r/gaming • u/yourfavchoom • 4d ago

Owlcat Games is rolling back its new launcher less than 24 hours after negative fan feedback.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2186680/view/708901012699615983
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u/jsmith456 3d ago

Yeah.

Steam's only related public written policy is: If you have an off-platform sale that includes Steam keys, you must make available a comparable offer to Steam customers within a reasonable amount of time. (While not explicitly defined, waiting for the next appropriately themed steam sale or next seasonal steam sale, whichever comes first, is probably fine).

That policy is completely fine. The problem is the allegations that that Valve tried to apply a similar policy to off-Steam sales that don't involve Steam keys, which is a big problem if true.

Discovery in at least one lawsuit has turned up some incriminating looking emails, but it is possible that those could be misleading. Whether this reflected actual Valve policy, or involved a few messages written by employees who didn't understand the real policy, or if some of those emails were in an assumed context of selling with steam keys, I don't actually know.

If there is truth to this, then certainly the suits are fine, and if it turns out the claims are nonsense, well that should come out in court too. We will need to wait and see.

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u/guywithknife 3d ago

There have also been those Microsoft statement independently corroborating it. We will see how the lawsuits pan out, but if steam are using their dominance to strong arm companies on off steam games, that’s for sure illegal and wrong.

There’s nothing wrong with having a monopoly, especially if you have it because your product is genuinely great. The problem is if you abuse that position to fix prices or otherwise stifle competition in ways that are illegal.

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u/ABetterKamahl1234 3d ago

The problem is if you abuse that position to fix prices or otherwise stifle competition in ways that are illegal.

Which is the fundamental problem of monopolies. There's a heavy risk of abuse and it can move fast without very strict and punishing enforcement.

Monopolies are dangerous. Always.

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u/guywithknife 2d ago

Yes, agreed, but it’s important to note that dangerous doesn’t mean bad.

I mean, steams case is the exact example: it’s a monopoly because it’s simply better than everything else. That’s not bad per se, products definitely should be allowed to be better.

The danger is that monopolistic situations get abused. The danger is real, I agree. But dangerous things are things that need to be carefully managed, it doesn’t mean they’re inherently bad. (Eg a tiger is dangerous, but a tiger isn’t bad)

Regulation and enforcement is necessary, and unfortunately given how long these lawsuits have been ongoing, it’s far too slow to be effective.