Seems like buying games to remove them from your competitor is a scummier thing to do.

  • fyrilsol@kbin.melroy.org
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    5 hours ago

    I would say they aren’t.

    Because, they aren’t like Epic, who has been going around and locking games behind exclusivity deals. Name me one game by one developer, who Valve went to and was like “hey, I’m going to give you a $5 Million exclusivity deal. I’d like for your game to be available on our Steam platform for 2 years before you’re allowed to sell anywhere else!”

    I’m sure nobody can find that game. Meanwhile, Epic has done this to Metro: Exodus, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2 for the PC and outright buying studios going “hey, delist your game on Steam and only be available to our platform.”

    How the fuck can that broad be so stupid to not notice that? But it’s all Valve’s fault, somehow.

    • kinsnik@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      I don’t know if valve are or aren’t abusing their monopolistic position. I am not a lawyer and i don’t have a horse in the race.

      I was just answering to someone who said “if you don’t like valve policies, dont publish your games there”, which would be true for a normal business, but specifically not true of a monopoly, which steam is, unquestionably

      Epic can do things much more freely, because they dont hold a monopoly on pc games

      • fyrilsol@kbin.melroy.org
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        3 hours ago

        It’s hard to really call Valve a monopoly when, there is competition. If there’s no competition, then Valve would clearly be a monopoly.

        It’s not like back in the 90s when Microsoft bundled their Windows OS with Internet Explorer that edged out Netscape back then. Because there really wasn’t a lot of browser alternatives available to have made it where competition was there. Microsoft was considered a monopoly back then because competition was very little during their peak then.

        In the digital PC gaming landscape, it’s entirely different. There are numerous marketplaces for digital games. And they’re big enough to where Valve is just simply an alternative and can go without if someone chooses.

        Valve doesn’t force anyone to use Steam or strong-arms people to buy games from them. They just exist, the people have spoken both by their own loyalty and their wallets. And that made companies like Epic mad and jealous. They just came late into the game when Valve was developing itself.

    • ripcord@lemmy.world
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      5 hours ago

      hey, I’m going to give you a $5 Million exclusivity deal

      This isn’t something they need to.do, as they have a monopoly.