Oh you want to do basic things like change your display name? Go ahead! Huh? No...

Oh you want to do basic things like change your display name? Go ahead! Huh? No, we won't charge you for it that'd be stupid.

Here, you can decorate your profile page with tons of different collectables, achievements, backgrounds, avatar borders, and badges that you collect by just using the store or playing your favorite games. And we keep track of how long you've been with us and playing each of your games without having to use some third party website. All for free, of course.

You can upload your own mods and creations to the workshop and discussion tabs easily to share with everyone!

Oh yeah, and also here's a bunch of sales that run year round. Have fun!

I know Steam isn't perfect like with allowing literally anything no matter how garbage it is onto the store with barely any regulations, or pretty much creating microtransactions/lootboxes but how is every single other games platform so terrible in comparison?

if gamebar actually worked i'd prefer that over steam
steam is both too complicated and not complicated enough
gamebar is very compact and intuitive...when it works

There's no reason to use Steam if you can just have all your games on GoG. So in other words there's a fairly good reason to use steam for most people.

I know Steam isn't perfect like with allowing literally anything no matter how garbage it is onto the store with barely any regulations,

That's a good thing though you communist, and if only it were actually true. Instead Valve selectively enforces their rules arbitrarily as fuck so things that shouldn't be banned get fucked, while Furry Gay Sex with Hitler gets 5 sequels.

In Gaben we trust

For me it's the built-in remote play for local multiplayer (and yes I know there are other programs for it but good luck getting normies to go download and install some third-party shit), family sharing with parental controls (so my kids can play Shovel Knight or Psychonauts but not Hunie Pop or Agony Unrated), and Proton.
Almost every other platform really is rancid fucking garbage. Steam isn't perfect, but at least it has features that add value to make up for the fact that you don't really own your games and have to install a launcher to download them in the first place, whereas most other digital distributors' desktop clients only subtract value while adding nothing.
GOG is okay too, not for having excellent features but just because they're fairly good at not being evil.
Itch.io is also okay but of course it's primarily a platform for zero-budget indie projects.

It's really bizarre how generous Valve is compared to MS/snoy/Nintendo considering that Valve was established by ex-Microsoft employees. Free updates and patches too, that MS and Sony would definitely nickel and dime you for.

Steam doesn't have to answer to any shareholders or other faggot bodies who get to have a worthless voice in their decision making.
It's just Gabe and his boys taking a shit on company time while they do nothing and win because they have the freedom no other piece of shit platform can afford due to how Jews control the western sphere's market.

you're Anon Babble!!!

Uh huh. And you lack critical thinking skills. Don't blame me for your blatant ignorance that keeps you supporting political parties that are all actually owned and lobbied by the wealthy elite who pay no taxes.
Dumbfuck.

they powered through the mandatory THIS FUCKING THING SUCKS WHY WOULD I EVER USE THIS without shelving steam, struck gold with hats and all the faux social media bullshit remember when summer sale games got cross-promotions with costumes and the like?, and were in fact improving their services, despite the "valve wins by doing absolutely nothing" meme
consoles are just particularly jewish about online and server space, so steam's laissez-faire policy feels really good

Steam makes money from customers who use the product. MS makes money from investors who want more money. It really is that simple.

You forgot how they let us add pirated games to the library

The steam platform HAS to be good because it's the money making part of their business and they do have competition.
I'm not talking about stupid retards like ea, Ubisoft and Microsoft store or even gog.
Do you know who valve is actually scared of?
Discord.
Imagine if discord got into the game distribution business. Valve would basically get wiped overnight.
Right now steam is the incumbent who justifies being on the desktop because the community app doesn't do distribution. If discord suddenly added that capacity it's going to be a bloodbath.
So yes, valve is going to spend every waking hour in absolute fear, trying to build goodwill in every way because they know that their years of being a money printer company has left they completely unable to make any good exclusives.

