this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2025
427 points (98.2% liked)
Source Memes
1130 readers
35 users here now
Community for memes about the goldsrc/source engine and Valve games.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Still, he's right. Other publishers have tried and failed to bring a competitor to steam, and it's not because valve doesn't allow it (like Apple) but because steam is simply superior in terms of features and usability.
Even epic with massive investment in their store hasn't caught up to half of what makes steam great for gaming.
I'm pretty certain if someone makes a real competitor to steam, it could dethrone it eventually. Epic isn't hated because it's not steam, but because they tried to buy their market share through anti competitive clauses.
Granted, it's harder by the year because steam has a huge head start, and users may be unwilling to switch now after spending a lot on the platform. Maybe some form of forced legal interoperability would help foster competition
Valve’s lockin is your Steam library not being portable. A better comparison is switching from iOS to Android, or better yet Xbox to PlayStation, and having to leave behind any apps or games you purchased on one platform.
I agree that interop would be the best solution. For a brief period, GOG had a program that granted free licenses for games you already owned on Steam, verified by linking accounts. That is what has to be available for the entirety of everyone’s libraries, prospectively even if not retroactively, for there to even begin to be a level playing field.
Yeah it's a lock in but like you show, it's the same everywhere.
I don't know a way we could really have interoperability between stores without major financial agreement between them, because hosting the platform and services has a cost that is paid by the cut, if you move your games elsewhere they have to provide the bandwidth for you to download your games "for free"