Well, that's certainly an article title isn't it. But I mean it. Microsoft, don't you dare touch Valve. You're fat enough already and too big as it is.
EGS is really the only thing remotely close to what Steam does, though.
GOG will always be an afterthought as long as they have their DRM-free policy in place. They're super cool, but they're a niche and will never grow beyond that without losing what makes them cool.
Origin (or whatever EA's calling their store now) gave up pursuing third-party sales years ago. They still do it, but they clearly have no interest in actually making a go of becoming an actual competitor to Steam.
The Windows Store is terrible for a number of different reasons, even if it's better than Microsoft's previous attempts at getting into this space (coughGWFLcough). EGS is more likely to overtake Steam than Windows Store is to even rival EGS.
Uplay (or, again, whatever Ubisoft is calling their store these days) is like Origin - I don't even know for sure if Ubi is doing third-party sales, but if so, it's very much an afterthought for them.
And then everyone else just sells Steam keys. They're not in the same market as the others, so don't really fit into this conversation. If you're 100% reliant on the store you're "competing" with, you're not competing with them.
A lot of games on Steam are DRM-free, but not (yet) on GOG. GOG isn't an afterthought just because of their DRM-free policy, it's also because they're so small.
Yeah but just the amount of games I own on Steam already (not to mention the Steam Deck), if all that ended up getting enshittified by Microsoft it'd be like having to start over from scratch pretty much.
You do know that stores other than Steam exist, right?
And no, I'm not talking about the EGS.
Nothing else comes close to steam in terms of market share.
Isn't that a bad thing?
EGS is really the only thing remotely close to what Steam does, though.
GOG will always be an afterthought as long as they have their DRM-free policy in place. They're super cool, but they're a niche and will never grow beyond that without losing what makes them cool.
Origin (or whatever EA's calling their store now) gave up pursuing third-party sales years ago. They still do it, but they clearly have no interest in actually making a go of becoming an actual competitor to Steam.
The Windows Store is terrible for a number of different reasons, even if it's better than Microsoft's previous attempts at getting into this space (coughGWFLcough). EGS is more likely to overtake Steam than Windows Store is to even rival EGS.
Uplay (or, again, whatever Ubisoft is calling their store these days) is like Origin - I don't even know for sure if Ubi is doing third-party sales, but if so, it's very much an afterthought for them.
And then everyone else just sells Steam keys. They're not in the same market as the others, so don't really fit into this conversation. If you're 100% reliant on the store you're "competing" with, you're not competing with them.
A lot of games on Steam are DRM-free, but not (yet) on GOG. GOG isn't an afterthought just because of their DRM-free policy, it's also because they're so small.
GOG is missing a good portion of major games. Outside of that most of the options are much worse
Also they seem really averse to Linux for some reason.
Probably the miniscule market share coupled with the increased vocality of its userbase.
Supporting Linux will not bring them a significant uptick in revenue but will increase their customer support load.
What else lets me easily play games on Linux, on my couch, without touching a keyboard or mouse?
Yeah but just the amount of games I own on Steam already (not to mention the Steam Deck), if all that ended up getting enshittified by Microsoft it'd be like having to start over from scratch pretty much.
Which is why I buy as many games as I can from stores like GOG, that actually let me keep them no matter what.
Amazon kinda exists?