Those are all really cool. But if you don't use any of them they're all really annoying and I wish I could just launch my games not have to launch a thing to launch my games.

reminder that MS wouldnt let them release free DLC for l4d on xbox because it would set a bad example

You're very optimistic of a transexual platform of freaks and pedophiles that is absolutely politically motivated.
Not to mention the obvious fact that the very vast majority of PC gamers already have most their games on steam.
That alone is not going to be easy to replace on the grounds that people already have a solid platform to have their games on.
The only fucking way Valve loses is if some law comes that makes licensed products expire after a set amount of time or some shit to force you to buy games more than once.
Which is actually a possibility due to the nature of the modern market's scheme to turn EVERYTHING into a god damn subscription model.
You can thank Jews for that one.

I wish I could just launch my games not have to launch a thing to launch my games

.... you can.
Steam just has to be online to prove you own the game (unless the devs deemed that part unnecessary), then you can open the game straight from the EXE and dont have to worry about steam logging your playtime or achievement or anything. Even works in offline mode

MS also fucked Bethesda and forced them to sell the horse armor that was released on PC for FREE (the pc version also cost $49.99 at launch instead of $59.99 for the 360)

the plattaform is good but the userbase is cancer full of trannies and furries

so what got banned that shouldn't, you have an example yes?

So I have to launch steam. Then I can go into the folder and launch the game from the exe? Is that was you're saying?

with allowing literally anything no matter how garbage it is onto the store with barely any regulations

Who gives a shit. Youre not fucking buying it

You can launch one app or launch 2 apps.
Most people will choose one if given the opportunity.
That's why valve will suck 20 inch long fermented dicks with maggots to make sure that it stays at 2.

That's actually the funny part. Steam, as a platform, mandates almost nothing of your game: no steamapi integration, no online validation, no achievments I am still befuddled about that last part with console releases, how much kool-aid did you have to drink to think that gamerscore is actually worth a thing?, nothing. You can just post a completely normal binary with no DRM and no bullshit.
So half the bitching directed towards Steam is in fact the responsibility of publishers.

Steam is a natural monopoly. Breaking it up or regulating it now might not be the best option. You have to wait for the monopoly to start really pinching people and being shitheels before trustbusting is worth it.

Pic related is precisely why Valve is good and everyone else is garbage.

That’s what happens when a company is private instead of public. It’s incredible how much of a difference that little detail can make.

Not every monopoly is automatically bad. In fact breaking up a natural monopoly can often be harmful to the consumer market.

And Steam doesn't have an absolute monopoly either, they are just very, very big and should probably cut some of their content.

Uh... What? Did you have a stroke mid-post?

I know I'm like the sole person to complain about it, but I really wish Valve would revisit SteamHome.
Because it'd be pretty cool to have a virtual room with my funny screenshots in it to show my friends and maybe have an "in room" screen to remote play together all in the same room with each other.
Like you and your homie could play Toejam and Earl on a fuckhuge virtual TV together.
That'd be cool.

Steam really just has too much garbage floating around taking up adspace. Otherwise they are still a top notch company.

People are so fucking stupid now they don't realize how the world works. They think shit just works because of magic or some shit.
Ignorance has spread like cancerous tumors in a terminally ill stage 4 patient.

alot of private companies aren't immune from doing stupid shit through. Epic Games is privately owned and Timmy does alot of anti-consumer stuff.

Don't benchmark games with and without gamebar, if you like gamebar this knowledge will only do you harm.

Epic Games is privately owned

Epic is owned by the Chinese. "Private" is not in their vocabulary.

If Epic games is private the girl in slutty clothing across my street that has been standing there for an hour is not a prostitute.

To be honest, if I was Gaben I would also keep Steam based and user friendly. I'd rather be responsible for the best vidya store and have $10 billion than be a greedy scum that has $11 billion from nickle n diming customers. I mean, what the fuck do you even do with that money once you're beyond a certain amount?

alot

It's 'a lot'.
alot is not a word.

tim did one anti-reddit thing a bunch of times and people still freak out about it

Can I own the games I buy?

What do you do with all that money?

Anon. If you're a fucking psychopath demon who rapes, kills, and eats children like the Zionists who run the government what the fuck do you care what it costs for you to get more rich and powerful?
It's not about needing it. It's about having it so that everyone else doesn't have it.
These people are not human. They just want to humiliate you and feel good about themselves. They don't need anything. They want to piss on your face.
That's it.
That's all.
And they'll keep buying politicians to stop you from making them pay their fucking taxes.
And nobody realizes this is what's going on.
They're too fucking stupid to realize it.

