653
Steam keeps on winning (www.pcgamer.com)
submitted 2 years ago by Carighan@lemmy.world to c/games@lemmy.world

From the opinion piece:

Last year, I pointed out how many big publishers came crawlin' back to Steam after trying their own things: EA, Activision, Microsoft. This year, for the first time ever, two Blizzard games released on Steam: Overwatch and Diablo 4.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] echo64@lemmy.world 298 points 2 years ago

I know everyone loves Valve, but it feels super weird to be celebrating a monopoly so much and so ferociously. (I know Steam isn't a technical monopoly. We don't need to have that discussion)

Gaben is old, and he's gonna retire. It'll likely be a lot sooner than anyone here is comfortable with. When Valve gets sold, or even when gaben isn't in total control anymore, things are going to start changing, and there isn't going to be a healthy, diverse marketplace to soften that.

There is a very good chance that the PC platform will be a really horrible place because of the lack of consumer choice in which they can purchase and play games.

[-] SnotFlickerman 143 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

This genuinely doesn't get talked about enough. Steam is a private company and Gabe Newell seems to be the de facto "head" of the company, despite its famously "flat" management structure. There is no guarantee a new leader will have the same values or lead the same way. There is ripe opportunity for Steam to become a steaming pile of shit. I don't know about the exact ownership structure beyond Newell, but unless the employees are far more empowered through things like ownership stake in the company, new leadership could effectively destroy how things currently work at Valve to be replaced by any number of terrible business decisions.

Gabe is old as hell. It's coming.

[-] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 113 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Dude, he's 61. You guys are making it sound like he's as old as a presidential candidate..

[-] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 13 points 2 years ago

You don't need to be old to die tomorrow.

[-] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

True, but that's unrelated to people pretending that he's older than dirt 🤷

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] Vex_Detrause@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 years ago

Long live the King!

[-] stealth_cookies@lemmy.ca 25 points 2 years ago

Hopefully they have some sort of transition plan for who will take over when Gabe retires. As long as they hand the reigns over to someone with similar ideas and not some business type they could be fine given they are privately owned.

[-] cottonmon@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

Has there been any news at all on who the potential successors are?

[-] nihth@programming.dev 11 points 2 years ago

Read somewhere that his son who has a similar philosophy was going to take over

[-] cottonmon@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago

First time hearing about this. Hope it works out.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Magrath@lemmy.ca 17 points 2 years ago

Gabe is only 61. But based on his size he will probably go from health issues from that sooner than old age will get a skinnier Gabs.

[-] GreenEnigma@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

That’s because at a certain point things like this should just become services.

But that’s wildly against capitalists mindset so…

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] SomethingBurger@jlai.lu 75 points 2 years ago

It's not Steam's fault if their competitors can't make a good product. Steam is still the only one with Linux support.

[-] TheHobbyist@lemmy.zip 29 points 2 years ago

There is nothing exclusive to steam with respect to Linux support. All of the things required for games to run on Linux which valve support are fully open source and even existed before valve got involved. They just threw money at the efforts and turbo charged it (which is great).

[-] woelkchen@lemmy.world 46 points 2 years ago

All of the things required for games to run on Linux which valve support are fully open source and even existed before valve got involved.

Yes, which makes it even more puzzling that the competitors don't even try to capitalize on the success of Steam Deck and publish their own store on Flathub, utilizing the very same FOSS technologies to make the games run.

load more comments (15 replies)
[-] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 14 points 2 years ago

"This product is worthless because it doesn't cater to... Let me check my notes... Under 2% of the market and even less if we don't count the Steam Deck!"

Ok buddy

[-] cottonmon@lemmy.world 21 points 2 years ago

I really don't understand this argument. Aren't you basically pointing out that Steam is better because they cater to a demographic that most companies won't consider because of the small market size?

[-] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 years ago

No, I'm pointing out that it's perfectly normal that other companies don't see the point of spending money on it. Steam has 70% of the PC market which is 96% of the market and you think it's a good idea to put energy into trying to capture some shares of less than 2% of the market where they have basically a 100% hold.

Don't start a business.

[-] cottonmon@lemmy.world 11 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I understand that it's normal, but the argument still doesn't make sense for the purposes of this discussion. For people who do use Linux, it is worthless since they can't use it. I also can't blame Linux users for not liking a company that has been hostile to them (i.e. removing Linux support from a game that had it.) You're just reinforcing that Steam is a better option for them.

