What makes it not a monopoly is that it isnt. It has competitors, it does nothing to block competition. It is not responsible for its competition not being as good as it is.
Kedly
joined 1 year ago
Yes, and their cut for letting you use the largest storefront out there that THEY BUILT AND GOT THERE, is 30%. If you are earning more money paying that 30% and being on their storefront than you would by rejecting that cut and listing somewhere else, than that is full proof that Steam is earning that cut.
Also, internet explorer came bundled with Windows and THATS why it was deemed a monopoly. You have to specifically choose to download Steam, it gets no starter advantage over the competition.
Steam is the most popular storefront because its the BEST storefront, there is no ulterior motivation putting it at the top, its just that all of its competition barring Itch and GoG are garbage. Steam is still better than the non garbage competition though and why it can get away with its incredibly minor option for built in DRM and its 30% cut. They use their cut to make an amazing storefront, and the developers who choose to pay that cut benefit from the customers that having the worlds best PC marketplace brings.
Once again, they profit by accepting Steams cut, proving that Steam earns and deserves it. There Itch.io, GoG, Epic, or they can go Minecrafts route and sell their game on their own site. Steam does nothing to hamper competition. Steams cut is entirely optional, a dev doesnt HAVE to put their game up on Steams marketplace. Steam is earning that cut by being a marketplace that brings devs more sales
If games company's could make more money by not releasing on Steam, they would. The fact that they accept the 30% cut means that Steam is in fact leading to more sales for those developers and thus earns its cut. No one HAS to sell their product on Steam, PC's are a completely open marketplace
I just want to comment that your comment covered all my bases so well I didn't need to respond to OP myself
If people dont like the cut they can use another shop front or make their own. PC gaming isnt locked down to any specific store front
Sure Windows gives you warning, but after a while it FORCES you to install, even if for whatever reason that new branch bricks your computer. I had a good 6 months of that where every time my computer got shut off, it would force the update and fail like 40 times before it finally let me revert and use my computer. There was no way to tell it to STOP UPDATING
This is the exact reason I'm finally done with Windows. Customization and troubleshooting have become a nightmare since they started gi try and become more like Apple
GPD sells a PSP Go shaped computer, which, if the Steam Deck didnt exist, was probably going to be the computer I would have ended up owning, but Valve's version of Linux and its control mapping is PHENOMENAL, so I dont know how it'd compare in that sense
Edit: According to this video the GPD Win 4 works pretty amazingly with Steams OS, so it seems like a valid option
Just get a Steam Deck and be able to play Computer games too!
I think some of us (At least TWO! [=P] ) were pretty much already ready to, and this was just the straw that broke the camels back
Banning lab grown meat is JUST as stupid