This isn’t Steam specific; this applies to almost every digital marketplace. Yeah, it sucks, but there’s some things you just have to accept. When’s the last time you bought a physical copy of a PC game?
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Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 3 months agoA monopoly is a monopoly is a monopoly.
The vast majority of games you pay for on Steam can be taken from you in a couple of clicks from a Valve employee.
KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 3 months ago
ParsnipWitch@feddit.de 3 months ago
You don’t need to buy physical copies. Games from GoG and, for example, itch.io can be downloaded DRM free.
blue@ttrpg.network 3 months ago
Yeah, it sucks, but there’s some things you just have to accept.
This reminds me of a certain CEO who said gamers need to “get comfortable not owning games” so that subscription models can grow. I can imagine so, so many gamers in a couple years saying this sentence about that and so many more new exploitative practices.
The truth is, we don’t need to accept it. They need us to accept it so they can get away with it.
Pushback is crucial.
blue@ttrpg.network 3 months ago
Yeah, it sucks, but there’s some things you just
Harbinger01173430@lemmy.world 3 months ago
It’s not steam’s fault that the competition is garbage 🧐
Kedly@lemm.ee 3 months ago
1: Steam is NOT a monopoly, competition exists for it, its just that most of it is garbage, and the few that arent, GoG and Itch, Steam outcompetes
2: This is a problem of Steams competition being bad, not with Steam itself
Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 3 months ago
A company can be considered a monopoly without having 100% of the market. Microsoft is considered a monopoly, so is Google.
Kedly@lemm.ee 3 months ago
I’m sorry bud, but Monopoly doesnt mean “Really large company” Steam has competition, it doesnt do anything to hamper competition, and its easy enough for new competition to arise. It is not a monopoly in any sense of the word. It is the top player as a digital videogame marketplace because it is leaps and bounds better than all of its competition. You dont like the risks of digital ownership? Understandable, GoG exists to fill that niche.
Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 3 months ago
If you have the power to sway the market in the direction that you want, you’re the only one with that power and you’re the default option for your product then yeah, you very much are a monopoly and that’s the position Steam has in its market.
It’s currently in court for adopting anti competitive policies regarding pricing.
Valve is a multi billion dollars company, it doesn’t need you to defend it bud.