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Nothing more disappointing to me than seeing a game I might enjoy... and then it's only available on PC on Epic Games store. Why can't it be available on Epic, Xbox game store and Steam? It's so annoying, like you have no choice but to use Epic... which I would literally do ANYTHING not to use.
No, they don't. Unless otherwise implemented, Steam games are DRM free and can be launched directly from their executables.
As evidenced by this post, they are not a monopoly. So what does this statement actually mean?
This post gives evidence of the contrary, game that dared not to be published on platform that has 70-80% of pc market share ( https://www.geekwire.com/2024/gaming-giant-valve-hit-with-another-antitrust-lawsuit-alleging-anticompetitive-practices/ ) shouldn't even exist and even stating otherwise is a blasphemy, lol. As for more anecdotical examples, games that are published on steam only, are majority most don't even list other platforms on their web sites, in cases when they can be bought elsewhere. Even more, updates and patches often do not reach other marketplaces. So yeah steam is a shitty marketplace with horrible ui and captured fanatical clients.
Lawsuits are cheap and meaningless. Unless actually ruled on, they don't mean crap (and even then, sometimes it's just clear evidence of jury / judge bias, like the infamous patent trolls of East Texas).
This source puts their market share at ~20% of the PC gaming market. Your source is for '85% market share in multi-publisher PC game stores', which is not the same thing, and it's based on a random tweet by their competitor CEO attacking them, which should carry approximately 0 credibility.
You keep using the word monopoly. It does not mean what you seem to think it means.
Your "source" is an image that doesn't even differentiate between various stores and lists everything as blue, with text that says "steam revenue is probabaly x billion". I couldn't find anything except other similar images when looking up Pelham Smithers reports. In reports from previous years steam is not mentioned. I will rephrase it then if you dislike the word I am using: Steam has a dominant position in the pc gaming market and uses it to their benefit which doesn't (in my opinion) coincide with consumer benefit, also their app is shit.
P.S.: I've used the word monopoly once
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/video-game-industry-revenues-by-platform/
Also, Steam's estimated revenue and the PC gaming market are numbers available from various sources. I've pointed out why your source is nonsense, and provided more accurate figures.
That's changed from your original 'behave like a monopoly' comment, and which I'm still waiting for clarification on. How exactly do they behave like a monopoly supposedly does?
You post the same data now with article that doesn't even have word "steam" in it. Your various sources weren't linked. I think that clears why your source is "nonsense".
Yes my words are changed because, you somehow read me saying multiple times of steam being monopoly in single use of phrase, steam behaves like a monopoly. I repeat, not liking one store doesn't make me a fan of another, they both are horrible.
As for examples of anti-competitive behaviour, price matching that is being discussed in comments here is a big one, don't you think?