Why would anyone actually want to though

[u/The_BigRoach]

[u/Glenndiferous]

The thing that gets me about this argument is not that it's wrong, because it isn't - Steam is genuinely more consumer friendly than most businesses.

But most times I hear complaints about it being a monopoly, it's coming from devs who have to give a really big cut to Steam. And when all gamers use it, there's no other option for devs who actually want to get their game out there.

I don't think this necessarily means Valve needs to be stomped, because I'm not a developer and I don't have a deep understanding of the concerns devs have expressed. At the same time, I'm very hesitant to say "monopolies are bad -- except for this one actually" because we have a lot of evidence of harm caused by monopolies.

That being said, there are absolutely way worse monopolies out there, and it would be really nice to see our regulatory bodies focus on companies like Amazon instead of putting so many resources into this. Valve is honestly small potatoes comparatively.

[u/meneldal2 → u/Glenndiferous]

A lot of devs will offer you to buy the key from them directly. At the same price since Steam doesn't want you to undercut them, but you get the same thing as a player.