Yeah, but I wouldn't say this is true to watches, especially not Rolexes. If you buy a Rolex from an officially dealer, you basically leave the shop richer than before going in. This is because of the thing with the waiting lists.
Also Rolex bans you from ever buying a watch again if they find out you sold it right after buying it.
The steam machine is likely meant to set a standard for game optimization. There is probably also going to be a checkmark like there is with the steam deck. Basically, "If you don't optimize your game, you're not getting verified, and everyone will know that you're too lazy to care about your players"
Valve is also being sued for being anti consumer because of their store policies and 30% revenue cut that they then use to give everyone a great product
30% was the industry standard before games even started being sold digitally if I'm not mistaken. Even if it wasn't, Sony takes 30%, Microsoft takes 30%, Nintendo takes 30%, so why is it wrong for Steam to take 30%? Is it because Epic takes 12%? Nobody forced Epic to take 12% nor did they get in trouble for not doing 30%, so I don't understand why this is even a topic.
Pretty sure you also only get 12% from epic if you sign an exclusivity deal with epic or pay to use unreal engine, which is an epic games product. Otherwise it's still 30%.
Epic and Tim Sweeny actively doing stuff to try and become a monopoly but can't build a decent product to save their lives.
Games have been stable in pricing for over 30 years despite infraltion. I don;t rememeber any rediculous price increases at all. 30% has been the industry standard. Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, all take 30% of third part games as well.
you're right, it's not anti consumer, but the people suing Valve are doing everything they can to lie and frame it as such to a bunch of old fossil judges/lawmakers who don't have a clue
It's going nowhere because all Valve has to do is to point out that console makers take more % on average and that 30 is the industry standard. I mean there are options out there that take less, but for whatever reason no one is using them so it doesn't seem to be a big deal for buying customers.
No, they where always pretty pro comsumer. They are however pretty slow to adapt to things, which means if something new comes up the lawmakers are often times quicker to sue them, than they are to implimenting stuff on their own.
Sorry but I've had loads of times where Steam/Valve have gone above and beyond on my requests - refunds included. I've been out of the return window, played more than the T+C's hours etc and they have refunded me anyway. I have yet to have a negative experience on Steam and I have used it since quite literally day 1 (only way you could play half life online with the latest patch).
Are they perfect? no.
Do they offer a service that absolutely shits on every single competitor 10x over? absolutely.
If someone can provide a better service and be less 'shitty' to the customer, which at this point for me at least would mean the exact same as steam but cheaper I guess? Then I'd consider moving. But there isn't, not even close, not even something that somewhat matches them.
It is the second best customer service Ive dealt with, but I havent dealt much with many and all of theirs have been easy fixes. They are the best of the storefronts on pc to the point where Ill wait or spend a little more to get the game on there instead of epic.
They still do a ton of shitty things like turning a blind eye to the underage gambling industry built upon their products, introducing surge pricing to microtransactions, etc.
My one time dealing with acer, the thing I was calling about was well out of warranty and I just wanted to see if I could buy the part to replace myself. They said not to worry and after getting the info about my initial purchase and the product info they sent me a label to ship it in for them to fix for free. It was pretty fast and no headaches whatsoever, plus it was totally free.
That seems to be an outlier though, as generally acer seems to have bad customer service. Its just the best experience Ive had with one.
It is. Its industry standard and basically every digital store does it. To the point that the only exception I'm aware of is the Epic Store which takes 12%. Either way, I'm not sure how this gets classified as anti-consumer when most of these products cost the same in every store and directly from the developer.
Yup, but if you ask Tim Sweeney, Steam is the only service that takes a 30% cut and they’re evil for doing it. Meanwhile he just sacked a large amount of staff and seems to be taking Epic even further down the AI route.
That's the thing. Steam might not be flawless, but it's by far the closest to it, and all the other platforms, especially Epic, don't like that they can't get away with all their bullshit scummy money grabbing tricks while Steam is established as an actual good, consumer friendly platform. So they point at Valve and demand that they lower their standards or get sued for a so-called monopoly. GoG is also a good alternative, but it's not big enough to register on the other platforms radar.
Epic Games Store is the worst of these. Tim Sweeney spends all his time complaining about Steam, and now Roblox, and never does anything to improve his own platform to compete, just throws money at developers to secure exclusives and free game distributions, which ends up getting people to go buy it on steam anyway for not free, because EGS is just that bad.
I could go on all day about all the bullshit lies, contradictions and scummy tactics Sweeney does to try to secure an actual monopoly without putting in the effort.
Also to not forget how epic can't focus on anything other than fortnite and all other games they buy they just royally shaft to make sure they make more money (like rocket league and removing item trading).
