Steam is basically a PC gaming monopoly, so why isn’t anyone mad?

Comments

• TheFeatureCreature@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  They’re a private company and thus have resisted many of the enshittification trends that run rampant through the industry.

  And also their competitors are absolutely atrocious and are completely tone-deaf to what customers actually want.

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  • makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    This is exactly right. As soon as a company becomes public, it’s all over. Profits at X%, every quarter, no matter the cost. It’s the death of a company.

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    • JillyB@beehaw.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      It doesn’t have to go public to do that. It can get sold to private equity. The original owner can pass the business to their kid who has grown up privileged and huffs their own farts. Going public is a guarantee of enshittification but it isn’t the only way.

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• reluctant_squidd@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Because they are one of the few mega companies that hasn’t shrinkflated, enshittified, or otherwise crumbled the quality of their offering. Haven’t sold out the privacy of their customer base to advertising companies, and are generally good to deal with for customers and developers.

  It’s not a secret formula that no other company can learn from. It’s as simple as not being dicks IMO.

  For some reason, most companies seem to grow too a certain threshold at which they sell their souls to profit and will self destruct to get more of it. Steam thankfully isn’t one of them…… yet.

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  • ranandtoldthat@beehaw.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    They’re not beholden to public investors. If they go public or sell to a public company it will change.

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    • ech@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      If Gaben leaves or dies, Valve is probably fucked.

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• ech@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  All these concern trolling articles about Valve’s “monopoly”. We never get this shit about Youtube, Windows, local ISPs and other utilities, etc. Super subtle, guys.

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  • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    The entire AAA video game industry right now is basically freaking out, panicking and financially imploding right now, after at least a solid decade of mainly figuring out how to waste an enormous amount of money…

    While all trying to be the next big live service game.

    A live service game isn’t so much a game as it is a platform itself, a cash shop.

    These people all failed miserably at this, such that Ubisoft imploded, EA got bought out by Saudi Blood Money, Unity itself is imploding as an organization, MSFT switched its gaming division into pure wealth extraction mode before they shut it down in ~5 years and just act as IP liscensing overlords… etc.

    They all tried to establish vertically integrated businesses, and despise that they can’t come close to matching Valve, the most competent horizontally built business in the entire industry.

    And yes, the ‘video game industry’ includes nearly all ‘video game journalists’.

    These people are with few exceptions, allergic to doing any actual investigative journalism, they’re mostly just paid to manipulate the flow of discourse around video games, as a form of marketing.

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  • ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

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• frank@sopuli.xyz ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Every other company could challenge Steam, but instead is enshittified within an inch of its life from the get-go. It’s as much that Steam is doing so much right as it is that competitors are doing so much wrong.

  Not you, GOG.

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  • Grimpen@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    GoG was my second digital store, I resisted Steam for so long, but over the years, Steam has become my #1 source for games. It’s just so easy, plus they are relatively consumer friendly. With the revamp of Steam Families, it’s just so so much easier to have everyone playing on Steam. Plus I have a Steam Deck.

    I try and buy games on GoG, set them up with Heroic, and it works great, better than EA, Epic and other storefronts, but just not quite as slick as Steam.

    One day St. Gabe will be martyred, and Steam will undergo the unavoidable descent into enshittification, as to will GoG. I do not pledge undying loyalty to any platform, but Steam and GoG have been awesome for so long.

    Besides, other than Itch and Humble Bundle, who even comes close in being good to use?

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  • Baggie@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Gog is good, itch.io is good. They have different niches, and each do beautifully.

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  • Rose@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    GOG’s market share being around 1% compared to Steam’s 80% only proves the point that no amount of great features or love by gamers is enough to challenge the monopoly.

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    • Goodeye8@piefed.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      That’s because for the vast majority of gamers their games aren’t on GOG. From the top 50 sellers on Steam only Rimworld, Baldurs Gate 3, No Man’s Sky, Tainted Grail and Kerbal Space Program are sold on GOG. 90% of the top sellers on Steam aren’t on GOG. GOG has a lot of great features but when GOG doesn’t have the games people want to spend money on there’s very little reason for those people to use GOG.

