GeneralEmergency

Steam didn't employ forced retail exclusivity.

They did though by patterning with publishers. Forcing physical releases to go through Steam as DRM. Killing the physical pc gaming market.

They also have their Non-Favoured-Nations clause, meaning a game can't be sold for cheaper off Steam.

Valve's contributions to Linux gaming

Only as they geared up to sell their own consoles.

kids existing

Weirdo Lemmite for some reason: "I'm going to blame the west for this"

Console G*mers getting that PC experience whether they want to or not.

Valve grew Steam's market share by locking in exclusives.

There were multiple digital distribution platforms in the early days, IGN even had one.

Then Valve forced exclusivity to starve out the competition.

Steam has its Most-Favored-Nation clause to prevent publishers selling games for cheaper on other platforms.

Valve fought against refunds for years until the EU told them to wise up.

Valve only started supporting Linux when needed to sell consoles. They just like most other companies saw Linux gaming as an extreme niche.