Rose
@Rose@lemmy.zip
- Comment on [Update: Valve Responds] Mastercard Denies Pressuring Steam To Censor 'NSFW' Games 3 weeks ago:
Not necessarily. Valve says they haven’t heard from Mastercard directly. Is there evidence of Itch.io having been approached at all? It seems to me that they just made the move to delist and investigate to be safe in the wake of Valve’s rule changes.
- Comment on Epic just won its Google lawsuit again, and Android may never be the same 3 weeks ago:
I think the part about exclusives and other claims is just a way to fight the cognitive dissonance of seeing something good but having spent so much time and money on something else. Always being in attack mode distracts them and others from focusing on the problems of Steam.
- Comment on Epic Games just won its antitrust lawsuit against Google again 4 weeks ago:
it’s not great for consumers.
Not in the short term, but having an alternative to Steam (or anything with a lot of market share) is great for the long run. Moreover, at least everyone knows that the majority of the contracts would expire in 6 to 12 months. For all intents and purposes, Steam exclusives are a lot worse because there are many times more of them, and you can’t mark a date on your calendar when you can buy them if you can’t or don’t want to buy from Steam.
Keep in mind that, as an example, just recently Steam just decided to no longer support the local currencies of Argentina and Turkey, resulting in no regional prices for the regions on Steam. If Epic didn’t exist and didn’t support regional prices for those regions, all those users would have for third-party titles is GOG, which has a much smaller catalog and seems to support fewer regions. Microsoft Store is also an alternative now, but I’d argue its rise was spearheaded by Game Pass, which relies on the “paid deal” model pioneered in the PC space by Epic.
No, it was created so they could keep all the money from Fortnite.
I think you’re confusing the launcher with the store. The origin of the store itself can be traced back to Sweeney arguing about Valve’s “junk fee” of 30%.
they merely want their game engine and anti-cheat to sell.
How is targeting niche operating systems helping the anti-cheat sell?
- Comment on Epic Games just won its antitrust lawsuit against Google again 4 weeks ago:
Yes, I’m not implying Epic is forcing game devs into anything Whether a business partner wants to be exclusive should be 100% their decision
This reads as mutually exclusive to me. How can it not be 100% their decision if it’s their decision? Moreover, it’s very common for a publishing agreement to also be legally binding, so everyone in this and other industries is used to that (or guilty of it if you view it as negative).
that’s textbook anti-competitiveness.
Not if it’s done by an underdog. Much of the US antitrust law for example revolves around monopolizing. Challenging what is argued to be a monopoly in a currently ongoing court case ripe with evidence isn’t monopolizing.
Would they retain that policy if they or GOG became #1?
The reason the Epic store was created is Valve’s unwillingness to lower their store fee that was way above the operating cost (7% still being profitable in Epic’s internal calculations made public by a lawsuit).
Epic has a lot more power in the anti-cheat and game engine spaces, but still keeps their software open, whether it’s by keeping the source code available or making the software compatible with Linux.
- Comment on Epic Games just won its antitrust lawsuit against Google again 4 weeks ago:
An exclusivity deal is signed by both parties, so it’s just as much of a choice developers make. By the way, like Valve, Epic seems to favor Wine over native ports, given their donation to Lutris. Unlike Valve though, Epic isn’t iffy about others not using their launcher, so there’s an official GOG Galaxy plugin for Epic endorsed by Sweeney.
- Comment on Epic Games just won its antitrust lawsuit against Google again 4 weeks ago:
Steam is full of de-facto exclusives that cannot be purchased and played elsewhere, meaning that you have to accept the Steam price, policies, practices, and their launcher in order to play those. Borderlands 2 was de-facto exclusive to Steam from 2012 to 2020, when Epic effectively rescued it from the exclusivity by paying 2K to give it away and add to the Epic store. If anything, Epic rewarding developers for doing what they’ve been doing on Steam is better than them not getting paid.
- Comment on Epic Games just won its antitrust lawsuit against Google again 4 weeks ago:
Allegedly? There is plenty of evidence of that in the Wolfire lawsuit. See for yourself from page 160 here.
- Comment on Epic Games just won its antitrust lawsuit against Google again 4 weeks ago:
That was a side effect of them upgrading the game from DX9 to DX11 and from 32-bit to 64-bit. Also, are you consistent and dislike Valve as a company for doing the same with CS2 for Mac?
