Under what definition of the word?
I didn't realize that people choosing 1 option out of several is what defined a monopoly. I'm pretty sure it's when there is no other choice but to use that 1 thing.
this post was submitted on 04 Nov 2025
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Uh, interesting take seeing as how they could just host a website to distribute, or go through a site like itch.io.
From the article:
That's according to a new whitepaper from PC distribution platform Rokky titled 'The State of PC Game Distribution.'
Oh, and they aren't biased at all, I'm sure.
From the referenced paper:
88% of studios say Steam accounts for over 75% of their revenue. 72% feel Steam effectively exists as a monopoly and 53% are concerned about their level of reliance on that single platform.
48% have distributed a title to the Epic Games Store, 30% to marketplaces such as G2A and Kinguin, 38% to e-stores such as Fanatical or Humble Bundle, 10% have distributed with GOG, and 8% with itch.io.
I'm not going to make an account to read their paper, but I'm dubious about the methodology, and they don't seem to understand the definition of the word 'monopoly', when they list so many alternatives in the summary.
And a cherry on top from the blurb on the Rokky site showing in search results:
Rokky has acquired ChinaPlay, unlocking access to over 1M Chinese gamers for global publishers.
Steam being the most ethical and practical choice is not a monopoly.
These devs aren't lining up to release their games on the Epic store or itch.io, they want their games on the marketplace where most of the users shop, and the users aren't locked into steam either, they just prefer it.
Devs want to release their game on as many platforms as possible, but your game is always somewhere in the steam ecosystem in the backend.
A monopoly would imply that you have no choice, which is not only incorrect in a way where you cant have other stores, but also incorrect in a way where other stores dont already exist.
Steam is only a monopoly in a sense, where the competition repeatedly shoots itself in the feet, and then blames anyone but themselves
They do...
And while it doesn't need fixed while Gabe is alive, he ain't gonna live forever.
And Gabe will do a better job of breaking it up in good faith than anyone who comes after, so it should be addressed before it needs to be done.