[haburka]

I think people really underestimate the brand loyalty that valve has. They have consistently shown for 25+ years to strive for quality and I know I’m unlikely to get a headache if I purchase from them.

Their hardware is really top notch, I have used a steam deck LCD for years and it was not until very recently that I had a single issue with a button that was easily fixable.

Probably the purchases went down due to some people buying the steam machine. I’m surprised the article doesn’t mention that.

[rkozik1989]

Also, consumers are increasingly being tapped out for literally anything and everything. The demand for the things they want still exists, but they cannot readily afford it like the could in the past. Its not like all the Steam Deck customers are buying some budget friendly alternative instead. They're simply just not spending money period.

[trollbridge]

The cost of computer components going up 4X could naively be believed to eliminate 80% of demand.

[wasfgwp]

And most potential buyers would likely prioritize buying a PC before they consider getting a Steam Deck so it’s likely even more sensitive to price increases.

[rob74]

Also, the market eventually gets saturated when all the gamers willing to pay 400-650 dollars for a Steam Deck already have one. That's when a company usually launches the next generation of the hardware, or reduces the prices for the current generation to widen its appeal, or both. Of course, increasing the prices while not changing the hardware (and eliminating the most affordable version) is the complete opposite of this, so it will obviously lead to a sharp decrease in sales.

[datakan]

I generally find Valve's software quality subpar but their ethics to be vastly superior to anyone else's. For that reason they are the only place I'll even look for games anymore. They aren't perfect but they at least don't hate me like Epic does.

[movedx01]

What ethics do you see being superior in the company known for exposing underages to gambling? The anyone elses must be really bad guys. Yes I like my deck and I respect their contributions to gaming on linux, but Valve is no saint.

[VerifiedReports]

Virtue signal received.

[mort96]

The gaming market is full of gambling. Steam has problems in that area but they're miles better than what Apple is doing. My impression of Steam is that it's a game delivery platform where some games sadly have gambling elements. My impression of the App Store is that it's a "gambling for kids" delivery platform.

[totetsu]

I always think now it’s funny that we Hated valve when steam was first introduced. Their pioneering of always online DRM and no physical media, soon to be followed by Bethesdas horse Armour micropayment dlc. The base line has shifted soo far from the days of freely auto p2p downloading of fan made skins on map load in q3arena.

[ChoGGi]

I was on steam beta, I thought it was great. No more having to dig around for patches, all my games in one place. It has its ups and downs, but I can't think of any other platform I'd rather use (though merit wise gog wins).

[schmookeeg]

Really? when you hear "steam" you think "the pioneers in exposing underage kids to gambling" ?

I can't even picture gaben with a wispy moustache to twist evilly. I think that would look ridiculous on him. :)

Your "bad guys" are my "people are apparently and inexplicably mad that steam doesn't do their parenting for them" guys.

[movedx01]

Yes, they basically pioneered lootboxes, they shaped and scaled microtransaction economy around randomized outcome purchases under disguise of gaming and then slapped a marketplace on top of it(to take even further cut %% nonetheless).

> I can't even picture gaben with a wispy moustache to twist evilly.

Add a 500m gigayacht to the picture, maybe it will make it easier. Or a fleet.

[ChoGGi]

> Yes, they basically pioneered lootboxes

MapleStory and FIFA have that crown, though Valve certainly did their part to popularize them.

[artisinal]

Gigayachts that are used for tax avoidance.

[HelloUsername]

Didn't it take for Valve to lose a court case in order to offer refunds? https://web.archive.org/web/20180427063845/https://store.ste...

Also, Valve could decide at any moment what happens with your game library. Unlike GOG, where you can download and save the .exe or .dmg file, Steam can just pull the plug and make you lose all your games and money.

[ChoGGi]

Wasn't that court ruling only for Australia? Valve choose to make it worldwide, that should give them some credit?

Though I always assumed they didn't want to bother making a refund system till they had to, then they figured might as well unlock the floodgates (not that I know anyone at Valve).

[idiotsecant]

I don't really care why the experience is the best in the industry, only that it is.

[Brian_K_White]

But the comment explicitly says the opposite, that the experience is subpar but they value the ethics more. This comment is pointing out the ethics are not so great.

[mort96]

No, they said the software quality is sub par. I generally agree: Steam isn't a great piece of software, but it works tolerably well and everything surrounding it makes it a better experience than any alternative I know of.

[pipes]

I used to agree with this sentiment. But now I think they engage in some nasty practices, like not allowing developers to list their games on other online stores at cheaper prices. That and they take a large cut (30 percent I think) Vs epic store at 12 percent as far as I can recall.

