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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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DrillShopper ◴[03 Apr 25 13:09 UTC] No.43569082{5}[source]▶
That's hyperbole at best, especially given that places like itch.io and GoG exist.

CDPR also puts all of their games DRM free from release on GoG - including The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077.

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1. johnnyanmac ◴[03 Apr 25 13:49 UTC] No.43569618{6}[source]▶
As long as Steam's pricing parity rule of thumb exists, there's only so much those others can do to compete. The only real reason people use alternative stores is to save money, and Valve put a silent hand on that.