r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/loosucutiexo • 1d ago

Meme needing explanation Petahh what did steam do?

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u/TheNorthernRose 1d ago

Steam was the only business model viable against piracy, its competitive with free.

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u/syopest 1d ago

Yeah, gaben says that piracy is a service problem.

But somehow people paying less isn't a service problem since gaben doesn't allow even non-steam versions of games that are sold on steam to be sold for less in another stores.

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u/Mimiga 1d ago

You really can’t see why it would be unfair to leverage Steam’s platform features and demonstrably paying user base for free advertising and then funnel sales away by lowering prices at a different storefront?

Steam is already being generous by letting game keys be sold outside of Steam where Steam gets ZERO revenue and still have them redeemable on Steam. A dev can literally peddle Steam keys on their website and Steam gets nothing.

Steam never tried to force third-party exclusives. All they ask is you play fair by them and not conduct business in bad faith.

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u/ilikeitslow 1d ago

Not entirely true, for external keys Steam does bill the publisher for server fees when registered and downloaded via Steam.

I mean, it's not insane price gouging or anything, but it's not charity either.

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u/Dimjenko 1d ago

AFAIK steam does not bill for servers fees etc even for externally sold games. Has this changed lately?