[Firaxus]

Yes, though fwiw steam provides (in my opinion) more benefits to gamers and games than the apple appstore does to generic apps trying to do all manner of things.

And additionally steam isn’t a walled garden, there is actual choice, and steam goes out of its way to be usable on multiple platforms. Very different situation to the locked down apple ios ecosystem.

[bluefirebrand]

Valve even allows you to install GoG launcher and games on your Steam Deck

They could probably lock this hardware down to only allow steam games, but they don't

[BunsanSpace]

Agreed.

Steam is also a monopoly but it doesn't abuse it's monopoly. E.g. impose terms like games can't release on other stores for a lower price &c.

Nothing stopping a competitor from coming in with a superior game store.

[bluefirebrand]

Steam is the clear winner but they aren't a monopoly...

https://www.gog.com/en/ https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/

[fourside]

I’m worried that this outcome will be applied too broadly and affect Steam. Sure Steam is not perfect, but its dominance is in large part to them offering a superior product. Admittedly I’m not a game developer so the 30% cut doesn’t affect me directly, but I think it’s fair to say that Valve’s success has been a net positive to PC game devs.

Valve remains as one of the rare early tech company successes that has not suffered from enshitification the way so many others have. A key to that is that they have found a way to make a ton of money, and their leadership is happy to be very rich without continuing to expand and grow at all costs. If that business model is threatened, I’m not convinced that gamers and game devs would necessarily be better off.