I have many games I own on Steam that I can play portably from a flash drive without Steam. DRM is still on the developer.
Comment on Arch Linux and Valve Collaboration
earth_walker@lemmy.world 22 hours ago
Using OSS in your product and giving the OSS devs resources to improve their software, instead of trying to take over their project? Did Valve not get the memo that big tech companies are supposed to be evil?? Oh right, they have a monopoly on video game distribution and all of their products rely on DRM.
Dettweiler42@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 hours ago
Railcar8095@lemm.ee 15 hours ago
You might be too young to remember, but DRM existed way before Steam, and the worse ones that exist today are the ones that the Devs/publishers add, not the steam one.
Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 hours ago
Remember Windows Games? Ah yes. Good ol’ GTA4 on PC.
pivot_root@lemmy.world 21 hours ago
They have a monopoly on video game distribution.
They have a massive marketshare, but that doesn’t make them a monopoly. Developers are still free to distribute their games through any other storefront/launcher, and Valve isn’t going out of its way to engage in anticompetitive practices like exclusive publishing deals with third-party studios.
InfiniWheel@lemmy.one 8 hours ago
They also originated loot boxes (TF2)
ElectroLisa@lemmy.blahaj.zone 22 hours ago
“Monopoly”, other platforms are free to compete, Valve isn’t actively trying to stop them
pivot_root@lemmy.world 21 hours ago
OP drank the Epic Games Kool-aid.
woelkchen@lemmy.world 21 hours ago
Comment OP appears to have drank the Epic Games Kool-aid.
The world’s biggest video game, Fortnite, is only available on Epic Games Store for most platforms. Epic’s market share is gigantic, other video game developers just don’t benefit of it because Epic promotes their own stuff first and foremost. If Epic had a storefront monopoly, it would be classified as anti-competitive behaviour.
1984@lemmy.today 19 hours ago
I haven’t gamed on pc for quite some time, but I remember every gaming company adding “launchers” for their games that you had to run to install and play their games. Even Nvidia did this with their fucking drivers. :)
Valve doesn’t do any of that bullshit. Maybe that’s why gamers like them?
Jayjader@jlai.lu 16 hours ago
To be fair, weren’t Valve the first company to do that? People were really annoyed at having to install steam just to play some Half-Life.
Of course, that was only 1 launcher, no launcher-in-launcher shenanigans back then.
wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 hours ago
Yep, Valve also normalized microtransactions significantly through TF2.
Once again, Valve started it as something reasonable: Cosmetic options, then expanded to allow shortcutting unlocking alt weapons through $1-3 charges instead of through game progression (achievements unlocked alt weapons at first). Other companies followed suite in ever increasingly predatory ways, and Valve got worse with it too over time.
woelkchen@lemmy.world 21 hours ago
People who claim that Valve has a monopoly on PC games are already wrong but you claim that they have a monopoly on video game distribution in general is outrageously false. The 2022 overall video game revenue was a bit over US$180Bn. The PC game revenue was US$45Bn. In 2023, all of Steam was responsible for US$8.6Bn in revenue. The biggest PC games (Fortnite, Minecraft, Roblox) aren’t even on Steam and neither are any console or phone games.
Criticize Valve for actual things to criticize them for. Don’t spread misinformation.
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