- Provide a good service
- Don’t fuck with it
- Count your money
Steam is a true “disrupter,” because they do business the way people did for centuries before higher short-term profits became the only goal.
The reason they can “sit back” and count their money is because they’re a private company. As soon as there’s rumblings of going public, then buy a sextant for navigating.
The day that happens we’re all fucked
Eh, GOG is pretty decent, I’d just go there.
I try to buy a few games from them every now and then, but since I’m primarily on Linux, Valve gets most of my money because they make things so convenient.
I find it hilarious that despite competition from a dozen game studios and publishers, steam essentially destroyed all of them by doing basically nothing and merely maintaining their service.
Ditto, and then you see people claiming they’re a monopoly despite not doing anything monopolistic, supporting other launchers in steam, and allowing keys purchased through other stores to activate on steam.
Meanwhile epic is throwing around exclusivity deals, but that’s fine because they’re too incompetent a storefront to make an actual impact I guess?
Steam’s business model is convenience first. If someone wants to do something don’t get in their way. That’s how they can be a monopoly and no one complains, because there’s very few walls or barriers. Every time there have been barriers, steam not accepting games, NSFW games, crypto, AI, they either get out of their way, or take a reasonable philosophical/ethical stance. Even if you disagree with their stance its hard to be angry about it and often their stance changes or gains nuance to it as time goes on.
I’m with you for the most part, but they aren’t a monopoly. The definition changes depending on who you ask, I’m going by the overwhelming market share + providing barriers to entry to competitors. They do debatably meet the market share, but I’d argue not the practices that bar the existence of competitors.
I feel like they’ve been very careful to not meet that second criteria and it’s been healthy to the games market as a whole. GoG has a different niche, humble bundle sells wholesale discounts, and every company has their own store, for better or worse.
Meanwhile epic gets on my nerves because it’s been throwing around exclusivity deals to their platform and throwing around free games, which are both tactics to try to undermine the others in the market. If they had the kind of userbase steam has, yes I’d say that would be a monopoly.
I mostly agree, it’s more a matter of exposure and, as you say market share. It’s a weird situation to be in, that in order to really get the most sales on PC you need to be on steam.
I don’t even view Steam as being particularly innovative. They just don’t suck. It does what it’s supposed to do.
That’s the thing. You can launch Steam and have it just get the hell out of your way, and go enjoy your games. You don’t really have to interact with any of the features on a regular basis. For many players, that’s perfect.
But it’s actually been incredibly innovative. Proton has made Linux gaming a reality when it previously seemed impossible. Remote Play Together is basically wizardry. Steam Input is fucking brilliant and lightyears beyond other control customizations. These things are available to every Steam user gratis if you want them.
(fixed minor typos)
Family sharing is also very great
Seriously, even better with the beta where my partner can now play games in my library even if I’m playing something
Can you play the same game at the same time?
That’s basically the one thing you can’t do right now unless you add another copy to the family iirc, which is fair enough imo
Yeah, it makes sense
Yeah this is my understanding, which I mean fair, anything my partner and I play for coop we’re both buying anyhow, or we gift one another a copy if we like it independently.
Steam streaming is pretty cool too, I use it very often.
I like the controller support and streamlining of Linux working compared to stuff like heroic launcher.
It’s not innovative anymore, but it sure was when it released. But they kept it near its peak instead of making it utter horse crap.
It’s not innovative anymore
What have you been smoking? That’s just plain wrong. See my other comment for examples.
It’s just that they don’t push their innovations down your throat.
Steam Deck had a bunch of cool tech launch both with it and soon after it launched, like Steam Input. If you don’t need it, you don’t have to know about it, but it’s there if you do. Likewise, AMD GPU drivers got way better due to Valve investment. Steam on Linux was super buggy some years ago, and it had growing pains with Wayland. That’s all working properly now.
And that’s exactly why I like Linux over other OSes. My software quietly gets better without me doing anything, whereas on Windows or macOS, there’s a big banner with stupid updates every time there’s a major release. Or maybe that’s because I’m on a rolling release distro, IDK.
But yeah, quiet, impactful improvements are the way to go. If things aren’t breaking, they’re doing their job.
Steam Deck had a bunch of cool tech launch both with it and soon after it launched, like Steam Input.
Steam Input actually started years ago with the Steam Controller 🙂 Valve has been quietly improving it for a long time now, and it’s only gotten better with the Deck. SI is the #1 most underrated thing in gaming I swear.
But yeah the Steam client has quietly and steadily improved on Linux, even in the past 6 months. I saw issues with storage sizes, graphical bugs, page loading errors… and nearly all of it fixed now. It’s in a good state.
Steam on Linux is still buggy as shit. Can’t even properly full screen it with multiple displays. Shits the bed.
Corporate tactic, very secret: Don’t self-destruct.
But if we don’t self-destruct, how do we create value for shareholders?
No shareholders if you aren’t publicly owned. Stakeholders, yeah probably, but no shareholders.
