this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2025
730 points (95.9% liked)

memes

18597 readers
2745 users here now

Community rules

1. Be civilNo trolling, bigotry or other insulting / annoying behaviour

2. No politicsThis is non-politics community. For political memes please go to !politicalmemes@lemmy.world

3. No recent repostsCheck for reposts when posting a meme, you can only repost after 1 month

4. No botsNo bots without the express approval of the mods or the admins

5. No Spam/Ads/AI SlopNo advertisements or spam. This is an instance rule and the only way to live. We also consider AI slop to be spam in this community and is subject to removal.

A collection of some classic Lemmy memes for your enjoyment

Sister communities

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] RunJun@lemmy.dbzer0.com 204 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Made large contributions to Linux gaming compatibility

[–] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 101 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Also platformed independent game developers.

[–] rainwall@piefed.social 44 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

Monopolized a market by offer good services to both end users and buisness clients.

Lets not forget the evil though : helped set the 30% cut for apps/games that became the standard across all digital spaces, arguably started online gambling and microtranactions in gaming.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Online gambling existed well before Steam.

How did they start microtransactions?

[–] okwhateverdude@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Selling loot boxes, where you pay 2-3 currency units to "unlock" a box that definitely won't have something of value the vast majority of the time. TF2 cosmetics, CS:GO gun/knife/glove/player model skins

[–] mitram2@lemmy.pt 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

To be fair those are cosmetic only items. I've played a ton of those games and didn't spend s dime, because I don't care about how cool my gun looks.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 93 points 1 week ago (1 children)

>made their own linux distro

>develop Proton and Lepton

>all that in Valve-Time™

>Windows gave up

[–] witty_username@feddit.nl 34 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Microsoft practically handed it to Valve. Microsoft wanted gamers off the PC and on to the xbox so they ignored the PC platform they were already dominant on. This gave free reign to Valve. One of the biggest mistakes in PC history if you ask me.

[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Yeah. I wanted to play Midtown Madness 3, after loving and modding the first two. But it was Xbox exclusive. I refused to save up for one, or ask for one as a gift. I was eventually gifted one, with MM3, and it is the only game I have for the Xbox.

When Halo 2 for Vista dropped, and they tried to force players to Live Gold bullshit for voice chat, but we were all using Xfire. Eat shit, I'm not paying $10 a month to do something I can for free that my friends all have already. And I wouldn't play another Halo title until the MCC dropped on steam - fuck locked down hardware and arbitrary limitations on the software and os. And they want money for that shit? Lmfao.

My deep... 'loathing'? For the dumbass decisions ms made regarding gaming for windows from 00 to 16, arguably longer. With ms driven by greed, and most folded for the games and series they loved... but I'm an absolute pain in the ass, never forget, never forgive kinda guy. I have a couple series of ms titles I like and buy, but they can fuck off with trying to get another red cent from me. Their slow sinking into stagnation and failure is... closure, for all the debates and arguments about how fucking stupid it is to pay for the ability to play with others, after already buying their box, and after already paying for internet. And then they can kill the servers at any time, and nobody seems to bat at eye. Yet I have games that are 20+ years old that I can run a server for and boom, me and friends can play. No money, no limitations, no bullshit.

They fucked themselves. I'm just watching the ship sink. 🍿

[–] Th4tGuyII@fedia.io 84 points 1 week ago (11 children)

Valve could've legitimately done nothing and still be winning in comparison to the big three, but instead they've slowly and steadily been helping the gaming community to give Windows the middle finger by making huge contributions to Linux gaming.

Honestly, its downright shameful how many companies have forgotten that a good way to make money from customers is simply to treat them nicely while they're buying your goods.

[–] ttyybb@lemmy.world 26 points 1 week ago

Valve's big business strategy seems to be just wait for your competition to shoot themselves in the foot

load more comments (10 replies)
[–] carotte@lemmy.blahaj.zone 47 points 1 week ago (13 children)

look, im very grateful for valve employee’s work on proton (& other technologies), and i recognize that out of the major gaming companies, valve is one of the least bad…

but they’re still a corporation. they’re still unethical. they popularized gambling mechanics and they basically have a monopoly on PC gaming distribution.

don’t worship companies. they don’t care about you. need i remind you, in the late 2000s/early 2010s, nintendo was the good guy. just making good games and innovating, while everyone else was busy making yearly slop, day one DLCs, paid online, microtransactions, broken games on release… and now, look at them.

[–] SparroHawc@lemmy.zip 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

All it would take for Valve to lose their effective monopoly on PC game distribution would be for someone else to make a better product.

Every other major PC game distribution platform (besides GOG, and they're far more niche than Valve) has essentially started their attempt to unseat Valve with enshittification baked in, and it was obvious.