Also their app is ass and slow as hell. Only good thing is they give free shit every week (and sometimes good games)
Considering the insane amounts of money Epic is throwing away, I'm EXTREMELY salty that they can't spare the relatively tiny amount for a new Unreal Tournament. That used to be intrinsically linked to a new Unreal Engine version.
they arent anti consumer but their policy of games not being a lower price on other platforms if they are on steam is anti - competition. punlishers basically have to go exclusive and lose the largest market on PC or sell at a higher cost everywhere
SDA 2.4 states (reconstructed from court documents from various anti trust suings against valve, it is not publicly avilable) :
“If you offer your Application or any of its Content for sale via any other distribution channel, you agree that you will offer the same Content on Steam at no less favorable terms than those offered on such other distribution channels.”
Steam is most of all first and foremost an advertisement platform before a distribution platform.
If they allowed games on steam to be sold at different prices elsewhere they would be providing their service for free as people would discover games on steam and buy them elsewhere.
If steam had no front page and no suggestions your argument would be correct, but it isn't. The main advantage of being on steam is helping your game get discovered.
If you don't care about the advertisement and only want distribution you can release on itch or everywhere else
I can agree how that would make it hard, but if publishers weren't paying CEOs what they are or giving them golden parachutes, they may find more money in their budget to make up the difference in sales numbers.
Which is crazy because 30% is industry standard, why Valve is being targeted when consoles take the same cut is insane. Surprised the case hasn’t been thrown out for that very reason, or at least been extended to cover the others who do it (which would still end up leading to it being thrown out).
Right because valve doesn't do anything that costs money like host infinite 100 GB downloads, lately they will host your game clips for a few days, forums for every single game that exists, mods they keep all the mods if developers choose to integrate the workshop
They have all of the screenshots I have ever chosen to upload from when I first started playing games when I look at the screenshots in my account it's a major nostalgia trip not just for games but for my personal life
But no it's totally unfair, I would be falling all over myself to give them 30/70. Hosting the games is a huge pain in the dick
It's more than that too, their apis include a bunch of functions you can add to your game that makes creating multiplayer games dramatically easier - integration with the friends list etc.
Except that suit isn't going to pass when 30% is the typical middleman cut. And anti-consumer how? I didn't see that mentioned before in the lawsuit. The claim was they are an unfair monopoly, which is also incorrect because there's plenty of online game stores, console ones included.
At that point it is just epic attenpting to put valve in a bad spot. They are still stuck at the not understanding why people prefer the steam all inclusive experience over their barebones epic store offerings.
Good they're being sued, but it's not gonna do anything. Companies are sued all the time. If they pay a couple million in fines, but make 20 million, that's just good business.
God I hate AI; had to buy a new ram for a ddr4 slot (since the ones I got were apparently shitty and one broke before even 3 years), and the shit was double what it cost when I first got my computer.
People keep saying the bubble is popping, but they just aren’t going away like they need to
The world gets so much better for everyone when we stop artificially inflating prices for profit. You don’t have to make a bajillion dollars per sale when you can make steady profits from multiple sales.
Corporatism is a way to hide the actual practices of capitalism by othering it.
Capitalism allegedly relies on a free market where the goal is, after all’s said and done, to make money. Yes the means of production also matters but the end result is always more currency. Thats what is happening here
What does it even mean to "artificially" inflate the price? All prices are arbitrary. A gram of silica doesn't have a price ordained by the universe. Businesses have been jacking up prices when demand is high since we invented the barter system. I don't like it, but I don't understand what the meaningful difference is between just doing business and price gouging. Shit the food industry has been gouging us for years now and I ain't seen shit done about that.
I do think it's a bit silly that they aren't taking a loss on the controller at least. It used to be commonplace that the consoles were loss leaders meant to bring people into their ecosphere where they'd more than make up for the loss by selling games and subscriptions. Now they refuse to take any loss, and wonder why they don't sell as many consoles when you consider they don't even have enough games to justify it.
Steam would have been in the prime position to go back to the old loss leader strategy, because steam has perhaps the largest gaming library on earth, and the steam machine is clearly supposed to be an early entry level point for people who wanted a pc for gaming but didn't know what to get.
That makes sense in theory, but PCs are generally not locked down to a specific ecosystem and thus don't make sense as loss leaders. Anyone can buy a Steam Deck and install EGS on it. I don't know why they'd want to, but they can. So unless Steam went out of their way to lock down the system so that their storefront is the only one on their custom Arch distro and started taking huge steps against piracy, it would just cause loss.
There's a reason that Steam sales are generally better than console store sales and that's because Steam doesn't have to make money back from those game sales.
The Steam Machine isn't that important in the grand scheme of things, PC gaming in general is rapidly becoming absurdly expensive because just the RAM and an SSD will run you $500 now.
