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by sophrosyne42 45 days ago
This kind of naiive cynicism is exactly why we don't deserve Valve, and will eventually lose companies like them.
1 comments

Valve engaged in price fixing by preventing publishers from selling games at a lower price than other platforms. They're committed to openness to the extent that it helps them undercut consoles, but not to the extent of allowing others to undercut them. Selling cheap open hardware seems like classic "commoditize your complement" tactics. (Especially since most gamers will probably just buy from the steam store when using their hardware anyways...)

I'm glad valve exists, but they are not a charity and do not need your sympathy.

The term you are looking for is price gouging (i.e., having a higher price than everyone else). However, these terms (price fixing, gouging, undercutting) are completely vaccuous, and can be equally applied to any market price, making the accusation moot. Monopoly law is just a racket designed to allow rent seeking behavior by companies who do not want to compete.