Open any gaming PC, and chances are the blue icon of Steam is sitting right there on the desktop. Not hidden, not optional, but almost expected. Over time, Steam has gone from being just another launcher to becoming the default storefront for PC gaming, almost like a built-in part of the experience. The Monopoly Nobody […]

ITT I learn that oligarch gabe nawel is the elon musk of gamers

  • Noxy@pawb.socialEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    I’m mad about their massive gambling profits. Otherwise they’ve been pretty great for consumers. Though it’s likely they won’t always be.

  • TheFeatureCreature@lemmy.caEnglish
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    2 months 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.

    • makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml
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      2 months 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.

      • JillyB@beehaw.org
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        2 months 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.

  • mavu@discuss.tchncs.de
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    2 months ago

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

  • Kronusdark@beehaw.orgEnglish
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    2 months 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.

  • BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    2 months 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.

  • super_user_do@feddit.it
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    2 months ago



    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

    • definitemaybe@lemmy.ca
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      2 months 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.

  • reksas@sopuli.xyz
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    2 months ago

    its not monopoly if competition doesnt want to compete and isnt prevented from doing so. steam provides better service, which makes it de facto choice. should i be mad that only option i have is good? it just makes me worried that what if valve goes bad one day, but can’t do much about that.

  • JamBandFan1996@lemmy.ml
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    2 months 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

    • Tinidril@midwest.socialEnglish
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      2 months 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.

  • Binturong@lemmy.caEnglish
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    2 months 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.

    • boonhet@sopuli.xyz
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      2 months 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.

      • DaleGribble88@programming.devEnglish
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        2 months 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.

    • Newsteinleo@infosec.pub
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      2 months ago

      I don’t think they, there is nothing stoping anyone from selling their game through another means. It’s possible to build your own website, take credit card payment, and distribute a game that way. People don’t do that because it whole lot of extra work and it’s easier to pay some 30% commission to sell it for you.