Last year, they all came crawlin' back to Steam, and this year was another strong one for Valve.

From the opinion piece:

Last year, I pointed out how many big publishers came crawlin’ back to Steam after trying their own things: EA, Activision, Microsoft. This year, for the first time ever, two Blizzard games released on Steam: Overwatch and Diablo 4.

  • BargsimBoyzEnglish
    43·
    10 months ago

    Steam and GoG are not just free services for gamers either. At their core they are businesses, and they invest significantly to try and make people spend more/get addicted to their services.

    I hate this whole idea that some companies are your friend. That just shows their marketing and branding is working on people and blinding people.

    • Cosmic ClericEnglish
      100·
      10 months ago

      I hate this whole idea that some companies are your friend.

      It’s not a matter of them being your friend or not, it’s a matter of them respecting their customers, and giving their customers what they want, generating a win-win.

      These days most corporations are very happy with the win-lose scenarios, as it maximizes their profits.

    • CommanderCloonEnglish
      41·
      10 months ago

      Publicly traded companies, which we’ve all learned to hate and not take as our friends, are in no way comparable to Steam which is privately owned. Gabe Newell is in no way forced by shareholders to push for increased profits, the company has no interest in pushing for enshittification unlike VC funded startups.

      • BargsimBoyzEnglish
        31·
        10 months ago

        Thank goodness Gabe will live forever and Steam will always be a private company then!

        Oh… Shit.

        This is exactly what I mean. It’s like people just have no concept of the future. Point me to any private company that’s been around a long time and is still not shit.