Comment on Valve runs its massive PC gaming ecosystem with only about 350 employees

interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

• Pringles@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Feel free to start a competitive game store. There’s a reason why gog, origin or epic hardly make a dent on Valves bottom line.

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  • uis@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Gog has its niche. Others didn’t even try. “Look at exclusives” from Epic doesn’t even look like trying

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    • JustARaccoon@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Even within its niche gog Galaxy still lacks a lot of features steam has, like communities, mod support, Linux support, and a few others.

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      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Honestly, I’d be home with that if they had Linux support. They don’t, so I mostly buy from Steam. Apparently Heroic now gets a kickback (probably small) from GOG for sales, but that’s a pretty lazy “Linux support” if you ask me.

        I literally didn’t make a Steam account until they had a Linux client, and now I’ve spend a ton of money there. It’s not hard to get my money, you just need to not be outright hostile to me. That’s why I have never and probably will never buy from Epic.

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      • Johnmannesca@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        The cost of freedom is still far more valuable than that to some, and that’s its niche.

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  • interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Yeah, the solution is obvious, break the Valve monopoly into 40 smaller companies and put Gaben in prison.

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    • mriormro@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      [deleted]

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      • TheDarksteel94@sopuli.xyz ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        That’s a rhetorical question, I assume?

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    • chetradley@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      “And here is my hard drive dedicated to game launchers and storefronts.”

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      • interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        We could run just the game and nothing else.

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    • knitwitt@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Valve created a fantastic entertainment product that people voluntarily choose to use. Who would you want to turn something people already love into something completely different? Counterproductive - especially when direct distribution is essentially free and universally accessible.

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      • interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        At this point steam is plain rent, coasting on their monopolistic platform power not any particular technical merit. It would be fine if valve spent this money on their userbase, but they don’t. All their other products are run for profit as well.

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• Godnroc@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Thor from Pirate Software has a great video breaking down how Steam works and the lawsuit that claims they are ripping off consumers. It’s very educational.

  Of course, there is no requirement to use Steam. Game makes can publish their game themselves without a platform at all, which very few do. If you say they actually need a platform, there is the value they are getting for that 30%. If they weren’t getting anything of value, then they could do it themselves and benefit instead, which most do not.

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  • uis@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Wanted to link this video, but you did it first.

    Also, as mentioned in video, gamers prefer steam because developers there can’t disable or remove comments or not refund on basis of “sucks to be you” like EA and Ubisoft do.

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  • autonomoususer@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Thor’s simping for a company like he thinks they’ll pay him for it.

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    • interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Thor

      You certainly did call him out exactly as he is. An obvious industry shill “we can’t make non-live service games anymore because licensing boohoo”

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• CancerMancer@sh.itjust.works ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  They also offer the Steam multiplayer backend, workshop, and Steam’s social system which is becoming enticing again given Discord’s latest behaviour.

  GOG’s gimmick is no DRM, Itch.io has the cheapest self-publishing costs, and Epic has… well I’m not sure really, but the other two have their place, but it’s no coincidence Steam is the biggest.

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  • Johnmannesca@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Epic does sales where they release free games periodically. It’s great for people who like cloud gaming like Geforce Now.

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    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I claim the free games and occasionally play a few through Heroic, but I have never and probably will never spend a dime there because everything there is a net negative:

      • no Linux support, even for games with Linux builds
      • same prices as pretty much everywhere else
      • no unique features, and lacks many features compared to Steam

      Pretty much the only reasons imo to use it are Fortnite and free games, and I don’t need an account to claim and play free games. So since I don’t play Fortnite and have forbidden my kids to play it, EGS has nothing to offer for me.

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