- Comment on Itch.io are seeking out new payment processors who are more comfortable with adult material | RPS 4 weeks ago:
On the one hand, yes, it’s a solid alternative because it’s decentralized and can even be untraceable (see Monero), but on the other hand, it’s been under attack for the past years. I would disagree it’s censorship-resistant, because if you make it illegal or hard to buy and sell crypto, few would be dedicated enough to go around that. Moreover, your proposed solution would still rely on some gateway between crypto and fiat, which would be vulnerable to pressure.
- Comment on Splitgate 2 is ‘unlaunching’ as developer 1047 Games cuts staff | VGC 5 weeks ago:
Relaunching never seems to work out. Just look at Multiversus and Bloodhunt.
- Comment on Waypoint Writers Quit Over Removal Of Articles Related To New Steam Policy [Update] - Aftermath 5 weeks ago:
You could still name names and link the article(s), then offer a verifiable summary as to why you believe the coverage is inaccurate. You’re not disputing that Kirsche is transphobic and that there is a genuine-looking clip of them being racist though, are you?
- Comment on Waypoint Writers Quit Over Removal Of Articles Related To New Steam Policy [Update] - Aftermath 5 weeks ago:
Not a great idea to call someone out for spreading lies but not support the claim with evidence. Also, what are your honest thoughts on Gamergate?
- Comment on Ubisoft CEO responds to the Stop Killing Games petition, stating the publisher is 'working on' improving its approach to end-of-life support, but that 'nothing is eternal' 5 weeks ago:
My impression might be skewed because I’ve only played from the first through Syndicate so far. Based on those, yes, there’s a lot of pointlessness even there. After finishing all quests in Rogue, I had to spend as many hours to open all the chests and collect everything for achieving 100% completion. Still, I got to explore new places and see more of the game world. I also could just abandon that and still see the game as finished, but you can’t do these things if you’re stuck trying to beat a boss in a souslike, or at least how I understand those games.
- Comment on Ubisoft CEO responds to the Stop Killing Games petition, stating the publisher is 'working on' improving its approach to end-of-life support, but that 'nothing is eternal' 5 weeks ago:
I’m a big fan of the AC games. It’s my favorite series. I also avoid soulslike games, as I don’t understand the appeal. Aren’t they all about doing the same thing over and over again “to get better”? If so, that’s definitely not what I play games for, as it’s more like work.
- Comment on No, Ubisoft's EULA clause ordering you to destroy your games isn't new, nor is it unique 1 month ago:
Larian and Kinetic Games too.
- Comment on Modder behind the 'Swiss army knife of PC gaming' deletes their 20 year-old Steam account with anti-Valve manifesto: 'By the end of my bitter dealings with Valve… there was zero hope' 1 month ago:
Yes, Valve is quite consistent about keeping things locked to its store. Steamworks is also limited to Steam. Proton is an exception, but the LGPL license of Wine simply wouldn’t allow it to be otherwise. Publishing the source code is required if building on it rather than just using it as a component.
- Comment on Less than 20% of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4’s soundtrack is made up of songs from the original games [VGC] 1 month ago:
Meh. Still a great soundtrack from the same artists. It’s a remake, not a remaster. It preserves the original games in spirit but also offers something fresh to the old-school fans.
- Comment on Modder behind the 'Swiss army knife of PC gaming' deletes their 20 year-old Steam account with anti-Valve manifesto: 'By the end of my bitter dealings with Valve… there was zero hope' 1 month ago:
You’re only underscoring Kaldaien’s point about Steam by bringing up Fortnite, given that Epic is willing to release their products on other stores, whether it’s mobile or Microsoft Store on PC, as long as the terms are reasonable, not junk fees, as Sweeney puts it.
- Comment on Modder behind the 'Swiss army knife of PC gaming' deletes their 20 year-old Steam account with anti-Valve manifesto: 'By the end of my bitter dealings with Valve… there was zero hope' 1 month ago:
To each their own. Some people are just too busy to finish a game in a month. Personally, I can finish a 30-hour game in a month without worrying too much, though I’d probably not even think of time if it was two months. That’s still $24 though. For $60, you can get four. I’m a patient gamer like you though and I wait for the deepest discounts, but most people aren’t.
