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The Steam Deck is software-freedom friendly

(isomorphism.xyz)
305 points todsacerdoti | 1 comments | 03 Apr 25 11:12 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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whytevuhuni ◴[03 Apr 25 12:52 UTC] No.43568876[source]▶
They’re not saints, especially with the games distribution platform monopoly they’re sitting on top of, but...

I really think Valve have become the de-facto owners of the “don’t be evil” motto nowadays, even if they don’t advertise themselves as such.

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ziddoap ◴[03 Apr 25 12:58 UTC] No.43568949[source]▶
How do you qualify them as a monopoly?

I have 3 different non-Steam game stores and another 3 or 4 non-Steam game-specific launchers on my PC.

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FirmwareBurner ◴[03 Apr 25 13:00 UTC] No.43568974[source]▶
>How do you qualify them as a monopoly?

If you're a game dev, small or big it doesn't matter, and your game isn't on Steam, it might as well not exist. The sales and exposure of a game on Steam dwarf all other alternate PC storefronts. Even Ubisoft caved in and released their games on Steam.

Monopoly doesn't mean being the only game in town, you can have 100 other competitors, but if your competitors have <10% market share and you have >90% then you're basically a monopoly.

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ziddoap ◴[03 Apr 25 13:02 UTC] No.43568989{3}[source]▶
>If you're a game dev, small or big it doesn't matter, and your game isn't on Steam, it might as well not exist

That's an exaggeration.

World of Warcraft, COD, League of Legends, all exist just fine. For brand new games, The Bazaar is doing very well and they're using their own launcher.

(Slightly off-topic, but The Bazaar is really good, for anyone who likes card-based auto-battler games! Highly recommend.)

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FirmwareBurner ◴[03 Apr 25 13:03 UTC] No.43569000{4}[source]▶
Those games are the exceptions that prove the rule. There's some major gaming franchises out there that basically have their own gravity field at this point and can drive people to different storefronts(Fortnite, Minecraft, etc), but outside of those games, forget it, if your new game isn't a AAAA blockbuster and isn't on Steam, most people won't really carea bout it.
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1. delecti ◴[03 Apr 25 13:11 UTC] No.43569093{5}[source]▶
I agree with the thrust of your point, that a tiny handful of games have their own gravity field which lets them ignore the titan that is Steam.

But nit: that's not what "exception that proves the rule" means. An example of that saying is a sign that says "no parking 2-4pm", which proves that there is a rule that you can park any other time. WoW, Fortnite, CoD, Minecraft, those are just "exceptions".