The Duff CEO with a Windows-Logo on his forehead: "Gamers use Windows because of its' user experience not our de facto monopoly."
Next Image: Duff CEO with Windows-Logo in front of a "Out of Business" sign. Subtitle: "30 minutes after SteamOS is released"
Edit: Yo, I'm not saying this is gonna happen. I just want to say that Windew's UX sucks ass.
Steam is a monopoly because if devs try to sell on other stores, they will make less money. It's a feedback loop. We buy games on Steam because all the games are there, and devs put games on Steam because all the customers are there.
Epic actually tried to get around this by offering very lucrative exclusivity deals to devs. That still didn't work.
That doesn't describe a monopoly at all. That just describes the free market.
I refuse to touch Epic because of their exclusivity deals. So in my case the exclusivity is actually harmful for sales..
Libertarian much? The free market can and does create monopolies all the time. Libertarian philosophy doesn't believe it because it's an obvious flaw.
None of that explains how "devs make more money selling on Steam" makes Steam a monopoly. Especially when as you've already said Epic has tried to pay devs directly for exclusivity as well give them a larger % of sales.
Devs make more money selling in Steam because all the customers are there. I know that accepting this means accepting libertarian philosophy is deeply flawed, but it isn't that complicated.
Your attempts at Ad Hominin in no way argues that Steam is a monopoly.
"People shop at Store A instead of Store B" does not necessitate that Store A is a monopoly. Maybe Store B is shit.
And what did the horrible fanboys do? Boycott any dev who dared to accept an Epic deal.
So developers were forced to ditch Epic or lose sales.
Crying "fanboys" does not make Steam a monopoly.