Steam is on a path to become a monopoly. Is that a good thing for the gamer?Support my work: https://www.patreon.com/thehatedone If it's not on Steam, it mig...
  • TommySoda@lemmy.worldEnglish
    711·
    2 months ago

    It’s not that I trust Valve. It’s that I distrust them the least when compared to the other giant companies out there. And I already have 90% of my games on Steam.

    • TheTechnician27@lemmy.worldEnglish
      412·
      2 months ago

      I trust GOG the most, but Steam is solidly second-most. Guaranteed that if Epic had their way, the PC gaming landscape would be just as trash as the console one, if not moreso.

      Valve could definitely go off the deep end after Gabe is gone, and that’s why good third-party competition is still healthy. But for right now, they’re one of the few large companies I’ve seen that aren’t on the enshittification warpath.

      • neidu2@feddit.nlEnglish
        26·
        2 months ago

        I too prefer GOG, but the fact that they still haven’t made a native linux port of GOG Galaxy causes me to mostly use Steam. I usually use GOG for indie stuff and thingsI want without it being tied to a launcher or DRM.

        Oh, and I recently bought Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 there, as I felt it was about time I gave Chris Sawyer some money for all the fun the pirated version I downloaded 25 years ago have provided.

        • ms.lane@lemmy.worldEnglish
          14·
          2 months ago

          Also quite a few games have worse or non-updated versions on GoG (this isn’t GoG/CDPRojeckt’s fault, but it’s still a pain factor)

          Similarly, sometimes the Linux or MacOS ports for a game don’t make it to GoG while the Windows version does.

        • Kayn@dormi.zoneEnglish
          3·
          2 months ago

          Have you tried the Heroic Games Launcher? It’s currently the most advanced launcher for GOG games on Linux, even implementing support for some of GOG Galaxy’s online services. Additionally it’s officially affiliated with GOG, so you can “donate” to the project by purchasing games through the client.

          • neidu2@feddit.nlEnglish
            2·
            2 months ago

            I have not. In fact, I’d never even heard of it until you mentioned it.
            But I sure as hell will give it a go now that I am aware of its existence. Thanks for the tip!

      • jqubed@lemmy.worldEnglish
        181·
        2 months ago

        Yeah, I feel like I trust Steam as long as Gabe is calling the shots at Valve. I’m sure it helps that they’re a private company. Hopefully whoever takes over after him will have learned the lesson that you can make a nearly unimaginable amount of money in this industry without putting the screws to the consumer. If they were public or let the business “experts” in I’m sure there would be all sorts of moves to extract more money from customers that would end my trust, but I feel like overall I have a couple of decades of experience at this point that Valve isn’t actively trying to hurt me.

      • HeyJoe@lemmy.worldEnglish
        42·
        2 months ago

        Oh crap… you bring up a good point. How long do we think Gave has left? There is absolutely no way Steam won’t get worse after that happens. Enjoy it while it lasts, I guess.

    • stardust@lemmy.caEnglish
      171·
      2 months ago

      It’s also that they put out a product I actually find value from like Linux support, Steam Input, forums, workshop, etc. I enjoy using Steam because I find it to be a good experience.

      It’s like reasons people prefer Android or Apple even if they share the same apps. Really can’t discount the experience simple things like navigation and social features do to add value. Those who dismiss it as unimportant probably share the same views as some MBA who only looks at the numbers and think they can just enter and corner a market through brute force spending.