You can still have shareholders in a private company, those shares just aren’t traded publicly…
I would love to learn more about Valve’s actual numbers, but not enough to wish them going public and fucking up the one thing that continues to work as advertised in the world.
It was utter horse crap when it released. The military green Steam was among the worst pieces of software ever conceived. So they worked a lot to make it as good as it is today.
worst pieces of software ever conceived
Oh you sweet summer child. You’ve clearly never used Peoplesoft, or the shovelware packed with printer drivers, or browser add-ons from the Netscape days, or the horrible CD burner programs pre-installed on PCs in the 90s…
Well… I did. And i can still say that first Steam app was a steaming pile of crap.
It wasn’t great but I remember distinctly - it worked well enough after a few weeks and I’ve literally never missed a day playing since. Compared to other game ‘services’ it stays out of the way, doesn’t eat memory and works. at the time, I worked for a software company that shipped physical box copies and tried to convince them that this was the future - nope. It was a fad or for games only. Sigh.
I don’t even view Steam as being particularly innovative. They just don’t suck
Sadly, that’s basically ‘innovation’ in this climate. Not being a shitty corpo is an innovation for a lot of MBAs that have more years in school than sense in their head.
Dear valve. Please never ever go public. We will happily keep giving you money while you keep yourself a private company
Better yet:
Dear Gabe Newell,
Please never die so you can continue running this company as you always have. You make my life as a Linux user much better, and I’ll keep paying you as long as that remains the case.
There may only be dozens of us, but we love your product. Never change.
My hope is that community-developed Proton forks reach a point where they can stand on their own without Steam and Valve, perhaps as a component of or a sibling to Lutris, to conveniently run games from other platforms too.
I’ll admit that I don’t have a clear idea of how that would look or come about. It’s hard to beat the convenience of having the compatibility tool built directly into the launcher like in Steam, with individual prefixes and settings for different games if they have different requirements.
Well, that exists and works well. Proton GE exists and works outside of Steam, and it’s quite easy to manage. A lot of these improvements make their way back to WINE as well, so that’s a thing.
But what really sets Steam apart, at least for me, is:
- selecting the right Proton version for a game
- Steam infrastructure like Steam Input, so games “Just Work” with controllers
Those are a bit harder to separate. That said, running EGS or GOG games through Heroic directly works fine most of the time, so we’re already there for desktop, kb+mouse use. So if Valve goes evil, we have options.
They’re the perfect example of why profitable companies should stay private. They make bonkers money, and if next quarter they make the same amount it’s fine, as opposed to a public company where they only have value if they increase.
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Would be good to see gog get more popular. Fuck drm
You’d be surprised how many steam games have no DRM other than steam itself. And how easy it is to put in a replacement (open-source) dll that acts as a steam emulator and runs the games without steam. I’d say… pretty much every non-AAA game on steam can have DRM removed this way. It’s such barebones DRM that I can’t really find reason to be angry at it.
Cool, but it’s still DRM, contrary to GoG where you just download the installer and pass a pendrive around.
There are games with no DRM at all on Steam as well, it’s up to the developer.
See also: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_big_list_of_DRM-free_games_on_Steam
But you do still need to install Steam to get the files at all. GOG lets you download installers from the website, and the desktop client is completely optional.
You can also use steamcmd or DepotDownloader. It’s not DRM just because no website download is available, once they are downloaded they are yours to keep.
True, but my point is that having to use third-party tools just to access games you bought without downloading a desktop client isn’t as consumer-friendly as the way GOG offers offline installers directly for every game.
my point is that having to use third-party tools just to access games you bought
In other words, contrarianism for the sake of contrarianism. You had to download that DRM-free installer somehow, yes? I’m betting you used a web browser to do that. I.e. a third-party tool used to access the games you bought.
Yup, but they need to support Linux better. I’m glad that Heroic exists and apparently they’re now taking a cut of GOG purchases made through their launcher, but there’s still a lot missing from what Galaxy does.
FYI games on Steam don’t actually have to use any DRM. e.g. Kerbal Space Program – you can download it, close the Steam client, copy it to another folder, unplug your network cable… then go launch the .EXE from its directory and play anyway.
True, and I’ve played GOG games that were misconfigured when using the downloaded installer but were fine when installed with their launcher. So its not as clear cut as it looks on the surface.
But I do wish steam promoted DRM Free games with a tag like they do gamepad support, family sharing, or steam workshop.
I like gog the site not the gog galaxy app. I always have to look too hard to start a game up.
@JulesTheModest Er…How do you mean? The Galaxy app has its issues, but I’ve not run into this one.
Biggest issue I ran into was years back trying to point it to my existing directory of GOG games from before Galaxy to get it to recognize them without reinstalling them, but eventually I just decided to reinstall whenever I felt like playing them again (and uninstall from old location).
Wow, internet where you live must be great
It’s decent enough to consider it, I’ll give you that.