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• Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.net ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Because they aren’t a true monopoly. They are only a functional monopoly because their competitors refuse to be competitive. Nothing except corporate greed is preventing other storefronts like Epic from being utterly ass.

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• Trihilis@ani.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Bad take. The competition is literally constantly shooting themselves in the foot by offering a worse service and doing nothing to make gaming better.

  It’s not steams fault that companies like EA, Epic MS etc. are rotten to the core with their business practices and no one wants to use their storefronts.

  GOG is the only one i might consider an alternative that isnt completely rotten.

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  • SweetCitrusBuzz@beehaw.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    offering a worse service

    At least some of them moderate their forums, unlike Steam.

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• mrmaplebar@fedia.io ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I'm not mad because they go above and beyond to support Linux, which I prefer to use.

  None of the other stores do even the bare minimum for Linux users, while Valve has helped make it easier to play almost every game.

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• hzl@piefed.blahaj.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Are they a monopoly? They’re definitely huge, but a lot of the games on Steam are non-exclusive, and they don’t actually control the rights to the games. Like, they don’t own the IP, they don’t restrict content to their platform, and they have some pretty functional if smaller competitors like GOG and Epic. They also make their platform compatible with game keys that weren’t actually sold on their platform.

  They’re definitely something with substantial market dominance as a platform, not I’m not sure monopoly is really the word.

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  • DaleGribble88@programming.dev ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Monopoly is definitely the word, but they also don’t appear to be overly abusive about their market position.

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    • JillyB@beehaw.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      They take 30% of all PC game sales. If that isn’t abusing their position, idk what is.

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• savvywolf@pawb.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Valve literally released hardware and said “hey, competitors, feel free to add your own stores and even OS”. None of their competitors even bothered to try.

  Valve doesn’t need to resort to underhanded tactics to secure their monopoly like other monopolies. They just know that they provide a good service.

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  • Rose@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Funny because they absolutely use those tactics even to this day. Among other things, they go around and tell developers not to set lower prices or discounts elsewhere if they want to be on Steam (see page 160 here).

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    • bountygiver@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Not if they want to sell on steam, if they want steam to issue steam keys for purchases made outside of steam. Yes they literally let you use all the steam infrastructure for sales that they don’t get to take a cut out of, with the requirement being you cannot undercut them for those sales.

      If you want to sell for cheaper outside of steam you can, you just no longer can ask steam to issue extra keys beyond those sold on steam store.

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    • Womble@piefed.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Most of those conversations seem to be steam asking the vendor to allow them to lower the price it’s being offered on steam to match the lower price it’s being offered elsewhere (or remove the sale from steam). I dont see any threats to kick games off steam (though that could be implied) or demands to remove lower priced sales from elsewhere.

      It doesnt look particularly abusive to my eye at least.

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    • imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      They constantly telling devs that they wont teach their customers that Steam is more expensive option compared to any other sources of the game. If game goes on sale and elsewhere it has higher discount, they ask devs to allow them to match discount or remove it entirely. Nothing about removing games I found (skimmed, but maybe I am blind).

      In other words: They dont force devs to sell games on other stores at the same price they sell on steam. They ask devs to match price of the games they sell on steam with other retailers. E.g. if game is sold at $30 on EGS and $35 on steam, they ask to reduce price on steam to match EGS price. Not the other way.

      How much more “pro consumer” can they get?

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• definitemaybe@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I skimmed most of this thread and didn’t see anyone mention that Steam actually supports third party stores. They let developers sell game keys on other storefronts for free (with limits, granted—the number of keys they can generate depends on sales on Steam, I think.)

  Fanatical and Humble only exist because Steam handles all of the games delivery infrastructure for them. That’s, like, the opposite of monopolistic behaviour. Name another tech monopoly giving their services away for free so other directly competing businesses can profit.

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  • brainwashed@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Not to mention they are no monopoly by any definition. I can buy Games at half a dozen other stores I know of, probably a hundred I don’t.

