I like valve when they don’t take 30% margin (I don’t deny good stuff valve did, but am not a mindless fanboy like some ya all, it’s a corp nonetheless)
this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2023
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Astounded to see this take here given how much Valve have contributed to gaming on Linux in general.
Well at least we can see they spend money on the service they provide and continuously improve user experience.
As much as I agree that is too much in general, at least in steam it seems well justified compared to other platforms. We need other platforms to improve so they create good competition against steam and valve are incentivized to actually improve the platform, but the truth is all other platform holders haven't done squat to advance PC gaming:
- Epic's launcher is abysmal and lacks many QoL features, its been years, they dont get to use the "its a new platform" excuse anymore.
- EA has gutted and already gutless Origin and turned it for the worse with the new "EA app"
- Ubisoft Connect is lesser than just an intrusive DRM, it kills performance and it breaks its own apps!
- Rockstar Games launcher is very barebones and poor, not to mention the lack of games and the blatant anti-consumer practices
- Other lesser/niche platforms are not even in the running e.g. "Meta" (formerly Oculus)
In general GOG galaxy may get a pass since it is very consumer friendly and is adequate, but it would be a lie to say it is as feature rich as Steam.
Im surely missing some diamonds in the rough, but that is the issue right? They are rough. Steam is very polished even if some areas are still underdeveloped.
Lets just hope the competition is fierce enough that valve continues to make the cut have some value for developers, and lets support studios that push against steam's (and all other platforms) anti-consumer practices.
In general GOG galaxy may get a pass since it is very consumer friendly and is adequate, but it would be a lie to say it is as feature rich as Steam.
GOG Galaxy doesn't support Linux
And that's why my money still largely goes to Valve. If GOG supported Linux, I'd buy a lot more games from them, but they seem happy to just piggy back off of FOSS Heroic launcher without actually contributing to it.
I'm not expecting a Stream-level of effort, just the Galaxy launcher a way to select WINE versions. Bonus points if they have official instructions to play games on Steam Deck available on their website.
This. I'd be all over GOG but as it stands, Steam QoL on Linux is superb compared to the other options.
Plus, Proton, supporting that development, etc.
not really since new UI comes and it wrecked the BPM on Linux
And in spite of the fact that they at one point updated the community wisglist item for Galaxy on Linux to "in development" but I have never heard an update and I couldnt see it on the page anymore, but that might just be mobile.
They literally created and own the Steam marketplace. It's that or make no money on Steam.
You know how much the markup in a business (physical goods) is usually? We are talking about 100-300% markup.
Poor analogy. The retailer isn't always adding a 43% (10/7) markup to everything.
Just because other launchers offer a better cut doesn't make valve evil
Nobody is forcing game devs to use steam over epic, gog, itch etc
Plus the launcher that takes a lower cut (Epic) is famous for taking forever to add simple basic functions to their store like a shopping cart
Epic is I think one of my least favourite launchers, though heroic/legendary seems to do a better job
@flashgnash @mnemonicmonkeys i use heroic on my Mac since gog launcher won’t launch. But, I can not play windows games line I could on steam deck.
Apple are making steps towards supporting windows games but it's not there right now
Not much a launcher can do if the technology isn't out there to run the games