Something worth adding, I think:
I mainly play smaller games (like ≤ 10 GB, often below 5 GB at that), with few bigger ones in the mix, which is why I even considered this method.
Also back when GOG Galaxy was being introduced, GOG had fewer big games, I think. If not then it’s that I lean towards smaller and older games in general.
I wish more games were small. Talos Principle 2 is 70 gigabytes, first one was more like 10. Bigger games is a problem for people in poorer areas.
I agree, and strive to remain cognizant of how both game size and digital only games serve to widen the digital divide.
Appreciate your reply compelling me to elaborate, as without I see where it can read like, “why not redownload several 50+ GB games” which unfortunately is increasingly people’s situation with games. 😟
No need to use the app at all. The games on there are drm free. Run the game any way you want. That said, I like gog galaxy cos it keeps all the games I own on every platform together, and I use the search function to find the game I want and hit play. Or just hit view all and browse.
Not all games on GOG are DRM free.
We don’t believe in controlling you and your games. Here, you won’t be locked out of titles you paid for, or constantly asked to prove you own them - this is DRM-free gaming.
You’ll need to show some proof for that claim.
Do you have an example? Drm free is one of their selling points.
I used GOG much more when they were the only ones in town releasing old games, especially DOS games, that actually ran on modern systems. Steam has a lot of what I wasn’t able to get anywhere but GOG now; many are even updated graphically or on new engines because certain old games are in vogue now. This isn’t Steam or GOG’s fault though… If anyone can be blamed, I’d blame Nightdive for making kick-ass source ports and not having them available on GOG.
It’s true that most (not all) old games on GOG now are also on Steam, but I do still find the GOG versions are often better configured, sometimes with custom or community patches preinstalled that Steam doesn’t include.
Some of things I hate like extra launchers and DRM are still kind of good that Valve even gives people who publish there to have the flexibility to do whatever they want. Same goes for publishing of “crap” games. With Valve being the dominant one in the PC space being super draconian would be a bad thing, since just as they could go the good route for consumers they could go the bad route too. So the kind of "hands off " approach is a good one even if it doesn’t always work out for us.
Nothing I appreciate more than checking out the reviews and seeing “don’t let it go unnoticed that this is an Ubisoft title, and therefore uses their launcher and drm” saved me regretful purchases (before the 2 week/2 hour return window) many times.
Yep and Valve themselves display clear warnings on the store page for 3rd party account requirements, DRM and additional launchers.
With Valve being the dominant one in the PC space
This is a common misconception. Revenue on Steam is around 8.6 Billion out of 45 Billion. The actual heavy hitters (Minecraft, Roblox, Fortnite) aren’t even on Steam.
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/video-game-industry-revenues-by-platform/
Ah yes I often use the Minecraft launcher to buy the latest AAA titles
Apples and oranges
Okay, but if you aren’t making a single multi-billion dollar game that doesn’t need a storefront because it functionally is one, then Steam is by far the biggest and most dominant player out there.
it is a dominant one if it’s by number of game developers.
Nice graph tho.
Still I will not buy all my games on Steam. You never know what next person will be in charge and will turn steam into garbage. Don’t want to have all my games locked into one plattform.
Really wish Valve or at least Steam became a steward owned company to save it from future owners ruining it.
Would be cool.
But honestly, since I’m a Linux user and Valve has invested in Linux gaming, I’ll stick with them for now. If they violate my trust, I’ll move to GOG or something. In fact, now that Heroic gets a cut from GOG sales, I’m buying some of my games there, just to indicate to GOG that there’s interest.
If a competitor comes along, I’ll use them. But for now, Steam is the best option for me, so I’m rewarding them.
I tend to buy on both Steam and GoG. That way I can have my preferred client but also have downloadable full copies of games.
I always check GOG first when I want to buy a game
It’d be impossible to create a competitor in this day in age, because what made Steam win out is that it was the first and that it hasn’t acted like a greedy dick trying (too much) to monetize their platform dominance. Arguably, GOG is a better platform because it is much more against DRM, but when you get right down to it, gamers don’t really care enough about those issues to put a dent in it even if the loudest voices do, so I doubt Steam’s success has much to do with being a ‘democratic platform’.
You’re ignoring a ton of stuff Valve has done. Look at what they’ve done for Linux gaming at a bare minimum.
If all you’re doing is buying games for Windows, Steam doesn’t offer much more than GOG. But if you’re playing those games, well, that’s a different story.
Not to mention that Steam lets you use keys bought from other platforms.
Valve tried to Android their gaming platform under SteamOS, yes. They really didn’t do it for Linux. Rather, they know Linux distros can’t really complete with their specialized house advantage for gaming, in the general consumer sense.
Kind of ironic that they chose a thumbnail image of a character from a game suffering a slow decline and death due to being abandoned by the studio, with item server outtages and waves of bots and hackers that the community have created their own methods to deal with.
Other than that, I completely unironically agree!
