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Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney supports the $900 million lawsuit against Valve, arguing Steam is "the only major store still holding onto payment ties and 30% junk fee" (finance.yahoo.com)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 12 points 7 months ago (13 children)

Have you considered maybe Valves monopoly is natural? That is convenient to have all the games in one place and their customers like what they're selling?

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  • [+] -9 points 7 months ago* (12 children)

    Have you considered maybe Valves monopoly is natural?

    Yes that changes literally nothing.

    All monopolies, be they natural or otherwise, need to be heavily regulated or else they can:

    a) easily do stuff to prevent competition. Stuff like preventing developers from selling their game for cheaper on other stores.

    b) charge exorbitant markups, markups like 30% of all revenue for a listing in a store.

    I do not understand why gamers have such a hard time grasping that Valve taking a massive cut off the top of every single game sold, just enriches the already rich for doing nothing, at the expense of consumers and creators.

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  • [–] 13 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    I think the problem you're running into is that Valve isn't doing nothing with that pay.

    Like valve is actively making my gaming experience better by developing cheap hardware and a good system for gaming on Linux.

    All the games I've ever bought, regardless of if they still sell them are in my library.

    My save files are cloud synced for free.

    I as the end user am having a good time.

    I also have a sunk cost thing going on. I've been trying to buy and play more GOG games but I just have so much that works already on Linux without any work that it's hard to justify the tinker time to get it working otherwise.

    They provide such a good service I think we've all forgotten about the children casinos for CSGO2 skins, but even that they're fixing (kinda).

    Maybe its just nice to not be mad about something. Like its just video games, I don't really care if Valve has a monopoly on that since 1) Experience is good 2) they're not trying to have like a monopoly on water or something important. Bad take maybe, but there's enough going on that I just don't know if I could make myself care that valve is like 90% of videogame sales. Or whatever it is.

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago

    Heroic games launcher basically makes gog stuff click and play but even that isn't enough for me to really use it over steam.

    What I need is a good launcher that makes the process of using different stores seamless, that works well on all my devices (heroic's controller support is infuriating to use and doesn't support steam)

    Maybe when playnite finally gets ported to Linux

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  • [–] 6 points 7 months ago (7 children)

    Sorry to bust your balls, but here's a thing from a fucking 6 years ago that debunks your B point to the ground.

    30% has used to be standard in a PHYSICAL releases too, except these wont give you any convenience like cloud saves, remote play, family share, friend/community integration, support for older releases, huge ass discounts, linux support, and may other pro-consumer things. Valve takes this chunk and actually invests in the quality of their service.

    Do you really think that MS or Epic would keep low markups if they have gained majority of the market?

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  • [+] -7 points 7 months ago (6 children)

    Lmfao bro, you think that digital storefronts cost more to run then physical ones?

    You think it takes more resource to change a database entry, then it does to run a physical store, staffed by real people, that have to import and store a physical item that they then have to sell you, and potentially take back and return?

    Lmfao, Valve has tossed you trinkets over the course of 20 years and you praise them like they're altrusitic gods, instead of the wealth hoarding millionaires and billionaires that they actually are.

    Do you really think that MS or Epic would keep low markups if they have gained majority of the market?

    Jesus Christ, thats literally the whole fucking point. Valve has been overcharging you because they have a monopoly.

    Competition is what keeps prices low, and that's not possible when Valve has clauses that prevent developers from selling their games for less on other stores.

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago (5 children)

    Steam provides much more than just a store. Having to print, burn, deliver and sell physical CDs is not cheap. Nor is the service Steam provides that physical discs wont. Also, did you pass over the fact that PS, Xbox, Nintendo, Apple and Google also have charged 30% for their online stores?

    Anyone can go get free games at Epic and be happy they save 100% cash on their games. and that is why Epic's user base grew 173% withing last 6 years but with 1.6% revenue growth. If this doesn't make you realize that we pay for a good service, then nothing will.

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  • [–] -2 points 7 months ago (4 children)

    PlayStation and Xbox subsidize the cost of the console.

    Apple and Google have been having their 30% fees (and the monopolies that allow them) struck down by courts and competition regulators around the world.

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago (3 children)

    PlayStation and Xbox subsidize the cost of the console.

    Valve is subsidizing their services that they provide to gamers.

    Apple and Google have been having their 30% fees (and the monopolies that allow them) struck down by courts and competition regulators around the world.

    They have 15% since 2020 or so. As far as I understood, Apple got sued, then changed the cut% and Google followed shortly after to avoid getting sued. Once app earns more than $1 million, it gets 30% cut again.

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  • [–] -2 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    Valve is subsidizing their services that they provide to gamers.

    Lmfao. No they are not.

    They are the most profitable company tech company per employee, of any tech company. That's profit, as in revenue - expenses.

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago* (1 child)

    They are the most profitable company tech company per employee, of any tech company.

    They are also known for not hiring in excess, which leads to company bloat and massive layoffs years down the road?

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago (1 child)

    That’s has absolutely no chance in hell to happen while these right wing fucks are in charge. Any “regulation” would be a secret dick in the ass while they make everything worse and somehow we all end up paying more.

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago*

    So you're a Republican then? You believe in small ineffective government and have no faith that government can do anything, ensuring that it won't?

    Congratulations, they converted you to their side without you even realizing.

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