this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2026
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It's not, really. Steam runs under capitalism. They're just a super outlier in that they're a billion dollar company that doesn't have shareholders. They're basically the wet dream that conservatives are trying to sell you but that just fails 99.9% of the time due to greed.
I wonder what is the driving force for capitalism...
Is it the Singular pursiut of profit to enrich oneself?
Is there another wird for that?
Could that be the very motivation the system is build upon?
So the whole system doesnt Work how it is promoted, but is just a facade to keep the status quo and that means the rich stay rich and the poor stay barely not revolting.
So of course No Steam doesnt run under capitalism it crawls under capitalism. It works despite of capitalism.
Comrade Gaben's yacht is the people's yacht, apparently.
The Point
Whoosh
Your Head
The support and research vessel https://aftermath.site/gabe-newell-steam-valve-yacht/
You're confused. Steam is an American company and America is (you may have noticed) a capitalist nation.
The point is that you can participate and thrive in capitalism without doing every resource extracting enshittification strategy in the book, which seems to be just Business 101 these days.
Is Steam perfect? Probably not. But most other major players in this space seem to leap at every chance to charge people more while worsening their product and then we get thought pieces wondering how Steam remains popular by virtue of not actively making things worse.
The point is, that's still capitalism.
When someone asserts 'capitalism is intrinsically awful because it's inseparable from x y and z' they cannot then praise a successful company doing capitalism without x y or z. You're supposed to experience this thing called cognitive dissonance. Contradictory ideas should not fit in your brain.
So you would disagree that the driving Factor of capitalism is Profit?
Because that is all i said factually. I said in a tone you dont like, but nonetheless.
What other economic system do you imagine Valve is operating under?
Are you even reading my comments or are you just exhausting your dialogue options?
I explicitly said they are crawling despite capitalism.
Engage with the content of what is said and not with the straw man you want to imagine.
The content of what you're saying is "despite capitalism." But what they're doing... is just capitalism. They're not a fucking co-op forced to exist within the context of capitalism. They're a private corporation. Their founder and CEO lives on a yacht.
They are an example of capitalism going well, not some kind of counterexample to capitalism itself. In no sense are they "crawling." Again: yacht. They have a fuckton of money, and a supermajority of sales in an open market, to the point they're a de facto monopoly. Y'all need to stop implying they're doing anything besides bog-standard capitalism.
And yet they ignore the most lucrative thing in existence currently, so they ignore the profit incentive.
I never said anything about it being a counter example to capitalism.
The Steam zealots can try to deny Iit but steams Most important edge in the Market is their Network effect and first mover advantage. That's why they can afford to sleep on the technology that reduces production cost.
Again because you have missed that on multiple occasions already which is quite the achievement given the scarcity of comments:
I never said anything about it being a counter example to capitalism. So please do not pretend like I said that.
They are insanely profitable.
The fuck do you mean, "they ignore the profit incentive?" Like it's not true capitalism unless they reject everything besides money money more money all the money only money matters.
People point out that what they're doing is plainly capitalism, and you repeatedly counter, they are "crawling despite capitalism." What does that fucking mean? What are you trying to say, if not this?
I feel I've been clear in establishing, it's still capitalism, even when it's not maximally evil. No zealotry is required, to point out, they are absolutely doing shit for profit, even if that doesn't mean setting puppies on fire to fuel the torment nexus for the biggest profit you can imagine. Capitalism that's less awful than the worst examples still counts - unlike what the root comment treats as inseparable from the premise.
Capitalisms motivator is Profit
So when they are not doing everything in their Power to make a Profit, that is not true capitalism.
You cannot Just ignore the core aspect of capitalism and still claim it to be capitalism.
What the fuck is capitalism supposed to be then?
Capitalism is when Money?
Capitalism ist when trade?
Or the hilarious capitalism is when freedom?
So it's not capitalism?
I know the American schools are bad, but holy shit.
So it is capitalism.
Unfortunately i cannot make it blink in Red or make it Take on the taste of hamburgers. I dont know what an American needs to auccessfully decipher a sentanced that doesnt corralte to its programming... And to be quite honest i give up.
When you repeat yourself the, what? Third or fourth time? It is clearly an issue of differing cognitive Processing, that i am not qualified to synchronize.
Right, it's not a counter example to capitalism, we just cannot ignore the core aspect of capitalism and still claim it to be capitalism.
If a business does not do literally everything possible to make number go up, that's not true Scotsman, I mean capitalism. How could private ownership and wage labor and charging a premium for other studios' work be capitalism, and also how dare you say I claim it's not capitalism?
I am reading the words you write.
Are you?
Didn't say it wasn't still Capitalism. But there is still nuance between one company doing everything it can to squeeze alout as much 'potential profit' possible at the expense of their products and the consumers v one that maintains the quality of product and service a the expense of 'potential profit'.
Whatever Ism you prefer still requires people to set and maintain a standard. The lack of standards and accountability is how you get the race to the bottom.
You didn't but the person they replied to did.
I really don't know what you're trying to say here. These terms are not mutually exclusive. It really just feels like you're being pedantic.
To be honest to explain this to you is like explaining a fish what is Air or a blind Person the color yellow, so no worries.
Yeah I didn't think so.