Well, I’ll be damned. They finally won one it sounds like.

    • Tr0n1um@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Why? Steam has no monopoly. There are a lot of other stores.

      The Play Store is the default store on Android. I think this is why it’s a monopoly.

        • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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          11 months ago

          I haven’t ever had a computer that has been pre-built that comes with steam pre-installed.

          I’ve had plenty to come with bloatware, but none of that bloatware has ever been Steam. And you know why? Because Valve doesn’t pay companies to pre install Steam.

      • Rose@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Google made the same argument in this case, but Epic responded by saying that impairing the competition is sufficient to describe the behavior as unlawful. Like Google, Valve control the vast majority of the market, charge a fee that is way above the cost of service, and have rules that make the competitors less appealing. Like this one:

        In response to one inquiry from a game publisher, in another example, Valve explained: “We basically see any selling of the game on PC, Steam key or not, as a part of the same shared PC market- so even if you weren’t using Steam keys, we’d just choose to stop selling a game if it was always running discounts of 75% off on one store but 50% off on ours. . . .”

        (source)

        • helenslunch@feddit.nl
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          11 months ago

          Google made the same argument in this case but Epic responded by saying that impairing the competition is sufficient to describe the behavior as unlawful.

          But Valve doesnt do anything to impair competition. Google owns and controls the operating system, require their store to be installed, and pay off other companies to be the default. Valve doesn’t do anything like that.

          In fact Valve is pretty much the only company trying to promote a FOSS OS that no one controls.

        • helenslunch@feddit.nl
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          11 months ago

          but when he gets all the properties for himself

          Then he has no competitors.

          Look what Microsoft and google and hundreds of other companies did to become Monopoly.

          What exactly did they do that Steam has also done?

          Steam does nothing to prevent others from competing, to my knowledge, other than just being the best at what they do.

            • helenslunch@feddit.nl
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              11 months ago

              If you’re thinking steam isn’t a monopoly then why is it nearly impossible to create a gaming platform that competes with these giants?

              Depends on what you mean by “monopoly”. In the strictest sense it means they have zero competition (hence the prefix “mono”,meaning one), which is clearly untrue because we have Epic, GoG, Origin, Battlenet, Meta, etc. etc.

              In the case of Google, it means they take anticompetitive measures. I’ve asked you what anticompetitive measures Valve takes but you don’t seem to want to provide an answer. Why is that?

              If you mean “big business that other companies have trouble competing with”, that does not fit any definition of a “monopoly”.

              It’s not “impossible” at all. It is very difficult because you’re fighting established brands that are not regional, and have decades of experience and brand recognition on you. Competing with them would require a fuckton of money and also some sort of novel features to bring to the market that they’re not. These are not anticompetitive measures, it’s just effective business.

              How would you go about even trying to rectify that? Would you force Valve to give money and promotion to a competing service? Or would you just go full CCP and ban them entirely in favor of the state-sponsored Bytedance option?

                • helenslunch@feddit.nl
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                  11 months ago

                  If I wanted to start a power grid company, I would need a fuckton of money as well. It’s called a natural monopoly.

                  That’s simply not what a monopoly is. You’re confused.

                  A monopoly is when there’s only a single energy company available, which is not the case here.

                  Tell me why no one is trying to overtake steam and why companies that actually try, are being flushed.

                  I already have. Lots of companies are doing that right now, but they all suck. I mean GoG is great as a simple game store but most publishers are not willing to sell without DRM and their store is mostly nothing more than just a store, where Steam is so much more than that.

                  Epic has a long history of anti-consumer behavior that has earned them a bad reputation. They’re also partially owned by the CCP.

    • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Valve forces other companies to have Steam installed by default on their PCs? And has shady background deals with various companies?

      Wow, TIL

        • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Ok…?

          Can you tell me how Valve forces steam to be installed on everyone’s PCs and bans the installation of other game stores? You still haven’t done that yet.

            • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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              11 months ago

              That’s not following that logic at all.

              Steam is optional, not preinstalled, and Valve does nothing to force its use. Valve doesn’t even do legal (but shady) things like exclusivity deals, like some of their competitors do.

              Google, on the other hand, knows OEMs have no choice but to use their software, so they force companies into signing agreements saying no third party app stores, no not including XYZ apps and Google telemetry, etc.

              One is an abuse of market position. The other is just a popular product. They are not the same.

              In the hypothetical world where Valve creates an OS that replaces Windows, MS exits the PC space leaving SteamOS to take up all of the market, and Valve forces PC makers to only have Steam and no other game stores, and that all revenue should go through Valve, then you’ll have a point. But right now it’s just “Steam is popular” - that’s not an argument, there’s zero coercion going on.

              Again, point me to where Valve is doing what Google is doing. Stop evading this request.

                • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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                  11 months ago

                  You’re still dodging what I keep asking you. Answer it or we’re done here.

                  DO YOU HAVE EVIDENCE THAT VALVE FORCES PC MAKERS TO PREINSTALL STEAM AND STOP PREINSTALLATION OF OTHER APP STORES? DO YOU HAVE EVIDENCE OF THEM HAVING SECRET BACK ROOM DEALS WHERE THEY DON’T CHARGE SOME PUBLISHERS THE STEAM FEE?

                  It’s a couple of simple questions with simple answers. Yes or no.

                  And “they do advertising of games on their platform!!!” - that’s seriously one of your complaints? Lmao

                  30% cut is the industry standard. And they use that cut to fund an extremely bandwidth-intensive service, with stuff like voice chat, notes, friend systems, achievements, cloud save, Linux compatibility layers, streaming, etc. It’s substantially cheaper than the monthly payments MS/Sony/Nintendo take (on top of taking a cut for games) for lesser service. Where’s the anti-competitive behaviour?

                  Steam’s telemetry surveys are opt-in.

                  Explain “whitewashing”, please.

                  They don’t pressure with terms and conditions. Like any service if you want to use steam you agree to their rules. You don’t have to use steam. You don’t have a god-given right to publish on steam. Many don’t publish on steam.

                  Supporting Russia in Ukraine - explain.

                  Ethnic cleansing of Chinese??? What?? Are you high?

                  And again, I’m going to reiterate:

                  You’re still dodging what I keep asking you. Answer it or we’re done here.

                  DO YOU HAVE EVIDENCE THAT VALVE FORCES PC MAKERS TO PREINSTALL STEAM AND STOP PREINSTALLATION OF OTHER APP STORES? DO YOU HAVE EVIDENCE OF THEM HAVING SECRET BACK ROOM DEALS WHERE THEY DON’T CHARGE SOME PUBLISHERS THE STEAM FEE?

                  Also lmao, new user with a post history about loving MS. And you say you’re against monopolistic behaviour LOL. Seems like you’re just butthurt about MS being outdone on their own platform. Gates and Nadela don’t care about you no matter how much you simp for them.

    • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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      11 months ago

      You don’t know what you’re talking about do you.

      Computers don’t come with steam automatically installed, do they? So it’s not in any actual sense of the word of monopoly.

      You are been downvoted because your comment is idiotic.