brucethemoose comments on Valve "played capitalism so well they broke it" and now Steam can never be replaced, former Epic dev says: "I don't think this is fixable"

[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (23 children)

The volume of Valve glazing I see on the internet has me worried. They could enshittify dramatically tomorrow, and I think they would still have positive sentiment.

People trust them. Trusting a corporation is a recipe for monopoly, pretty much without exception, historically.

And Steam is the only storefront for so, so many games. For all of Sweeny’s toxicity, I honestly didn’t feel that particular outrage against EGS, as I was already concerned by how many games are Steam-only.

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[–] blartcap_@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 days ago (17 children)

They could enshittify dramatically tomorrow, and I think they would still have positive sentiment.

Baseless assumption on your part. Nobody is blindly trusting Valve and excusing their faults.

And Steam is the only storefront for so, so many games. For all of Sweeny’s toxicity, I honestly didn’t feel that particular outrage against EGS, as I was already concerned by how many games are Steam-only.

Steam doesn't force retail exclusivity. That's on publishers for not putting it on other storefronts, but also most games can be found for sale on other stores.

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[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago* (3 children)

Not for the games I play. My order of operations for buying most games is:

#1: GoG, so it’s DRM free

#2: The lowest fee storefront to support the dev (so 1st party store, or maybe EGS).

#3: Steam, the default. This is prioritized if it’s a Workshop-exclusive game or something.

#4: Some junky storefront like Xbox

But in recent years, basically all the games I want have been Steam only, or “Steam locked” because I am otherwise locked out of the Workshop, multiplayer, or something.

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[–] blartcap_@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 days ago (2 children)

That's still not Steam forcing retail exclusivity.

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[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 1 point 2 days ago* (1 child)

Like how Amazon doesn’t force retail exclusivity, either. They simply dictate prices of other stores.

…One could just not list on Amazon and go out of business. Or list, and have the vast majority of sales go through Amazon since pricing has to be exactly the same anyway. It’s technically a choice, but it’s effectively no choice for many types of products.

Steam is largely the same thing. They are a “soft monopoly” now, they technically don’t enforce exclusivity, but it’s often not a choice for game makers.

Hence basically every indie/AA game I’ve bought recently has been on Steam, in spite of me actively avoiding Steam if I can.

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[–] blartcap_@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 point 2 days ago

Amazon's situation is that they drove prices up artificially through browbeating vendors by leveraging their considerable power. Items that used to be $10 are now $50. Unless you're suggesting Steam is really what are forcing AAA games to go up to $80, it's not the same situation as Amazon.

Steam is a textbook example of a natural monopoly. It seems like people have forgotten about this concept. Exclusivity is always a choice for publishers. They do not ever have to only be on Steam, and most games aren't. It's also their choice to rely entirely on Steamworks instead of using alternative technologies.

You could always choose to buy many of those indie games on GOG, Itch, or on other stores.