this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2024
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[–] Mandy@sh.itjust.works 29 points 15 hours ago

This is just silly, is this dev just a salty b?
I may not like some parts of steam (like its ui) but I'd say gaben showed us how a big company should always be run.
They don't buy out anyone (hello epic) they made many proconsuner moves and they are funding alternatives like proton without any guarantee of return.

Your shit doesn't sell without steam not because its YouTube and holding everything and everyone hostage, but because everything else is just that much worse.

If you wanna shoot yourself in the foot go ahead but don't complain nobody is is helping with it.

[–] vxx@lemmy.world 14 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Call me when they show predatory behaviour to establish their monopoly. I don't think steam has exclusive deals as epic has for example.

[–] RixMixed@lemmy.ca 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Loot boxes and what is essentially a market of nft’s. Otherwise they’re pretty cool I guess.

[–] BonerMan@ani.social 4 points 9 hours ago

Its about steam itself not what valve does in CS or TF2 and the market isn't their fault.

The loot boxes are entirely cosmetical stuff and the market is 100% player run, when nobody buys the stuff, steam wouldn't loose a penny, they profit from transactions on their platform, but that's because they are acting as payment processors.

[–] prime_number_314159@lemmy.world 56 points 1 day ago (7 children)

When a monopoly is faced with a smaller, more efficient competitor, they cut prices to keep people from switching, or buy the new competitor, make themselves more efficient, and increase profits.

When Steam was faced with smaller competition that charged lower prices, they did - nothing. They're not the leader because of a trick, or clever marketing, but because they give both publishers and gamers a huge stack of things they want.

[–] cmhe@lemmy.world 8 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Sure, Steam seems fairly okay, especially their Linux support, but I still mostly prefer GOG, wherever possible, because it offers more control to their customer over the product they bought.

It helps that Valve is not publicly traded, but I fear that if the current owner (Gabe Newell) dies, there might be a shift in business practices.

Enshittification can still happen in privately traded/owned companies, it generally happens slower and in case there are other reason for the owner(s) to maximize short term profits (e.g. business built on VC money), it can happen faster.

[–] Firipu@startrek.website 8 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Gog support sucks tbh. Steam refunds everything no questions asked. Bought elden ring on gog, wrong region, couldn't activate it back home. They told me to suck it. Fuck gog

[–] cmhe@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

In what region is Elden Ring available on GOG?

Gog is also much easier to deal with via a VPN. I bought some region locked games easily doing that and could play them anywhere, because they are DRM-free. Steam is much more difficult, because each account belongs to a specific region. Moving accounts means you have to have an bank account and address in different countries, so easy for rich people, more difficult for ordinary folks.

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[–] BonerMan@ani.social 94 points 1 day ago (17 children)

One of the only good stores is suddenly the asshole but not because they did something wrong, its because everyone else sucks.

Fuck that. They aren't responsible for other's failures. GOG and itch.io are around and doing fine and aren't hated, if GOG would finally make a Linux GOG Galaxy without having to go through troublesome third Party tinkering (compared to steam) it would be a great competitor. But Epic and the other "stores" just suck ass lack features lack community lack privacy and generally suck ass. That's not valves fault.

[–] domi@lemmy.secnd.me 25 points 1 day ago (10 children)

if GOG would finally make a Linux GOG Galaxy without having to go through troublesome third Party tinkering (compared to steam) it would be a great competitor.

I still think this is a huge blunder by GOG. There has to be a very significant overlap in the user base of DRM free software and Linux.

At least Heroic has matured very well and GOG partnered up with them so something is moving.

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[–] CalcProgrammer1@lemmy.ml 81 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Until any competing store releases a Linux client, I can't really argue against Steam. They are a gatekeeper and almost a monopoly, but they're also the most benevolent and pro-consumer gatekeeper that we have in the PC gaming distribution space. As long as all the competition continue to be Windows-only and, in some cases, actively work against Linux users, I don't want Valve's digital fiefdom to fall.

[–] DarkThoughts@fedia.io 52 points 1 day ago (4 children)

I'm not sure "gatekeepr" is the right term when all you do is simply being better for your customers than anyone else. Like, Ubisoft, EA, Epic, they all are garbage companies. GOG is the only store I'd mildly consider (ignoring tiny indie ones like Itch here), but they also have 0 interest in Linux support, which is where they lose me. Without Valve, Linux gaming would not be where it is today, and as a Linux user that is already like 85% of my decision making being done in favor of Valve - with the remaining 15% not all strictly being in another camp either. If someone wants to challenge that monopoly, they'd have to do something better than forcing exclusives or luring with "free" games, because that's some shady shit that makes me just want to stay away even more.

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[–] usrtrv@lemmy.ml 21 points 1 day ago (2 children)

How are they a gatekeeper? Near monopoly sure. But they don't force companies to only publish on Steam. They don't have restrictive rules. I'm not sure what gate they are keeping.

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[–] falsemirror@beehaw.org 3 points 22 hours ago

Valve is interesting. Enshitification is the standard for something like social media. Corporations are the real customer and users do creative labor to keep it valuable.

Valve flips the script. Developers struggle because they are only expected to labor. Studios don't get the full value of their labor. They might be a huge corporation but they are a worker to valve

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[–] atro_city@fedia.io 38 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Digital fiefdoms like who, you ask, as if you don't already know the answer? "Valve is the most egregious example," says Gavrilović. He hopes for a future where devs, not digital feudal lords, have more power, "but I lack the imagination to envision the replacement of Valve with a community owned alternative. That 'winter castle' will not fall as easily, but we should at least start openly discussing alternatives."

Make an opensource game store that's owned by a non-profit and paid for by the game studios that want to sell on it, giving them a say on how things should run.

[–] BonerMan@ani.social 6 points 18 hours ago

We will find a unicorn before that simply because such a store isn't easy to keep up and because things turn political real fast, wich is why steam is run like it is.

[–] Chuymatt@beehaw.org 7 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

That could easily be abused by the big players, and would be.

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 1 points 15 hours ago
[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 16 points 1 day ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (1 children)

I don't know if a spiritual successor will be as good. I mean, it wasn't exactly the gameplay that made it so compelling; it was the writing. None of the supposed successors being made rn have the writers from the original game.

It also is a shame it wouldn't be set within Elysium; a very well built world that is as exciting as it is mysterious.

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