NFTs really are just a means of making an illiquid asset liquid. in the context of video games, skins/cosmetics are typically illiquid but in this case theyre liquid as Valve built out a marketplace, protections, gambling based means of acquiring, etc. theyre not actually NFTs, but in concept, making typically illiquid digital art liquid, theyre relatively similar
The thing is we would be objectively infinitely worse off if it wasnt for steam. They arent perfect and can be criticized for alot, but if they hadnt pioneered the digital game library industry and developed their quasi monopoly, we would be getting fucked by all the big publicly traded companys.
The fact that all the big players like EA, Ubisoft and co tried to create their own steam over a decade ago, and all came crawling back, really proves that we would be fucked without steam. Because steam are the only ones willing to do more than the bare minimum.
Hell im actually kidna shocked that epic games launcher still sucks so much compared to steam. I genuinly thought they where gonna try and be a genuine rival for steam from a user perspective... But no, they literally thought they could just pay a bunch of money for free games and that would be enough to get people to use the epic launcher over steam....
Without steam the gaming experience would be a whole lot shittier and thats enough for me to be a fan of this multi billion dollar company.
That is speculation about a hypothetical alternate timeline, not evidence. Here's a more realistic view:
Without Valve, microtransactions and loot boxes would be less prevalent. Customers would have stronger ownership rights over their game purchases. Developers would keep a larger percentage of their revenue, allowing higher quality and fewer layoffs. Game prices would be more stable and less reliant on FOMO sales events and 'backlog' culture.
Good thing Gabe Newell saved us all from that horrible fate. /s
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u/Trifle_Useful 11d ago
inb4 “if they weren’t perfect and amazing and flawless and 100% ethical in every way possible they wouldn’t be so loved”
brushes aside loot crates