this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2023
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I am so tired of 'you aren't forced' being a response to crystal clear systemic advantages.
No shit you aren't forced.
You don't have to be.
They win anyway.
The competition's qualities do not matter, because the network effect makes Steam the default. Their super-duper-majority userbase is self-sustaining. Twitter's recent deliberately awful turns show how much abuse it takes to create a merely gradual decline. Epic's alternative could be flawless - and they'd still be trapped in a vicious circle of not being where the games are, because no users shop there, and no users shopping there, because that's not where the games are.
Epic has a game that makes four billion dollars a year. Epic produces middleware used by like half of all big-name games. And even Epic "couldn't hack it" when fighting valve, despite offering free games to users and more money to game devs. As you point out, Valve doesn't need to try. They win anyway. That is the complaint.
Same lapel-shaking attitude toward listing why 30% was ever tolerated, like that justifies a digital environment taking as much money to not do it. Taking an entire third of revenue just to be the shelf is obscene. I don't have to pull an exact decimal figure out of my ass to condemn that. It's the deepest cut they can get away with.
It's the same thing console manufacturers excuse, when they built the entire platform from scratch, and subsidize hardware prices through that cut. It's the same thing Apple charges when they have such an iron grip that you can't even install a different web browser. How the hell do you justify Valve taking that cut, on your computer hardware, in someone else's operating system? And despite that - they feel zero pressure from big-name, well-funded competitors. That effortless confidence underlines the entire problem.
No middleman should make half as much on every sale as the people who made the fucking game.
Okay firstly we are literally talking on a platform where most of its population came from the reddit api shit. I think you are acting like users have no free will on this matter.
While I said steam/valve isn't "trying anymore" I meant in attracting mainstream audience since it doesn't but I don't think they have been lacking on working for niche products for niche audiences. Steam remote play a feature that is practically useless for 90% of the games on steam but it does help couch coop games or small indie devs who don't have the experience to implement full multiplayer into their games. Linux gaming has been fueled quite a bit by Valve's contributions to Proton.
Sorry but if that platform is providing you 2-10x the audience you would have not had access to prior it may just be worth it.
Satisfactory is a perfect example
Steam 367,601 (1 month) vs Epic 958,917 (16 months)
In a span of a single month, Steam made nearly 40% of the sales it took Epic to get in 16 months. To be fair to Epic typically most sales of a new game come in the first 5 to 6 months but you can't deny the benefit you are getting for being on that "shelf"
Also can you show me any competitor that are as feature rich as Steam? Like I get why people are annoyed with steam but I find no reason to stan for fucking Epic of all people. Seriously it took them 3 fucking years to implement a god damn CART into their digital store. Like at the start of Epic it had the advantage of Devs get a big bag of money, due to its walled garden nature you as a part of the exclusive gang could be seen far more easily than prior but those days are long gone. Hell Microsoft is finally taking a chunk of the PC market now with their game-pass initiative. For the longest time Microsoft failed with their Microsoft store nonsense but once they started to offer consumers things that they want. People using it, what a fucking surprise.
I'd be great if you could stop presenting my argument as a counter to my argument.
Steam has become the PC market.
That's bad, actually.
edit: And most of us being from reddit is wildly different from most of reddit leaving.