While I agree that it shouldn’t be allowed to enforce price matching, I don’t believe for a one second that 99% of publishers would pass what they’re saving onto the customer. A big AAA title priced at £59.99 would still cost £59.99 even if Valve suddenly decided taking just 15% was enough.
Valve does have a very dominant market position, but at least the PC (whether it runs Windows or Linux) is a very open platform that doesn’t discriminate between storefronts. So a publisher can always decide to not agree to Steam’s terms and only release their games via another store or even release it standalone. I agree that this would likely lose them sales over releasing their game on Steam, but if it’s marketed well and the storefront they chose doesn’t suck, customers will still come to them.
The main reason Steam is as popular as it is, is because it’s the best from a customer experience standpoint, not because they have an enforced monopoly like the storefronts on console platforms. The Epic Launcher, Uplay and Origin (or whatever they’re all called now after renaming on what feels like a yearly basis) lack a lot of features in comparison (depending on the launcher that includes properly working cloud saves, hassle-free Linux compatibility, easy mod integration (Steam Workshop), sharing your screen to play local co-op games online, just to name a few).
Isn’t the price matching requirement only when you’re giving Steam keys as part of the purchase from the other store? If Steam is going to permanently host and distribute the games, it’s only fair that the price on their store matches the other places you’re selling keys
This is exactly it. Fuck all of those news articles because they all try to make out steam as the bad guy. Steam is the best of guys based on the fact that it let’s you sell steam keys, which let me remind you THEY MAKE NO PRFIT ON on other platforms and all they ask is that you don’t sell them dirt cheap?
VALVE PAYS FOR THE BANDWIDTH THAT DOWNLOADING THE GAME USES. Honestly the fact that they are willing to absorb all the costs while making none of the profit is absolutely mind blowing.
While I agree that it shouldn’t be allowed to enforce price matching, I don’t believe for a one second that 99% of publishers would pass what they’re saving onto the customer. A big AAA title priced at £59.99 would still cost £59.99 even if Valve suddenly decided taking just 15% was enough.
Valve does have a very dominant market position, but at least the PC (whether it runs Windows or Linux) is a very open platform that doesn’t discriminate between storefronts. So a publisher can always decide to not agree to Steam’s terms and only release their games via another store or even release it standalone. I agree that this would likely lose them sales over releasing their game on Steam, but if it’s marketed well and the storefront they chose doesn’t suck, customers will still come to them.
The main reason Steam is as popular as it is, is because it’s the best from a customer experience standpoint, not because they have an enforced monopoly like the storefronts on console platforms. The Epic Launcher, Uplay and Origin (or whatever they’re all called now after renaming on what feels like a yearly basis) lack a lot of features in comparison (depending on the launcher that includes properly working cloud saves, hassle-free Linux compatibility, easy mod integration (Steam Workshop), sharing your screen to play local co-op games online, just to name a few).
Isn’t the price matching requirement only when you’re giving Steam keys as part of the purchase from the other store? If Steam is going to permanently host and distribute the games, it’s only fair that the price on their store matches the other places you’re selling keys
This is exactly it. Fuck all of those news articles because they all try to make out steam as the bad guy. Steam is the best of guys based on the fact that it let’s you sell steam keys, which let me remind you THEY MAKE NO PRFIT ON on other platforms and all they ask is that you don’t sell them dirt cheap?
VALVE PAYS FOR THE BANDWIDTH THAT DOWNLOADING THE GAME USES. Honestly the fact that they are willing to absorb all the costs while making none of the profit is absolutely mind blowing.