That’s an oddly easy question to answer. Are you serious? People are dumb. They use whatever is popular for no other reason than that it’s popular. Steam is one of the best examples of that fact ever.

Apple’s activities should be regulated just like Steam’s for the good of the whole industry. This won’t happen because no one cares about the gaming industry, least of all gamers.

None of that is worth a 30% premium on games, which stymies creative development and industry growth.

Face it, Steam is a distribution center whose popularity entitles it to extract enormous rents that pose a significant burden on the industry. Greater decentralization will lead to growth. Always has.

I had a Steam controller for a long time. Worst piece of gaming hardware I’ve ever owned — but that’s not the point. Even if it were the best controller it wouldn’t justify a 30% tax on games.

From your very first sentence you make my point. Steam is nothing but access to the customers who use it. That’s it. A digital distributor with a clunky website. It’s useful because it’s popular, NOT because it actually does anything special. If everyone stopped using Steam tomorrow, literally nothing of value would be lost. The same can’t be said for any innovative company on this planet.

Nobody but children uses those “features.” Honestly wtf are you even talking about? Steam messenger, that broken piece of shit?

The incredibly generic feature you just described isn’t worth a 30% markup on all games. But I can see you’re here to provide evidence for the computer illiteracy of gamers, who are apparently so impressed with file sharing that they will defend fucking Steam.

Unless you count… file hosting? Name anything else that could POSSIBLY justify a 30% markup on all games. Go ahead.

Why do I consider it bad that some middlemen have parked themselves between gamers and developers to leech out all the profits while providing nothing in return?

Even ten times your imaginary ”value add” wouldn’t justify a 30% markup.

Yes, and since Valve drives up the cost of video games while contributing nothing, they’re certainly doing their part to stymie the industry.

Valve is basically a file hosting service. I will never understand the computer illiterate gamers who worship that website. Omg it lets me download my games many times! Amazing. Go sell something on the Steam Marketplace. Fucking idiot.

Not to mention that an obsession with increasing share price is massively distracting and self-defeating.