Now add game ownership

When Gabe kicks the bucket is what I guess. It'll become a publicly traded company so fast.

but his son

I dunno bout that.

meme answer

I'm so tired of you idiots being useful pawns for the rich elite distracting everyone from the real issue. Yes for sure, it's all the fault of a bunch of people in middle eastern third world country currently being blasted by all the leftist media and portrayed as the literal devil. The global shadow government that manipulates the entire world but cannot even control the narrative around its alleged base of operations. It's totally not the rich American elite who's defined by class and not ethnicity. Nah, these guys are le based good guys. Let's lower their taxes even more since they're so based.

Damn, the ESL is MAD!
Post hand, Ranjeet.

I'm saying you retarded troglodyte, companies who's business models rely on flipping garbage on consumers are directly harmed by the prospect of accidentally releasing a good product that's supported for a long time.
This kind of shit does not at all align with the Steam Workshop existing.

It already has.
Valve used to be a game developer that also does game distribution.
They're now a game distribution company that tries to pretend they can do things games related.
Soon they'll be a pure game distribution company and have zero expertise in game development (most world argue that they've already lost game development expertise a long time ago).
It will then deserve its death.

I'm the retarded troglodyte but you're the one that doesn't realize developers need to opt-in for the steam workshop. Doesn't really add up there, buddy.

jew out

weird how like 0.0000001% of the people who engage in this type of shit are actually jewish. It would be more accurate to say they 'capitalist out'

It will then deserve its death.

Why? Why the fuck do they NEED to make games to exist in your eyes?

capitalism is the most powerful cult on the planet. People will excuse anything just to maintain their delusion that they can someday be that billionaire exploiting everyone.

I don't care about any of that. Why can't I word search reviews? That's something that would be actually useful.

That's something that would be actually useful.

Why?

Because of your response. The specific words that you typed out, really.
You basically nailed it on on a meta level.
The things that make a videogame fun to play are completely distinct from the knowhow of an online content distribution network.
To take an example, handling financial transactions, navigating tax laws and incorporating matchmaking are completely different disciplines.
However, there are inevitably times when platforms gain advantage and enable better service because they have expertise in game development.
The primary example is anticheat.
If you do not develop games, you will not understand anticheat, your implementation will end in ring zero bullshit that will hurt your distribution platform and it will serve to allow competition from actual game devs making the same platform.
This is just one example - dlc management, account API and various other services just assumed to be platform based services are actually all holdovers from back when valve made games.
As soon as the game making expertise atrophies (as it already has), you immediately see the relevant platform aspects degrade (VAC is now a joke and games are starting to include bullshit like easy anticheat and gachas go to ring0).
None of this is obvious to money chasing retards, which is why you typed that retarded response. You really nailed it.

Because of your response. The specific words that you typed out, really.

I dunno if you expected me to read past that retarded trash but I didn't

I don't expect anything from you.
I expect you to go back to your shit hole of a city and enjoy the consequences that your way of life has wrought.
If you weasel hard enough at the money printer company you might make it to New Zealand one day like gaben has, then you can turn that place into a shit hole too.

Loli Hitler pedo rape simulator got banned

own the games you buy from us? No, you can not do that.

Niggas will say that easy to install mods and spoonfeeding are bad yet use windows, if you really cared you would avoid all third party game stores and call it a day.

So I can see what people have to say about aspects of the game I care about and so I can filter out all the worthless meme reviews.

This except without sarcasm
Fat fuck seattlite women have zero business doing censorship of any media, the only place where they belong is lining up against the wall

The only game I play with any regularity is QuakeWorld, which isn't on Steam, and I play it on Linux. Now go back to Twitter, the only people who say "niggas" are white kids trying to sound black and actual niggers. Neither are welcome on my board.

it's not a publicly traded company and tencent's shares are worthless unless Epic ever goes public. it is by definition, privately owned, tim being being majority shareholder.

discord already tried selling games and it failed miserably

The pilot was financially viable enough that it's hard to see them not trying a full launch in the future.

private company, gaben can do whatever he wants without shareholders demanding he jew his customers to boost profits another 3% by next quarter.

gaben's happy enough with his mansions, yachts and submarine projects and doesn't need to kill his golden goose.