[-] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 years ago

The problem is that the complaints aren't "It might be a good product, I can't try it because they don't support my OS of choice and that's understandable considering the small user base" which is perfectly reasonable, the complaints are "Epic sucks because they don't support Linux and [insert a bunch of stuff that hasn't been true for years or that also applies to Valve as a company]" which isn't reasonable.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Confused_Emus@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

You have a comforting and appealing way of getting your point across that totally leaves the listener/reader readily open to considering your opinion. Keep doing that.

[-] Vilian@lemmy.ca 13 points 2 years ago

that the difference, instead of getting their ass fucked for what ever stupid decision microsoft do, they created their own market, that btw already run faster than the microsoft's one while windows is getting worse day by day, linux is getting better, an they are doing it in the most pro-user way

Under 2% of the market

more than macOS lol

[-] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

"Already runs faster than the Microsoft one"

Yeah so that article you're referencing doesn't have any credibility when you actually understand how sampling works.

One computer setup, ignoring the games that don't work at all, Windows offering marginally lower performance at peak but much higher fps stability... Let's present it as a major win for Linux!

Do you know what my stats teacher would have told me if I had presented a study based on a sample of one? They would have told me "See you in this same class next year, you clearly didn't understand anything I taught you so we'll try again."

[-] PopOfAfrica@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago

Bruh, the Steam Deck is Linux.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)
[-] rambaroo@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Lol it is literally steam's fault and they intended to be this way from the very beginning. They intentionally cornered the market with HL2. It's incredible how people act like this just accidentally happened because valve made a supposedly good product.

[-] SomethingBurger@jlai.lu 11 points 2 years ago

Epic is worth 5 times as much as Valve and EGS is still fucking garbage years after it launched. If anything, Valve is the underdog here, yet Steam is objectively better than every other store. It's not their fault if competing products are trash. Valve is not responsible for UbiSoft being incapable of making software that works as advertised, of for Epic refusing to support Linux.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] jol@discuss.tchncs.de 62 points 2 years ago

In an ideal world, if Gaben was a real saint, he would turn Steam into a foundation or steward-owned purpose organization before he retires, that can't be sold.

[-] toroknos_07@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 years ago

Thank for the interesting read

load more comments (2 replies)

It's absolutely weird and unhealthy to celebrate it.

Gaben is old, and he's gonna retire. It'll likely be a lot sooner than anyone here is comfortable with. When Valve gets sold, or even when gaben isn't in total control anymore, things are going to start changing, and there isn't going to be a healthy, diverse marketplace to soften that.

This is it. Look at history and every major company in the past 200 years. Once the shift happens, it all goes to hell. And yet people are still shouting about some "Steam Victory" like wtf?

[-] tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip 14 points 2 years ago

Nothing lasts forever, but occasionally things can hang on for awhile. Nintendo isn't quite the beloved company they were a few decades ago, but they've been doing ok for the past ~130 years.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] fsxylo@sh.itjust.works 28 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Steams biggest competition isn't another launcher, it's piracy. Gabe is wise enough to know that, if the next guy to take over is a chode they'll learn the hard way.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 17 points 2 years ago

I know Steam isn't a technical monopoly. We don't need to have that discussion

Yet you still refer to it as such. 🤦‍♂️

[-] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 16 points 2 years ago

It is technically a monopoly, you don't need 100% market share to be considered one otherwise Google wouldn't be considered a monopoly but it is.

[-] Rose@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

In the Epic trial, Google made some of the same arguments as those used to defend Steam, like the presence of competing stores or the claim that it wins people over by the quality of the product.

Epic's expert made these relevant points:

Google impairs competition without preventing it entirely

Google’s conduct targets competition as it emerges

Google is dominant

And we know who won in the antitrust case. Let's see what happens in Wolfire et al v. Valve.

[-] woelkchen@lemmy.world 12 points 2 years ago

I know Steam isn’t a technical monopoly. We don’t need to have that discussion

That's one way to swat away all criticism about the premise of your comment....

When Valve gets sold, or even when gaben isn’t in total control anymore, things are going to start changing, and there isn’t going to be a healthy, diverse marketplace to soften that.

Considering the fact that Steam is not a monopoly and alternate storefronts continue to exist (Microsoft will not stop selling games individually on their own store even if it's just an afterthought to GamePass but it's the same platform as GamePass), there will be alternatives to Steam if Valve turns anti-consumer. There is little actual loyalty among gamers. Just look at Blizzard: At one point their customer base was almost as die hard as Nintendo's and it took only a couple of years to throw that away. (I noticed it when the audience actually booed at the Diablo Immortal reveal.)