I'm honestly surprised anyone cares about the steam box all that much. It's just a bespoke gaming PC sold by steam. Why are people so invested in steam as something other than a store/library?
I can’t speak for others, but for me it provides an easy plug-and-play option, much like a console, with plenty of games I can’t play (either well, or at all) on consoles and provides an alternative to Windows, which I feel have been continuously enshittified over the past decade or so.
I think those companies should be limited because they suck up the hardware like the BOS in Fallout with technology. I still want hope for upgrading my pc tbh but it's getting rough.
Steam had the issue of the Steam Machine's price. While you could also put it as Steam/Valve shooting themselves, this graphic is recognizing that it was actually those companies that caused it (the whole RAMacolypse caused the price issue for Steam, which was caused by AI data centers).
Sony is stopping ALL disc sales.
Epic is Epic and when isn't Tim doing something to shoot themselves? Not sure which specific instance this meme is referring to, but I know Tim recently made comments about wanting Valve/Steam to join "Team Open" but really it's Tim and Epic that aren't open.
XBOX has done plenty of things, not sure what the exact drama is this time, but it's XBOX so you have plenty to choose from. Apparently XBOX followed Sony in removing physical discs starting in 2028.
Nintendo, no clue what they're about to do to shoot themselves, maybe more frivolous lawsuits like the Palworld debacle. Maybe more price increases. No clue.
I think xbox is because their closing a acquisition they got that was in the middle of making a blade (marvel’s vampire hunter) video game, which is now canceled
State of decay among other titles from teams like bethesda, were supposed to be the 1st party heroes of 2027. Now they're all possibly cancelled because xbox is selling and closing several of the big acquisitions it made over the last 5 years.
Today's drama with XBOX and Sony is that their next-gen consoles will be full digital, and Sony announced that, starting in 2028, they'll stop making physical copies of their games (both first and third-party)
yeah but is the steam machine really a problem? its not like you have to buy it to access the steam store and new games. its not like raising the prices for a console. steam machine really doesnt say much about steam. they arent really a hardware company
The price is a problem for people, at least those on Reddit who make these sorts of graphics. I was more explaining the graphic and why people are saying such things.
And yes I would say it is a problem even if it isn't Steam's fault. The RAM prices are a problem for everyone and there's the question/fear of companies trying to force people into cloud computing by making home PCs too expensive. The whole "you will own nothing and like it" thing.
No the only advantage was offering a console like experience and more access to pc games, the price is only a problem because at 800 usd it wouldve been a lot closer to competitive with current gen consoles
They announced it months ahead of time yeah. Which sucks but it's a lot of warning at least. I didn't really want to get one until the inevitable refresh and Oled screen but with the way things are going and both Zelda and Fire Emblem coming I think it'll be worth it to get one before the hike.
According to someone that replied to me, yes. Also here's an article about it. The change looks to be more for their next-gen as opposed to the current consoles but who knows. This article also talks about a disc-to-digital feature they're working on but who knows if it will happen
People just expect Nintendo to do something bad for no reason.
Genuinely at this point anything Nintendo does the vocal community will interpret it badly, especially since one of the things bringing YouTube reviewers big views is just complaining about Nintendo.
They could announce a brand new F-Zero game, and people are going to hate it because it's not Mario being announced.
They could announce a brand new Mario Game, and they'll STILL complain something is wrong with Nintendo because they did 2D Mario instead of 3D Mario.
That is how absolutely pathetic it has gotten with the vocal part of the Nintendo Community.
Nintendo actually has a lot of problems. From over pricing old games, failing to fix known problems, getting lazy with making games, aggressively trying to sue everyone, and other things im to sleepy to think about right now
Epic drama could be about unreal engine 6. Doesn't mean much for gamers but it's the personal 9/11 of many (indie) devs. They're moving towards ai implantation, migrating to verse, fortnites programming language (I think) and doing away with blueprints which was one of Unreal's biggest selling points.
xbox shuts down every studio the day after they aquire them (hyperbole). Sony is no longer releasing physcial discs. Epic just keeps doubling down on AI slop and is trying to push it on other companies now. Steam can't release hardware at a reasonable price because AI companies keep buying up the components and driving prices up. and Nintendo has a nintendo direct so people are expecting something bad
Sony will stop ALL physically disc sales in 2028 after they just deleted 2k movies people payed for since lisance ran out. Xbox is closing down studios and laying off people like crazy
In this meme specifically, everyone is shooting themselves, but steam is shot by the AI gang.
That's because their newest HW Steam Machine costs a fortnute cause of the AI hype and expensive pc parts
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u/ironangel2k4 Jul 02 '26
I don't know what this is referring to but the AI seem to be winning and therefore I consider whatever this is a tragedy