For launchers there’s Epic, GoG, Ubisoft, EA, Microsoft Gamepass, R*.
Sure, and the only time most people use these are launching through another platform that forces the launcher to run anyway.
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.
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.
Players can buy directly from the publisher in most cases.
Still buying a Steam key 99.99% of the time, so Valve gets their cut.
Epic and GoG exist, but it hardly effects Valve.
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.
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.
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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.
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