[–] IronBird@lemmy.world 28 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

what were you smoking? nintendo has never been the good guy...they successfully patented the "digital representation of water" back in the day

[–] carotte@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 1 week ago (2 children)

sorry, i should’ve said "was seen as the good guys". nintendo’s been doing shitty stuff since at least the 80s

but that wasn’t the popular narrative back in the 2000s/2010s! just like valve now, people were more than willing to gloss over their shitty stuff because everyone else was worse. people worshipped iwata & reggie just like people worship gabe newell now.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] theneverfox@pawb.social 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Valve is worker-run and largely worker owned, it's literally 350 people who just work on whatever they think is a good idea

They're technically a corporation, but also an amazing argument for collective ownership

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (10 replies)
[–] ragas@lemmy.ml 42 points 1 week ago (7 children)

Actually the trigger for Valve to build a focus on Linux was that Microsoft was planning to lock down Windows so that only apps from the Microsoft Store could be installed. If Microsoft woul have went through with that, it would have killed Steam.

[–] realitaetsverlust@piefed.zip 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Probably not. It would've let to many people leaving windows earlier. Many people have thousands of bucks worth of games on steam. I don't think they would've just left them.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (6 replies)
[–] JcbAzPx@lemmy.world 32 points 1 week ago (3 children)

This is what you can accomplish when you don't have shareholders forcing you to be an idiot.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works 32 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Fostering developers to go ham on windows to Linux comparability and now the same for X86/64 to ARM is much more than nothing. Valve have actually been the ones doing the most to pave the way for theirs and anyone who follows' future.

I'm not too jazzed about their virtual monopoly but that's sadly because they've just been working for consumers in more ways than the others. They're not the best at everything like GOG trumps then when it comes to actual ownership but it's sum of all of their parts that puts them head and shoulders above the rest.

They've done so much that they've paved the way for non gamers to be able to switch over to Linux much easier (I wouldn't say it's all on them but they've helped foster cross compatible development on Linux in general). I don't think you could say the others have done as much to affect the space outside of gaming as valve either. Except Microsoft, but their decisions have been much more controversial.

I hate to see myself glazing valve as much as I have here but it is what it is. I'll criticise them when the context allows and praise them like this in other times.

[–] Xenny@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Stop giving credence to valve being a monopoly. That's tech bro propaganda. They are literally not a monopoly. There is multiple digital storefronts for PC gaming. There is options. There is choice. Do not further the narrative and get fucking valve antitrusted for no goddamn reason other than Microsoft wants them dead.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] ZkhqrD5o@lemmy.world 24 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Valve was responsible for creating the gambling mania in gaming. Remember that!

[–] commander@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Fifa ultimate team. Magic the Gathering cards. Both older

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 21 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Playstation isn't lazy. They happily shoot themselves in the foot every other week. For every 1 good thing Sony does with the brand, they do 3 or 4 fucked up things.

[–] yyyesss@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago (3 children)

i guess i'm the only one excited as hell to buy a steam machine.

[–] imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I am not gonna buy it. But fuck man, I am exited as hell for what is going to happen with PC gaming and OSes. I feel that thanks to Valve we going to finally break MS' iron grip on OS market.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] paultimate14@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

A few years ago? I would have said "oh that's near for laypeople, but I am better off building my own PC".

With the prices of GPU's, RAM, and SSD's.... The Steam Machine might legit be a better value than building it myself.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Zoabrown@lemmy.world 18 points 1 week ago

They ship one thing every decade and it somehow changes the whole industry.

[–] angband@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

Look, failing at selling video games people want to buy, is like failing at selling porn, or running a casino full of machines that tabulate a set amount of winnings before giving back a predetermined amount.

Doing nothing is sometimes the smartest way to make money.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 1 week ago

... They're like the opposite of doing nothing.

MSFT in particular has been essentially utterly out manuevered by Valve and their developements.

Its... its actually rumored (by Moore's Law Is Dead) that the specific weird custom chip the Steam Machine is using...

... was originally going to be used in something like like a planned Surface Super Duper Pro tablet.

But MSFT cancelled it.

After AMD had already made a bunch of the chips.

... And... then Valve comes along, figures out how to build a PC/Console out of MSFT's abandoned scraps, which also functionally hammers the final nail into the coffin of Xbox as an actual hardware device.

Valve beat MSFT at large segments of literally their own game.

Proton and Vulkan, both largely funded by Valve, flipped the fucking game table into another dimension, but MSFT did not notice untill it was beyond too late.

... Thinking with portals, you might say.

[–] commander@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

Other companies running game stores/platforms must think like this which is why their stores end up competing with a 2008 Steam. Does nothing is incredibly incorrect

[–] FrowingFostek@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago
[–] hayvan@piefed.world 7 points 1 week ago

We have very different ideas about doing nothing.

[–] gmtom@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (9 children)

Can we stop the steam/gabe glazing?

They are responsible for some of the worst practices in modern video games and are generally not a consumer focused company but you're doing PR for them for free

[–] dev_null@lemmy.ml 28 points 1 week ago (2 children)

And yet they are so much better than the competition it's just funny.

[–] jj4211@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago (6 children)

With respect to the cited companies, sure.

But if we had a GoG gaming ecosystem, then I would favor that in terms of consumer friendly.

I'll even given them a name for a VR headset: GoGles

load more comments (6 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Can we stop pretending steam is literally Satan when their competition is some of the worst companies to ever exist?

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (7 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›