I mostly buy from gog because they give your the download to keep for life. Also I just like them. However getting their games to work on steam deck is more time consuming than just buying from steam

I'd be happy to find out that I've been misinformed but I'm pretty certain this is all true.

[mashlol]

Valve does allow listing on other stores at other prices. They even allow you to sell Steam keys for your game on other stores for lower prices - and they earn $0 for that while still providing the infrastructure for those players to download/play.

Edit: I think for steam key sales actually you're supposed to sell for the same price as Steam, but I can't seem to find the documentatiom stating either way

Edit 2: Ah, here is something stating it "You should use Steam Keys to sell your game on other stores in a similar way to how you sell your game on Steam. It is important that you don’t give Steam customers a worse deal than Steam Key purchasers." (https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/keys)

However, I know many games have steam keys indeed available for cheaper on other stores. Not sure how much valve actually cares, or if they have special permission or what.

[functionmouse]

they allow selling your game on other websites, but not for substantially cheaper. Isn't this what Wolfire Games (Overgrowth, Lugaru, Receiver) sued them over?

[jasonjmcghee]

Not trying to be an apologist for anyone, but if the epic store could charge 30%, it's hard for me to believe they wouldn't.

[kotaKat]

They charge 63% for user-created items inside Fortnite as of next year. No, you don't get to build your own store inside Fortnite, but you do get to bend over to Epic's price gouging and profiteering of its own.

[idiotsecant]

The epic store is hot trash, as evidenced by the fact that they pay devs massive amounts of money for timed exclusives and people still don't use it

[stonedivot]

What Valve software have you used that is subpar? It must be a lot of it since you said you "generally" find this to be true.

[pjerem]

Steam client is pretty bad. It's slow, full of ads, inconsistent, complex ... Its only quality is that everything else is worse and that it have an interesting ecosystem and ok tier customer policies (but that's unrelated to the software).

The thing takes several seconds to start on my brand new gaming rig. Not insufferable but given its only usefulness is to list my games and start one, that's a lot.

[leoc]

They have a proven unwillingness over many years to do what it takes to make Steam voice chat work reliably. It seems that their objective with Steam Chat is to do just enough to ensure that all Steam item-trading communication remains on their platform (for the worthy reason of controlling scamming).

[ChoGGi]

What ads?

I think there's a start-up popup you can turn off in the client settings. I've never seen ads other than their storefront, but I want ads there.

[datakan]

The Steam client for starters but pretty much every game they initially released since 1997 was extremely buggy. They also struggle very hard to even release much anymore. I'll give them kudos on supporting OSS and their Proton development.

[idiotsecant]

this is peak cs era opinion, valve puts out extremely high quality real software now, just none of it is games.

[jauntywundrkind]

I'll be interested to see what happens as more and more gamers start getting into extreme old age. The lack of right of first sale, that your many thousands of dollar catalog of beloved games & your saves kicks the bucket with you is going to be a not great look for Steam some day.

I'm also a little nervous that maybe Valve works on getting the anti-cheat solution improved for Steam hardware, but the rest of Linux gets left behind. Steam has such a halo now, and this would but a subtle but serious tarnish that would never wash off. No massive up front damage but it would be the cusp, a point that would be hard to recover from.

Like the first point, there's also the general risk that someday Gabe isn't around to keep the ship pointed on the right direction. That they turn into a Nintendo, a company who never misses a chance to squander good will, to do the most MBA thing they can, that is as un-ppen as possible by design. See for example Nintendo's recent response to customers asking for some of the tariff refund money Nintendo is claiming.

[wasfgwp]

That’s a somewhat privileged view though? Most people are just unwilling to pay >$800 for a handheld console (or can’t actually afford it).

Presumably most potential buyers have PCs already that they use for gaming so it’s a luxury to spend that much on a Steam Deck.

[ryukoposting]

I'm seriously considering one of the new Intel G3 handhelds as a desktop replacement. Consumer PC hardware has rocketed past anything I might actually use. I just don't need a desktop anymore.

[ekianjo]

> Their hardware is really top notch

Agree with the sentiment but let's not forget the awful fan noise issue impacting many users at launch.

[paxys]

The purchases went down because people can't afford a mid-tier gaming handheld priced like a high end AAA PC.

[pigpag]

Not really. Have their Valvr Index and rarely use it. But one base station started making loud noise after 2 weeks but still functional. I was too lazy to ask for replacement, but the other one quietly (pun intended) died and when I found out it was out of warranty. Later I learned that the basestations are infested with quality issues. Pretty bad taste for me.