Cue the BUT STEAMS MONOPOLY idiots that completely ignore that Valve does nothing to stop anyone from competing with them, its just that anyone who has tried (outside GOG) has only produced anti consumer garbage
this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2024
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DRM is never good for the end user.
Steams DRM is a VERY REASONABLE compromise between the interests of the devs and the consumer not wanting to be unfairly punished/annoyed. Steams DRM has literally NEVER caused me a headache aside from ONCE when steam was super new, its a non issue at this point
Steam or GoG
Anything else is too much pain.
It's definitely convenient to have everything in once place, and Steam has way more features, but it's good to avoid Steam becoming too monopolistic. We saw recently how badly that can go with reddit.
Despite the widespread worshipping of Steam and GabeN, I've had lots of issues with Steam and Valve over the years.
Convince other companies to be not shit competition then. Steam has its near monopoly because its competition is dogshit
No, Steam gained its near monopoly through anti-consumer practices as well: being mandatory for playing Valve games, even offline, as soon as 2004; being DRM-ridden; locking consumers out of their right to sell their games on second-hand market; still enforcing an old revenue share system that’s hurting devs; or putting micro-transactions everywhere with their collectible system that you can’t really disable at all. Just to name a few.
Steam is not better than others. You’re just used to its flaws.
Yeah, Steam has DRM. Its the least annoying DRM that exists entirely because they gave us one of the best shop fronts that exists on PC as a trade off. And all companies have the right to sell their own games on whichever store they wish. Unlike Epic, Steam doesnt buy the exclusive rights to OTHER companies games, its just their own games. Your imaginary competition utopian dreamland doesnt exist, and you're turning optional mole hills into mountains in order to pretend the best option we have is bad. If you don't like collectible trading cards and the least annoying DRM ever created, go buy on GOG, EPIC UBI and EA all have FAR WORSE practices
Genuine curiosity, why does it matter which platform it comes out on? Asking from a comlnsole-only point of view. I only game on PS5, so I'll never get to play Xbox-only games. But if you're on a PC, you can just get the other platform?
If it was only on their launcher I wouldnt care. Its the little exclusivity deal on epic that annoys me.
Its one thing to only sell your stuff on your own personal store. Thats fine, whatever. But to create fake exclusivity on pc? Nah fuck off dude, especially from ubisoft
It's "exclusive" on a different free platform that doesn't have any extra requirements. Sure, it's worse than steam in some ways but choosing not to play the game because it's only on Epic is pretty dumb, honestly.
Too many launchers nowadays. It's becoming like movies and tv streaming services.
It's inconvenient for sure, but monopolies are worse.
Lol as someone else put it, it's silly to complain that you won't buy a game because it doesn't use the marketplace you want to use.
Steam is just one marketplace and it needs competition. One day it's going to go through enshittification and when that happens you'll be thankful other marketplaces exist.
Sometimes I honestly wonder why PC gamers get so riled up over inconsequential things.
Convenience, the whole reason piracy took a backseat for a few years. Inconvenient? Hit the seas.
I've never found it more convenient to use Steam or another store over piracy so it doesn't make much difference to many.
Some of the games I do own on Steam now don't work either, so it's not like it's an amazing store.
But if it's inconvenient to download a different client just to buy a game then you're just lazy. It's not like you have to subscribe to it, it's just a click and 5 minute wait.
Lazy for not wanting to have 6 different accounts and launchers? Nah. It's easier to just get a pirated version than trying to remember which service you bought what on.
If it's hard work having 6 launchers, it's easier to just get a pirated version period, so might as well just pirate everything.
YAR HAR FIDDLE DE DE YOU DO WHAT YOU WANT BECAUSE A PIRATE IS FREE.
— A man that put his VR game exclusively on his own digital distribution platform.
On their own game engine.
Built to showcase their specific VR hardware. That they built after getting burned from multiple VR companies who abused Valves good will of providing access to their patent protected VR tech for free, to help accelerate the VR industry.
You are fully justified to put your own developed stuff where youwant to.
On this one point I side with Ubisoft.
...a platform that works much better than the others... and a game that has been made with more love than anything in the past half a decade
I know of at least one other place it is available, and they have it for the cheapest price 😈
You can be sure that even the Epic version will still require the Ubisoft launcher. That is how all of my Steam purchased Ubisoft games are with the exception of the first Assassin's Creed which predated the Ubisoft launcher. All of the others require it regardless of how I bought it.
I'm going to wait for at least two or more years after release for the new Prince of Persia. My days of paying full price for Ubisoft's games are over and recent statements from the CEO make me reluctant to ever buy their games again.
Ubisoft make it pretty easy for me. I don't have to worry about any of this, because none of their recent titles have been worth spending your money, let alone time on
Of all the shit Ubisoft does, not selling on steam is the dealbreaker? Alright.
Lol right? Why is steam the only acceptable DRM?
Why is steam the only acceptable DRM?
Because it's optional and if opted in, works offline.
I've been boycotting Ubisoft for years, haven't missed a damn thing.
I’ve been boycotting Ubisoft for years, haven’t missed a damn thing.
Yeah, there are so many great games by non-shitty developers. Skipping Ubisoft, EA, and Activision entirely is not only possible but there are more great games left than one can play anyway.
Ubisoft is shit, most of their games are.
The moment I heard the new Prince of Persia had Denuvo, I wasn’t going to play it anyway.
Yep, double shitty. Makes me want to start sailing. 🏴☠️
If it’s denuvoed you’ll have to wait for the crazy bigot Empress to crack it. Could be a while.
If it’s denuvoed you’ll have to wait for the crazy bigot Empress to crack it. Could be a while.
30 seconds of googling revealed that someone already packaged the Switch version for PC with a preconfigured emulator.
I'm still kinda shocked there isn't anyone else trying. Maybe you need to be crazy to be a legend.
cracking Denuvo shit must be incredibly challenging.
It is, but i don't think for a second empress is the only person to stumble across the solution. Unless it's something so crazy only a crazy could do it.
I know there are a lot of reasons why it's a harder choice to make; you can't share the secret because that's a security risk, you can't make as much money, you are at greater risk. I guess i just miss the old days where people into tech were anti establishment and into doing things because it was cool.