[-] flumph@programming.dev 12 points 2 years ago

There is a very good chance that the PC platform will be a really horrible place because of the lack of consumer choice in which they can purchase and play games.

I agree with the sentiment that Steam will eventually have a shitification, but I remain optimistic because the PC platform is more open than mobile platforms.

GOG and Humble are existing, smaller stores. Microsoft had three stores they use to sell and install games. Half of the FAANG companies would love to get in on this space if an opportunity showed itself. If we get past high interest rates, I can see VCs getting in on this space.

It won't be pretty and we can support smaller options now. But I don't think it'll be horrible.

[-] thesorehead@lemmy.world 12 points 2 years ago

I agree with all your points... but... IMHO some things keeping Steam honest are services like GoG and if course the High Seas, but more than that there's the plethora of other entertainment options.

This isn't housing, air, or water. A person can just not play if it's too much hassle or too costly. If Steam or any given entertainment option isn't worth using, people just won't. There's no shortage of things to do other than play games, much less use Steam for gaming.

I agree that we shouldn't imagine Steam will never change, nor should we blindly worship or glorify Valve/GabeN. I just think that games and entertainment generally is an arena where market forces actually work to benefit the consumer.

Of course employment practices and company culture is a whole 'nother thing...

[-] beefsack@lemmy.world 12 points 2 years ago

One day, Valve will be under different ownership, and we will regret the time we fought for their monopoly.

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] DingoBilly@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago

Yep.

People fanboy over Steam endlessly without realizing that with time, it will turn to shit as well.

More competition is good, and maybe Epic is shit today but if their leadership changes then maybe it could actually significantly improve and surpass Steam.

But if it doesn't exist, then if Steam turns to shit then you're much more likely to just be stuck with shit.

[-] Crow@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

I’m not celebrating a monopoly, I’m celebrating a good platform for consumers. Steam likely knows that if it angers people its monopoly is ripe for a ton of regulation, at least in the European market where PC gaming is huge.

[-] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 years ago

They've been hit with an anti trust lawsuit in Europe, lost and didn't cooperate and instead paid some more.

They offer refunds because they got sued for it.

They've introduced more and more ways to monetize whales and to trigger people's dopamine secretion to get them to buy more games.

Valve is still a company that aims to make profits, it's not your friend.

[-] chitak166@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I've been weaning myself off of Steam for years now.

I only use it at this point for games I've already bought and games that are exclusive to Steam, like TF2.

Anything else I just download for free.

[-] cyberpunk007@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

So many viruses.

load more comments (5 replies)
this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2023
653 points (100.0% liked)

Games

41231 readers
834 users here now

Welcome to the largest gaming community on Lemmy! Discussion for all kinds of games. Video games, tabletop games, card games etc.

Rules

1. Submissions have to be related to games

Video games, tabletop, or otherwise. Posts not related to games will be deleted.

This community is focused on games, of all kinds. Any news item or discussion should be related to gaming in some way.

2. No bigotry or harassment, be civil

No bigotry, hardline stance. Try not to get too heated when entering into a discussion or debate.

We are here to talk and discuss about one of our passions, not fight or be exposed to hate. Posts or responses that are hateful will be deleted to keep the atmosphere good. If repeatedly violated, not only will the comment be deleted but a ban will be handed out as well. We judge each case individually.

3. No excessive self-promotion

Try to keep it to 10% self-promotion / 90% other stuff in your post history.

This is to prevent people from posting for the sole purpose of promoting their own website or social media account.

4. Stay on-topic; no memes, funny videos, giveaways, reposts, or low-effort posts

This community is mostly for discussion and news. Remember to search for the thing you're submitting before posting to see if it's already been posted.

We want to keep the quality of posts high. Therefore, memes, funny videos, low-effort posts and reposts are not allowed. We prohibit giveaways because we cannot be sure that the person holding the giveaway will actually do what they promise.

5. Mark Spoilers and NSFW

Make sure to mark your stuff or it may be removed.

No one wants to be spoiled. Therefore, always mark spoilers. Similarly mark NSFW, in case anyone is browsing in a public space or at work.

6. No linking to piracy

Don't share it here, there are other places to find it. Discussion of piracy is fine.

We don't want us moderators or the admins of lemmy.world to get in trouble for linking to piracy. Therefore, any link to piracy will be removed. Discussion of it is of course allowed.

Authorized Regular Threads

Related communities

PM a mod to add your own

Video games

Generic

Help and suggestions

By platform

By type

By games

Language specific

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS