• mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
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    2 years ago

    Steam’s de-facto monopoly is so strong, Epic can’t break it. Epic made four billion dollars per year on one game. Epic licenses the engine for like half of all noteworthy games. Epic has the only platform not seizing one-third of all revenue from developers, and that platform throws free shit at customers in constant desperation. And they still can’t move the needle.

    Monopoly doesn’t mean there’s zero competition. It means the competition does not matter.

    PC gamers have alternatives to Steam the way that Android users have alternatives to Google Play. Yes, there are dozens. And that’s how many users each one has.

    • conciselyverbose@kbin.social
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      2 years ago

      Epic can’t make a dent because their product is dogshit.

      Customers don’t care that Valve takes a well earned cut (that only applies buying directly from Steam); they care that their games are on a platform that’s actually fucking useful. If Epic didn’t insult gamers shipping that piece of trash and had put work into actually providing a product that could possibly be considered acceptable, they might have been able to make a dent.

      You’re not going to take market share with shitty gimmicks if your actual product is a crime against humanity no one wants.

          • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
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            2 years ago

            The cut, genius. The cut you said is “well earned.” That is what’s horseshit, here.

            And on consoles.

            And on phones.

            • conciselyverbose@kbin.social
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              2 years ago

              And every one of them comes back because paying Steam 30% is by far the most profitable way to do business. They absolutely deserve every single penny of it.

              30% commission on an all margin product is not even sort of unusual or unfair.

              • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
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                2 years ago

                “It makes money so it can’t be wrong.”

                “It’s commonplace so it must be fine.”

                Y’all have no idea what criticism even looks like.

                • conciselyverbose@kbin.social
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                  2 years ago

                  The fact that using their services and paying them their cut is more profitable than not doing so absolutely, in and of itself, proves beyond discussion that their cut is fair.

                  Yes, sales should cost money. Moving units is a fucking massive value add. Valve deserves every penny they take and more. They’re the best thing that ever happened to PC gaming and nothing else is remotely close.

                  • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
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                    2 years ago

                    Beyond discussion! What a mind-job.

                    Continued use only proves this is a way to make money. Probably the best available way. But to suggest that, so long as people are doing it, there cannot possibly be problems, is obvious crap.

                    Especially when you add “and more.” Oh: so this isn’t the exact right amount, as decreed by mighty god himself? We can talk about the middleman’s cut, so long as the rent goes up?