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• super_user_do@feddit.it ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  
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  This is why bro. Other game launchers feel predatory and rushed. There is no reason for anyone to install the EA App or Ubisoft Connect other than playing that two games from those studios. The only alternative is the Epic Games Store which has the fucking worst UI in existence and has only got a microfraction of the minimum functionality useful to build a community around a videogame. It also lacks native Linux support, forcing users to use alternatives like Heroic Games Launcher

  Steam wins because it does nothing to increase “shareholder value” and it just cares to be a good platform for the users, it is respectful of consumers and actively fights corporate greed and publisher dishonesty

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  • definitemaybe@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I keep forgetting how useless Epic is.

    Every once in a while, I want to scan my Epic library to see what’s there… and it doesn’t even seem to have a library feature? I need to use a separate app just to see all my games on their storefront.

    Then, occasionally, I’ll want to check out what people are saying about their free game offers… and they don’t have reviews?

    They don’t support Linux.

    Their Android app keeps redirecting to their website for basic functionality.

    Do they even have a method for devs to show patch notes or have updates? I have seen any.

    I mean, great that they’re giving developers a bigger cut, I guess, but 88% of nothing is worse than 70% of actual sales. Why would I, as a customer, ever try to shop there? It’s a terrible UX missing many features I have grown to expect.

    So, yeah. The author of this article gets it.

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• kyub@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Used to prefer GOG over Steam. GOG did nothing for Linux gamers though, they didn’t even release their Galaxy client for Linux. Will prefer GOG over Steam again when this changes (they said recently they want to change this, but only after Valve has already invested a lot into making Linux gaming a real thing with almost zero friction). That’s also basically the best thing that Valve has done - they really did help to make Linux gaming a reality, and Linux gaming is an important step towards toppling Windows’ dominance. They deserve a lot of credit for that. But there are also plenty of other things that you can criticize about Steam.

  If you’re on Windows though, you should definitely always prefer GOG over Steam because it’s DRM-free (you buy it, you own it). Of course, there are many more games only available on Steam, so it might not be possible all the time, but at least you should prioritize your choices.

  We also have plenty of other monopoly problems, one of the biggest is YouTube.

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  • _Lory98_@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    If you’re on Windows though, you should definitely always prefer GOG over Steam because it’s DRM-free (you buy it, you own it)

    I’m not really disagreeing with you, as with GOG you are guaranteed to get a DRM free game (and an installer which is better than Steam’s backup, as it’s guaranteed to work offline), but they still sell you just a revocable license.

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    • Mondez@lemdro.id ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      How is the license revocable without DRM? They have no mechanism to revoke it other than stopping you downloading it from them again.

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  • Infrapink@thebrainbin.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I use Linux and I prefer GOG to Steam

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  • Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    GoG is probably a pretty small company, I can’t really expect them to have a full Linux support system when Linux up until Windows 10 support ended was probably a pretty small niche that is now a slightly bigger niche.

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  • Manalith@midwest.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I haven’t had any issues loading my GOG games through the Heroic launcher on ZorinOS

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• MummifiedClient5000@feddit.dk ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Valve doesn’t abuse the monopoly.

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  • JillyB@beehaw.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    30%

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    • cepelinas@sopuli.xyz ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      How many of you don’t understand that 30 procent is/was the standart like google play or the app store they usually charged 30 procent and guess what steam runs on pcs or something pc like which means that other gaming stores can be run on them, but people usually don’t because well they are enshitified. Steam also provides services to game developers like matchmaking, cloud saves, p2p connections and everything else that’s in steamworks.

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    • Overspark@piefed.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Only on games sold through Steam itself. Unlike any other store out there they don’t charge for keys sold somewhere else, so in practice that 30% is significantly lower if you put in any effort to sell your games elsewhere too. This is why publishers like Paradox have their own store and heavily promote it, they just sell Steam keys there without having to pay the 30%.

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• x3lz@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Steam is not a fucking monopoly. Take my downvote

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• Binturong@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Tepid take: The only people calling Steam a monopoly are the loser competitors who can’t find a more extortive business model that will actually compete in their quest to syphon wealth out of the gaming ecosystem. Also ‘news’ outlets that are being paid to assert this narrative, and dumbshit reactionaries who believe those narratives. Sorry Epic CEO, you can’t cry and shit your pants into forcing a successful company to make room and give you a cut. The market will ony respond to a better product here, and Epic ain’t it. EA learned this lesson with their shit-ass Origin product years ago, brand loyalty takes a long time to build and is a powerful variable, and steam is good at not fucking with the gamers, or at least only within parameters of acceptability, it appears.

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  • boonhet@sopuli.xyz ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Tim Sweeney’s on record saying he doesn’t see any point in making EGS any better since it’s “good enough” lol.

    Out of anyone, they had the best chance to make it, with the budget they had, and the fact that so many people have their launcher installed for Unreal Engine or Fortnite reasons. Yet they put so much money into exclusives, and none into having a compelling UX.

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    • DaleGribble88@programming.dev ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      The fact that it launched and didn’t have a shopping cart for 3 years is all it takes to know that it was never intended to be a serious competitor. A simple shopping cart is trivial to implement with modern programming tools, and even if it wasn’t, it should be part of the minimum viable product for any digital store front.

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• spicehoarder@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Other game launchers: “fuck Linux it’s so small”

  Valve: “everyone deserves to play games :)”

  Other game launchers: “Steam is fucking monopoly!!!”

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  • LinyosT@sopuli.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Valve is working on linux as more of an exit strategy should MS go apeshit and go full walled garden. Their work started following MS floating ideas of a walled garden about a decade ago.

    Its less “Everyone deserves to play games” and more “We gotta cover our asses”. Just that we all benefit in the end.

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    • 0x1C3B00DA@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      But Valve’s “We gotta cover our asses” move is to help an open ecosystem, not try to create their own walled garden. Yes, they are a company making a rational, capitalistic decision but it’s also the less lucrative but more moral decision.

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• TwoSteps@programming.dev ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Because of all the other companies in that picture (except GOG, they’re cool).

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  • DeckPacker@piefed.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    What about itch vor humble bundle?

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    • JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Humble bundle got stripped by its parent company IGN. That’s why they haven’t had a good bundle for a long time.

      In July 2024, all Humble Games employees were reportedly laid off. The company said that it’s “restructuring”, and that Humble Bundle will not be affected.

      Humble is being enshittified.

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    • t3rmit3@beehaw.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      itch.io is okay, but they used to be much better back when they were competing with Desura, and before Steam had GreenLight and now Early Access. Now they’ve fallen into a weird space where half of their games’ installers aren’t even hosted on their site and you get redirected to the game’s own website. Humble Bundle has really crappy download speeds, so it’s hard to justify using them over Steam for anything larger than a VN, and half the games you buy on HB they actually just give you Steam keys to redeem anyways.

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• mavu@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Really simple: because they are running it like tax funded infrastructure and not like an extortion racket.

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  • nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    interesting

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• kronusdark@beehaw.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I feel like this is something that could easily shift with one misstep by Valve. It’s good now because for the most part they have made consumer friendly choices.

  I am really worried about what happens when Gabe kicks the bucket.

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• t3rmit3@beehaw.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Because it’s one of the only functional monopolies that got there by attracting users rather than M&As to quash competitors and regulatory capture. Monopolies shouldn’t just intrinsically make you angry, they just are usually bad because they will have done anticompetitive things in order to become a monopoly.

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• soulsource@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Other Launchers don’t feel like tools. The other stores feel like a fucking nuisance.

  The only other usable options are itch.io and GoG.com, who allow downloading the games directly on their websites, without the need for any launcher.

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• BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  If Steam is a monopoly, then explain how alternatives or competitors still exist. This entire “Steam is a monopoly” is bullshit because competition did and still does exist.

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  • ComradeMiao@beehaw.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Nane one actual competitor lol

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    • nova_ad_vitum@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      They have tons of competitors. They all just choose to suck.

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    • Rolive@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Good Old Games.

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    • BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Epic Game Store.

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    • Manalith@midwest.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I use GOG for DRM free games.

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    • saigot@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Xbox gamepass

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    • Krauerking@lemy.lol ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Microsoft app store

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• MrRandom@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  what difference not having shareholders has

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• MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  I mean what, am I supposed to be ‘preemptively mad’ because they might become worse one day?

  Like I don’t understand why I’m supposed to be mad, it’s a service that’s useful and good, maybe it won’t be one day but what am I going to do about that?

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  • JillyB@beehaw.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    The first step of enshittification is being very pro-user. All of the good will from your users will build you a dominant market position so you can squeeze them later. We should resist any company dominating any market. Just because valve hasn’t screwed you over personally doesn’t mean we should just lovingly accept market dominance. The more competitive the market, the better.

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    • athatet@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      The first step of not enshit would also have to be pro user otherwise it’s just shit to begin with.

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• DaedalousIlios@pawb.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Valve treats me like they actually want to earn ky business and they use their vast wealth to make cool shit. Valve is also the reason I no longer have to deal with Window’s bullshit to keep playing my favorite video games.

  Yes, I would love to see more altruism, but Valve is, at the bare minimum, the epitome of moral neutrality as a business. So there’s nothing to really be mad at them about, and rather I have some gratitude for how they’ve used their money.

  On the flipside, as others have pointed out, everyone else keeps shooting themselves in the foot. The only one thar hasn’t (to my knowledge) is GoG, but they’re never going to reach Steam status in a Capitalist society. And their social features are unavailable on Linux.

  The next closest after that is Epic, who’s shitty, buggy ass launcher and storefront is so horrendous that when they give games out for free, people buy said games on Steam instead.

  So… Why would we be mad at Valve for their competition being shit?

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  • SweetCitrusBuzz@beehaw.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    the epitome of moral neutrality as a business.

    Yep, and that’s exactly why it’s overtaken by bigots and fascists.

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• SomeRandomNoob@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Steam is so big because the others are shit!

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• Damage@feddit.it ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  It works, and since this is PC, we can very quickly pivot to something else if we need to.

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• imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  What is up with Valve and internet attacking them for their supposed monopoly?

  Yeah, they are monopoly. The rare breed of one that is not predatory to it’s customers, and actively improves the experience. They are also the one that wont shoot their own leg to incapacitate themselves for no particular reason. Also “also”, they do not use predatory strategies to extort players off other platforms. Also^3^, they are the company that wont accumulate other companies just to destroy them in the end which also destroys competition.

  They are not perfect. Lootboxes, gambling, and strong polices. But just try to compare them to second best online gaming store - they are fucking angels. Saints. Divine being. Compared TO THE NEXT BEST THING. That is saying something.

  A monopoly (from Greek μόνος, mónos, ‘single, alone’ and πωλεῖν, pōleîn, ‘to sell’) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. - AND STEAM IS NOT IT! They have competition and that competition, while having resources and ability to improve or match Steam, does little to nothing in order to compete.

  Fun graph

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  • Krauerking@lemy.lol ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    You can’t punch the oligarchs you feel are ruining your life so you lunch what is within reach and dress it up like that which you hate so you can justify it.

    Plus the bulk of these articles are written about or for the AAA producers who are upset about their declining revenue and want an easy scapegoat for the investors.

    Combine the 2 groups and you have grifting liars and the willing flock of idiots, and conversations like this.

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• JamBandFan1996@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  For me the difference is there is nothing stopping competitors, Valve is not locking them out of the market in anyway. If they don’t want to spend the time to build a good competing product, that’s on them. And additionally, PC gaming is just one platform for gaming

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  • Tinidril@midwest.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    The network effect is a pretty significant barrier. If a game comes out and it isn’t on Steam, the odds are pretty good that most gamers would never bother looking at it. It’s hardly Steam’s fault that the only attempts at competition for decades have been enshitified from launch though.

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• DoucheBagMcSwag@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  So how’s much did Sweeney at Epic pay for this?

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