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this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2026
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Steam works because Valve is a private corporation with a leadership who actually like video games.
Which is why they're a part of Video Games Europe the group against Stop Killing Games?
Or why Steam has been selling slop even before AI?
Not my point. They aren’t saints, but Steam is still a far better steward for a digital storefront than most.
By doing the same as every other company?
Valve doesn’t try and lock in exclusives on their platform like the Epic Store or delete your account with games on it like Origin did. Steam provides plenty of notices about invasive DRM and anti-cheat that other stores don’t. Steam also has an easy refund process that doesn’t require you to call an agent. Valve does a lot to support gaming on Linux while all of the other platforms are almost exclusively Windows only.
Valve grew Steam's market share by locking in exclusives.
There were multiple digital distribution platforms in the early days, IGN even had one.
Then Valve forced exclusivity to starve out the competition.
Steam has its Most-Favored-Nation clause to prevent publishers selling games for cheaper on other platforms.
Valve fought against refunds for years until the EU told them to wise up.
Valve only started supporting Linux when needed to sell consoles. They just like most other companies saw Linux gaming as an extreme niche.