The other things is steam doesn't constrain competition (afaik? Open to being wrong but this is how I'd understood it). Devs can sell their own games, games can be on other platforms, etc.

Despite that gamers think it's worth the convenience and utilities steam provides to keep shopping there.

Steam isn't dominant because it's strangling competition like the app store and similar. People can trivially download alternatives, but they choose steam anyway.

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Cyph0n 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

Yet for some reason, people still use Steam as a “gotcha” to justify why Apple’s terms are fair.

But as you’ve hinted at, Steam is very different from the iOS App Store because it is competing organically with other app stores on Windows. Steam does not control Windows or the hardware, so it cannot “force” itself to be the only option to download games on Windows.

And even when it does have full control over the platform and HW (Steam Deck), it’s just a light wrapper around a standard Linux distro (Arch).

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ThatPlayer 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Steam is currently being sued by Wolfire for being anti-competitive by allegedly having a "platform most-favored-nations" clause. Preventing games on other platforms from being priced lower.

According to the developer:

> [Valve] would remove Overgrowth from Steam if I allowed it to be sold at a lower price anywhere, even from my own website without Steam keys and without Steam’s DRM.

> I believe that other developers who charged lower prices on other stores have been contacted by Valve, telling them that their games will be removed from Steam if they did not raise their prices on competing stores.

https://www.wolfire.com/blog/2021/05/Regarding-the-Valve-cla...

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Hikikomori 4 days ago | parent [-]

Its not true. You're allowed to sell for lower elsewhere, but you can't sell steam keys for a lower price than steam store. So if you create a version of your game that works without steam you can sell that for a lower price.

	▲	FatalLogic 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		In the class action case[0], which was allowed to go forward by the court last year, it is claimed that Valve told someone: "This includes communications from Valve that “‘the price on Steam [must be] competitive with where it’s being sold elsewhere’” and that Valve “‘wouldn’t be OK with selling games on Steam if they are available at better prices on other stores, even if they didn’t use Steam keys.’” Dkt. No. 343 ¶ 158, 160 (quoting emails produced at VALVE_ANT_0598921, 0605087). " (This is a new case, not the 2021 suit, which was rejected by the court, then amended and refiled, later with an additional plaintiff added) [0]https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wawd.29...