Comment on They even do Price Discrimination on video games now

• atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  I think you are forgetting the other reason Valve cornered the market;

  “One thing that we have learned is that piracy is not a pricing issue. It’s a service issue… The easiest way to stop piracy is not by putting antipiracy technology to work. It’s by giving those people a service that’s better than what they’re receiving from the pirates.”

  Gabe Newell, CEO Valve - Speaking at the Washington Technology Industry Association’s (WTIA) Tech NW Conference.

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  • jwiggler@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Yeah, no I definitely agree they’re good to gamers. I also love how they have a flat structure, and I think Gabe seems like a smart guy. He’s given some interesting talks about economics. They’ve made a great platform for gamers, but it doesn’t quite change their business model, which is taking a cut from work done by others. In most other scenarios, it’s easy for us to recognize when companies do this – amazon, Walmart, etc, but in Valves case they have such a great reputation among gamers and a fanbase of their own, I think the escape a good amount of warranted scrutiny (game dev side, not gamer side)

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    • Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      “Is based on taking a cut of the product of work done by others.”

      That seems like a fair trade off for game developers in turn getting to use the platform who’s work was done by… Valve.

      I understand why people make this argument but it’s really undercutting the value that Valve provides developers who utilize steam for distribution.

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      • jwiggler@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        it’s really undercutting the value that Valve provides developers who utilize steam for distribution

        I think I’d actually disagree here. In a classical sense Valve offers no value to the product (game). They just own the digital marketplace. It’s like saying, “well, the Lord does maintain the roads and walls and the square, and he does a good job. He adds a lot of value for the craftsmen and peasants who use the roads and are protected by the walls.” But in the end, the Lord is still extracting a rent from the workers actually producing the goods.

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• oxysis@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  Valve’s fee is more than earned however. Steam as a storefront is highly trusted by users, it has a rock solid reputation that is hard to come by. As a distributor they take a one time fee for each copy sold, then they manage all of the costs from users downloading and downloading again for as long as the platform exists from that one time fee. Meanwhile if a developer were to do that themselves then they pay each time a user wants to download that game.

  Sure the developers lose a bit more money than if they either ran their own platform or sold on another platform. But the higher up front cost to access the larger platform is a very worthwhile trade as can be seen by developers continually coming back.

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  • jwiggler@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Valve’s fee is more than earned however.

    Maybe. I’m not a game dev, so Im not sure I can say for sure. But it still remains that there isn’t much of a choice for game devs and Valve holds most of the cards. That level of centralization of power isn’t good, earned or otherwise. It’s evident that at least some devs aren’t happy how much of a cut Valve is taking.

    Meanwhile if a developer were to do that themselves then they pay each time a user wants to download that game.

    I’m not sure this is exactly right. They’d have to buy and maintain their own servers, or rent them from a cloud provider, but it wouldnt necessarily be a charge for every download. But maybe I’m being pedantic – you’re right that it costs some amount of money to store data and keep computers up.

    I think probably from a game dev perspective, the issue here is Valve takes far more of a cut than whatever value they add to the experience itself. If you’re a team that just spent years of work on a game, the one-third cut Valve takes is just not proportional considering the amount of dev work, and is therefore considered extractive. Does that make sense?

    I’m trying not to cast too much moral judgement here because we live in a capitalist system and corporations are going to seek profit in whatever way possible, and we are all indoctrinated into it, but from a perspective critical to that system, Valve are not good.

    From a gamer perspective theyre a fucking godsend lmaooo

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    • Xenny@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      You’re drinking all the Microsoft Kool-Aid that the lawyers in paid bots have thrown out there on the internet. Valve has threatened the market dominance of large tech companies and there’s been a ton of negative press pushed for them lately.

      There’s lots of platforms to release your game online Minecraft famously ditched steam and it’s one of the largest games of all time.

      You can self-publish as a solo Dev and make one of the largest games of all time without steam. Tell me how that’s a monopoly.

      You got fortnite out here on the epic game store. Also one of the largest games of all time no steam, no valve. Tell me that’s a monopoly.

      You’ve got itch.io, Gog, Microsoft game store, epic game store, and there’s always the option to skip the PC market and go straight to Indy’s on consoles if you wanted. You have choices as a developer. Steam is just simply the best fucking one.

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      • jwiggler@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        Listen, I’d be happy to talk about my perspective more, but why would I when you begin your response with

        You’re drinking all the tech bro Kool-Aid that the lawyers and paid bots/shills have thrown out there on the internet.

        Just totally rude.

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