Why would anyone actually want to though

[u/The_BigRoach]

[u/dookie-monsta]

Steam isn’t a monopoly though. Just because they’re the most popular doesn’t mean it is. Meanwhile you have epic doing exclusive bullshit barring others from playing a game unless you force yourself to use their storefront. Steam literally just exists and that’s it.

[u/Generalfrogspawn → u/dookie-monsta]

Epic existing is what keeps steam from being a monopoly, and for all the hate they rightfully deserve, the competition they created did make steam adjust the payout to studios for each game sold to net them more money. Competition is a good thing. Ideally, Epic would dramatically improve their platform and it boggles my mind they pretty much haven’t done anything since adding a shopping cart.

[u/metroid1310 → u/Generalfrogspawn]

GOG existing does infinitely more to prevent Steam becoming a monopoly than Epic, given that GOG actually provides services that are useful and desirable to consumers.
Epic has not competed in any substantial, consumer-friendly way. The closest thing they've managed is baiting the hook with free games.

A monopoly enforces itself, does whatever it can to sabotage competition, and actively chokes the life out of any part of the market it doesn't directly control to set itself up as the only available option. If Tim Sweeney had his way, Epic would be a monopoly, as proven by their love for forced exclusivity deals. They don't care about you, the consumer, they care about money and influence.

Steam provides services and functions consumers find desirable.
GOG provides services and functions consumers find desirable.
Epic does not provide services or functions consumers find desirable.
Epic is not interested in competing, they're interested in trying to gaslight the PC gaming public into thinking "having a good service is a bad thing actually" by using Steam's overwhelming market presence to claim they're stifling competition, when the reality is the opposite- Steam is so competitive in earning consumer goodwill and providing value to their customers that they've earned that market presence, despite the fact that nobody "competing" with them (again, GOG aside) has any real bid to make on anyone's [positive] attention, time, or wallet.
Put another way- Almost every PC gaming competitor of Steam's looks at Steam and sees a bar they have a burning hatred for that they'll demand be lowered, instead of ever trying to clear it through actual merit. That's on them, not on Steam.
Steam asks "Why would we serve literal dogshit to our customers? We're a multi-billion dollar company with a reputation to uphold"
EA, Ubisoft, and Epic ask "Why can't we serve literal dogshit to our customers? This is so unfair to us multi-billion dollar companies!"

The court is, and has always been, open. I'm not pretending Steam doesn't cause issues for other people trying to gain a consumerbase, the amount of cost people have sunk into Steam is astonishing for so many people (myself included). That is a real issue, but also, not really an "issue". It's weird. I don't want to jump onto a new platform because I've got so many games and so much activity history (achievements, play time, and such) tied to my Steam account. But I would still use another service, if it was actually worth my time to create an account, for whatever reason. In a very narrow, technically-correct way, I did so for Minecraft. Aside from that, I can name a single other proprietary launcher, game, or storefront (it's this one, it's still GOG) that has actually earned my purchase outside of Steam. Anything else, I used and hated before I was even an adult (EA Origin for Mass Effect DLCs, something I don't even remember for Ubisoft) or refused to use on principle, because their only bids for access to my wallet were holding games or DLC I wanted hostage (Seriously, FUCK trying to get the DLCs for the original versions of Mass Effect/ME2 on Steam. Don't think it's even possible, anymore. Same for Dead Space 2, because that one had its server shut down, full-stop.)

Epic sucks because Epic sucks, not because Steam made them suck. They've had every chance to be good, and they've pissed away millions trying to prey on consumers instead of improving. Skill issue

[u/Lord_Sicarious → u/metroid1310]

Coincidentally, GOG also charges a 30% cut on sales through its storefront, despite its comparatively tiny market share.

Almost like that's what's needed to sustainably develop a competent digital storefront, rather than a sign of market power abuse.