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this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2023
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For launchers there's Epic, GoG, Ubisoft, EA, Microsoft Gamepass, R*. If we're talking game sales there's a litany of other websites to purchase games from Humble Bundle, Fanatical, Itch.io, Green Man Gaming.
Players can buy directly from the publisher in most cases. For outside those, there are options of DRM free or whatever Epic supposedly has to offer.
Steam may have a dominant position, but I'm not entirely sure that's a monopoly. If we had no other options? Sure. We have multiple other options. Steam Keys are the most common for a number of the sites, but I'd also consider that none of these launchers have the set of features that Valve offers with theirs.
Does people choosing a better service make it a monopoly? I think if Steam didn't have even 1/3rd of what it offers then the other options would be more widely used. Rather, if the other options put as much effort into the quality of life of their launchers, they'd be more popular.
But personally I also think the Epic-backed Wolffire lawsuit claiming Valve has a monopoly is kind of BS, unless it comes out to be true that Steams market power forced developers to keep games off other stores and keep it on their own. If Valve were forcing its competitors to be shit, then sure it's a monopoly.
Up to this point, it seems to me that Steam has dominated the market because of reliability. The consistent sales, refunds are consistent, the program has a number of uses from communities to guides to per-game control schemes, to little things like the soundtracks of games being in one spot.
Is it a monopoly? Or is it the people's choice?
Sure, and the only time most people use these are launching through another platform that forces the launcher to run anyway.
Humble Bundle, GMG, and I assume Fanatical all sell mostly Steam keys. They aren't an alternative. Itch.io also does some, but they absolutely aren't competition.
Still buying a Steam key 99.99% of the time, so Valve gets their cut.
Epic and GoG exist, but it hardly effects Valve.
No, people choosing to use it doesn't make it a monopoly. There being no real equal does. Also, yes, they have the best service. That's true for most monopolies. It isn't even necessarily out of malice. They just have the most money so can invest the most into creating the best service. The competition can't keep up. Valve doesn't need to harm the competition. They just need to be better than them, and they easily can always keep up with their investments.
A monopoly doesn't require any actions to be taken to be a monopoly. It only requires that there isn't an equal competitor. People can choose a monopoly. Their choice doesn't matter for the definition.
I suppose lack of competition is the key here, my understanding has been that there is no competition because the reigning business buys out the competitors or uses their market power to keep others out. Not because other competitors exist and just happen to be worse (be it from youth or poor management).
With Epic's attempt at making strides and with Gamepass being cross platform, I think it's fair to say there is competition that exists but it's being resisted by consumers because they are setting terrible precedents. Still, plenty of people use those services, and for the most part key selling sites do have other options available. If it's a Humble pack, generally there is a Steam Key and the publisher key, or more recently an Epic Key.
Steam just has both its age and its value as a service that keeps it popular, but I guess I just don't think that market dominance is a monopoly. You do raise valid points. I'm definitely not trying to be a Valve defender by any means either, they're a big corp that is capable of pulling some bullshit, just that the definition of monopoly I learned has the distinction of leading market dominance with no competition due to anticompetitive practices - purchasing smaller competitors, larger corporate mergers. Not when a business is a market leader because other companies aren't as good. But things change and it's been a few years since I've been in the business side of things.