this post was submitted on 29 Mar 2024
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[–] [email protected] 91 points 8 months ago (2 children)

You know who will give you money? Customers if you stop treating them like piñatas.

[–] [email protected] 52 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Valve is an excellent example of a company that is privately owned, so they don't have to satisfy shareholders with constant growth for growth's sake. And yet they're still growing and making a profit, because they make a good product.

Phil and Xbox don't have that luxury because their masters sold out decades ago.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 8 months ago (6 children)

Valve is also a good example of platform monopoly. People need to stop treating valve like they aren't also a big problem with the modern games industry. They are PC gaming's landlord taking a 30% cut of every sale. You have to be smoking crack if you think that doesn't hurt game developers.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 8 months ago (1 children)

They are a monopoly because they've had the best product on the market consistently for 15 years. There used to be huge resistance to them and their drm from gamers, but they have shown over many years that they are trustworthy, unlike others that have tried this.

This is not an Apple or Google store situation where proper competition could not exist. They were always up against giants like Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft or more recently Epic.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Nothing stops you from busting your games on other platforms when available. I always choose GOG over steam personally. What cut they take from publishers isn't consumers' concern.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

I always choose GOG over steam personally. What cut they take from publishers isn’t consumers’ concern.

It's also 30%, so I don't understand his argument.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

They are PC gaming’s landlord taking a 30% cut of every sale. You have to be smoking crack if you think that doesn’t hurt game developers.

Which is the industry standard. Who's the one who is smoking crack?

What percentage do you think they should be getting?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Bullshit. That 30% cut pays for all the features that make steam a better store than any other store. Those features are all free for the gamers, because they are essentially paid by the devs in that cut.

If that cut wasn't worth it, I don't think Microsoft, ea and others would have come back to steam after trying to make their own stores (and failing).

How can it be a monopoly when I can just download another store with a click of a button? Which I have also done, and even bought games from those said other stores, but the experience was just completely miserable compared to steam, up to the point I've considered rebuying those games on Steam.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Damn I'm surprised you got up voted for that.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

They could definitely treat developers better, but they're an example of treating customers right. That's why they're the biggest platform, and that's why they admittedly have something debatably close to a monopoly.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago

Yeah but they give you so little money compared to investors and shareholders. 😅