this post was submitted on 14 Mar 2024
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It's because they have a near monopoly and take a huge cut of developer's revenue
Is 30% on average "huge" considering the platform and total number of averages monthly users? I know that number does move around a bit as well.
I guess considering the ease of use for users and the fact that other platforms exist, they might be considered a monopoly only because nothing else of quality has shown up. It's not like they're buying out competitors and paying politicians to create laws and expectations to give them a competitive advantage. They're literally just better than the other shit. Except arguably GoG which is solid in its own right, though not in the same ways as Steam.
Being a monopoly or near monopoly doesn't mean that they're automatically underhanded
Last time I checked, Epic Games has plenty of money to compete. Monopoly implies competition is actively being stopped. Valve hasn't done much to stop competition other than making a good product that people use.
No it doesn't. Anticompetittive behaviour is a seperate issue. One often imployed by monopolists, but seperate nonetheless.
Epic Games also takes 5% of all games that use the Unreal engine, unless you use the Epic store.
30% is a huge cut. Epic takes 12%
When valve was establishing steam, 30% was justified. They had to invest in the product. They took a risk. They don't have to now and they are profiteering.
And valve have admitted they're making more profit than anyone else in the space. I'm not saying they shouldn't be allowed a profit, I'm saying there's an argument that they (and Apple via the Apple store) are taking too much from the work of others
Irrelevant. Being good and popular doesn't make them not a monopoly
"possession or control of the supply of or trade in a commodity or service."