- Comment on Modder behind the 'Swiss army knife of PC gaming' deletes their 20 year-old Steam account with anti-Valve manifesto: 'By the end of my bitter dealings with Valve… there was zero hope' 1 month ago:
Yeah, monetarily it doesn’t even make sense, since it’s just cheaper to buy the game then rent them through gamepass lot of the times.
Did you know that the main policy of Steam is its Subscriber Agreement? You never buy the games. Moreover, most people play games shortly after they come out, so they don’t care about something like Yakuza 0 in 2025. A new AAA game costs $60 to $70, but you can pay for a month of Game Pass for $12 and play through multiple new AAA or other games.
- Comment on Epic Games Unreal Fest News 2 months ago:
Just realized that I was a little gaslit there, as Epic has already had bundles since 2019, with one of the most recent being the STALKER bundle that costs less than the individual games combined. As with its game editions, a bundle can even be wishlisted, a feature lacking on Steam.
- Comment on Resident Evil Requiem - Reveal Trailer 2 months ago:
Who’s the voice actor behind the man in the suit? Sounds super familiar.
- Comment on The Expanse: Osiris Reborn Announcement Trailer 2 months ago:
I don’t think queer stories are common in Russian games.
- Comment on Epic Games Unreal Fest News 2 months ago:
The OP says global preloading and gifting are going live soon. Bundles are also on the roadmap. At the end of the day though, what’s the main benefit of a bundle? It’s the discount, right? I’m not sure the discounts offered via bundles on Steam are an overall better deal compared to Epic offering cashback of 5% on everything, sometimes increased to 20% (like now). For some countries, Epic also offers significantly better base prices compared to Steam. It still supports the Turkish and Argentinian currencies and presumably has specific price guidelines for those as well, compared to Steam having removed those options. I also remember Epic talking about supporting more regional currencies compared to Steam. From looking at the documentation now, it’s 37 on Steam and 43 on Epic.
Regarding the app, I disagree. It was very convenient to have everything in one place (which Steam fans should understand, given their reluctance to use a different launcher) and I used the chat feature all the time, but after Valve separated them, I just got tired of switching and ended up not installing the chat app after resetting my phone OS. Sometimes I need to message a friend, but I feel like the effort of installing it and logging in is not worth it for those occasions.
- Comment on Epic Games Unreal Fest News 2 months ago:
People love to bash Epic and list all the (often redundant) things Steam is ahead in, but nobody mentions the ways in which Epic is ahead. Something as simple as being able to chat with your friends is no longer a feature of the mobile Steam client, but if Epic sticks to the roadmap, their app will allow that. It also makes me think of how despite so many years of existence, Steam still doesn’t allow to add game editions to your wishlist, while Epic has allowed that from the start. It was also the first to introduce a custom value field for downloads throttling, before Steam followed suit.
- Comment on "You can't just have Geralt for every single game" says his voice actor, and if you think The Witcher 4 making Ciri the protagonist is "woke," then "read the damn books" 3 months ago:
Let Doechii do it for you 😛
- Comment on "You can't just have Geralt for every single game" says his voice actor, and if you think The Witcher 4 making Ciri the protagonist is "woke," then "read the damn books" 3 months ago:
If it does “flop”, they undoubtedly would chalk it up to it being inclusive and diverse though. Otherwise they just quickly move on to the next target.
- Comment on "You can't just have Geralt for every single game" says his voice actor, and if you think The Witcher 4 making Ciri the protagonist is "woke," then "read the damn books" 3 months ago:
Very true. I have its history tracking disabled, but it still suggests those videos or creators even when I’m watching something that has no relation to outrage, like a movie trailer or a GDC talk like one on Unreal Engine.
- Comment on "You can't just have Geralt for every single game" says his voice actor, and if you think The Witcher 4 making Ciri the protagonist is "woke," then "read the damn books" 3 months ago:
just agitators who don’t even play these games.
Duh, however, they get millions of views across YouTube and X and hundreds of thousands of followers on Steam.
- Comment on "You can't just have Geralt for every single game" says his voice actor, and if you think The Witcher 4 making Ciri the protagonist is "woke," then "read the damn books" 3 months ago:
Searching for Dustborn on YouTube is the best way to get introduced to those channels.