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  • qaeta@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    GoG appears to be around 2.5% market share as of November 2025. For contrast, Steam is around 75%.

    Frankly, I don’t give a shit about Epic Games. Tim Sweeney can go suck-start a shotgun for all I care, complete piece of shit human being.

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