The other capitalists have such a problem with Gabe treating customers with respect. “How do you not enshittify like the rest of us! Make Steam gradually worse!”
While i would always like competition in a marketplace. Epic’s arguments are weak. From my understanding the only time a Dev can’t sell their game for less on another store is when they are using a steam key to redeem the game.
This means selling on epic or gog this policy doesn’t apply. It does apply on humble bundle but only when the Dev is giving out steam keys. Also Gabe is correct you can choose plenty of stores for the PC platform.
The fact steam let’s you add a non steam game to your library shows they are supportive of that when it comes to their customers. The fact that the other markets are not as good like the epic store. Just shows the point that the only reason they can’t compete fairly is due to them having public shareholders they can’t make a customer focused product and appease the shareholders at the same time. They just fallback on that chestnut of if you can’t compete litigate.
Also I would like to dispell some myths about steam
Myth 1 : Steam is always DRM
False publishers can choose to DRM there game when hosted on steam. Try it after you install Grim Fandango as an example then close out steam and run the exe directly It will work.
So at the end of the day its the publishers are at fault if the game is DRMed or not and the DRM is a hold over from valve convincing publishers to to sell on steam. Kind of like apple did at the start of Itunes. But I do they should use their market share like apple to make it DRM free.
From my understanding the only time a Dev can’t sell their game for less on another store is when they are using a steam key to redeem the game.
Hey there. Actually, this isn’t true. This is the case regardless of whether a Steam key is involved. Games on Steam need to be the same price (or lower) as other stores. I’ve found this out a little while ago and compiled my findings in this thread (plus some helpful comments, including from developers confirming this).
Essentially, Valve does NOT allow the savings of putting your game up on a store with a lower fees to go towards the customers. They however don’t care if the developer or publisher pockets the difference… Something about “not putting Steam customers at a disadvantage”.
I ask you to please not repeat this misinformation, as I have in the past.
As someone who was using Steam 15 years ago, reading comments like this feels like entering the twilight zone.
Does no one remember Steam selling broken games you couldn’t return? Removing games from your library arbitrarily or any of the other shady shit they pulled before the EU and Australia rolled out regulations to stop them? The only reason Steam treats customers with a modicum of respect is that it is legally required to do so.
For a multi-billion dollar company with a somewhat-dominant market position, I’d say they’re pretty fucking good. They’re to PC gaming what Netflix did to broadcast TV, without the enshitification. Steam made games available globally, when it was a hard and expensive task to get the bloody originals on CD/DVD in many countries, which forced most people into piracy because it was the only way. Because of Steam I stopped pirating games, too. I say it’s fine.
My Steam profile is 22 years old and I’ve been gaming on PC since the early 80s.
I don’t remember. I have been using Steam for more than 10 years and I have 90 games in my library. I honestly don’t remember any bad experiences. I buy games, I play them, when I don’t like one I request a refund. I always got my money back.
The other capitalists have such a problem with Gabe treating customers with respect. “How do you not enshittify like the rest of us! Make Steam gradually worse!”
Gabe: “No”
While i would always like competition in a marketplace. Epic’s arguments are weak. From my understanding the only time a Dev can’t sell their game for less on another store is when they are using a steam key to redeem the game.
This means selling on epic or gog this policy doesn’t apply. It does apply on humble bundle but only when the Dev is giving out steam keys. Also Gabe is correct you can choose plenty of stores for the PC platform.
The fact steam let’s you add a non steam game to your library shows they are supportive of that when it comes to their customers. The fact that the other markets are not as good like the epic store. Just shows the point that the only reason they can’t compete fairly is due to them having public shareholders they can’t make a customer focused product and appease the shareholders at the same time. They just fallback on that chestnut of if you can’t compete litigate.
Also I would like to dispell some myths about steam
Myth 1 : Steam is always DRM False publishers can choose to DRM there game when hosted on steam. Try it after you install Grim Fandango as an example then close out steam and run the exe directly It will work.
So at the end of the day its the publishers are at fault if the game is DRMed or not and the DRM is a hold over from valve convincing publishers to to sell on steam. Kind of like apple did at the start of Itunes. But I do they should use their market share like apple to make it DRM free.
Hey there. Actually, this isn’t true. This is the case regardless of whether a Steam key is involved. Games on Steam need to be the same price (or lower) as other stores. I’ve found this out a little while ago and compiled my findings in this thread (plus some helpful comments, including from developers confirming this).
Essentially, Valve does NOT allow the savings of putting your game up on a store with a lower fees to go towards the customers. They however don’t care if the developer or publisher pockets the difference… Something about “not putting Steam customers at a disadvantage”.
I ask you to please not repeat this misinformation, as I have in the past.
Thank you for posting and compiling this.
As someone who was using Steam 15 years ago, reading comments like this feels like entering the twilight zone.
Does no one remember Steam selling broken games you couldn’t return? Removing games from your library arbitrarily or any of the other shady shit they pulled before the EU and Australia rolled out regulations to stop them? The only reason Steam treats customers with a modicum of respect is that it is legally required to do so.
For a multi-billion dollar company with a somewhat-dominant market position, I’d say they’re pretty fucking good. They’re to PC gaming what Netflix did to broadcast TV, without the enshitification. Steam made games available globally, when it was a hard and expensive task to get the bloody originals on CD/DVD in many countries, which forced most people into piracy because it was the only way. Because of Steam I stopped pirating games, too. I say it’s fine.
My Steam profile is 22 years old and I’ve been gaming on PC since the early 80s.
I don’t remember. I have been using Steam for more than 10 years and I have 90 games in my library. I honestly don’t remember any bad experiences. I buy games, I play them, when I don’t like one I request a refund. I always got my money back.
10 years is riiiiight around when the regulations came out and you could return games.