this post was submitted on 20 May 2026
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Is Valve better than many other gaming companies? Yes. Is it because they have better morals? No.
It's because they're not publicly traded, so their practices focus on long-term profit and growth instead of short-term. They dont treat cusomer better than EA because it's the right thing to do. They do it because the short-term profits from it are less than the long-term profits from having a loyal customer base.
They still operate for profit above all else.
Gabe is a billionaire yacht collector. He's not your friend. He's a parasite with good marketing.
say it louder for the people who haven't internalized that there's no such thing as a good billionaire
What do you have against the people of Zimbabwe?
LMAO
A privately-owned company has better morals by default. Most are also privately-owned because they want to keep their morals.
Valve's growth of Steam was flexibly scalable in a way that didn't require a huge capital investment like buying a bunch of real estate, so they didn't need the cash infusionoffered by going public. Keeping it private is more profitable.
You think greedy corporations give a shit about "needs" or "long-term plans"? Keeping it private is more profitable in the long term, but most corporations don't think in those time periods. They think about the next quarter, making that line go up all the time, and when to cash out of their sweet infusion and dump the company.
Valve and, by extension, Gabe's decision to keep the company private is a choice. He wants a legacy that lasts, and you don't get that from fucking over your customers or making the company public.
We don't judge companies by their intent, but by their actions. Does it matter WHY Steam treats customers better than EA, as long as they do so?
I guess that's the sad truth.
Finally, a sane comment on valve
Hey but some of his yachts have like, hospital beds and shit. No I don't know why that makes it better but apparently it does.
So, basically Apple?
How dare they exploit the human need for video game cosmetics!
Right? Heaven forbid anyone have any level of self fucking control.