Valve "played capitalism so well they broke it" and now Steam can't be replaced

Re:Valve "played capitalism so well they broke it" and now S... by SockThief on Monday November 02, 2026 @04:45PM (#50344269)

The biggest moat of Steam is not being greedy assholes.

GOG is doing fine. itch.io is good enough.

Epic is just crap and it shows.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Valve "played capitalism so well they broke it" and now S... by parlortricks on Monday November 02, 2026 @04:57PM (#50344425)

Forgot to add to my own post, but itch.io is fantastic too for all the other indie stuff I want. Does feel like Steam, GOG and itch cover off most things required across the ecosystem.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Valve "played capitalism so well they broke it" and now S... by throw10920 on Tuesday November 03, 2026 @12:15AM (#50348367)

And it isn't even a "moat" - you can install Steam and GOG and Itch and Epic!

I wouldn't recommend you install Epic, though. Steam and GOG and Itch are happy to coexist - Epic eagerly weaponizes exclusivity agreements and sinks millions of dollars into anti-competitive practices.

> Sweeney has himself said that Epic is catering to Publishers and not consumers/gamers.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50346880

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Re:Valve "played capitalism so well they broke it" and now S... by TiredOfLife on Tuesday November 03, 2026 @02:30AM (#50349121)

Exactly. I bought Portal and Half-life on GOG. Oh wait..

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Re:Valve "played capitalism so well they broke it" and now S... by throw10920 on Tuesday November 03, 2026 @10:27AM (#50353206)

Did you respond to the wrong comment? Yours is completely unrelated to mine.

[ Parent | on HN ]