this post was submitted on 04 Nov 2025
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A monopoly would imply that you have no choice, which is not only incorrect in a way where you cant have other stores, but also incorrect in a way where other stores dont already exist.
Steam is only a monopoly in a sense, where the competition repeatedly shoots itself in the feet, and then blames anyone but themselves
One could argue Steam is a case of monopoly that is mostly "caused" because the users keep choosing it even though there are plenty of options to buy from. But, as you pointed out, most of those options don't offer the quality of service Steam does, even the ones that can financially invest to bring them on par, it really feels like they don't want to. Like Ubisoft store is shit, but people have to download it because their game only works through it even when you buy from Steam
Valve is a “natural monopoly”.
Yeah, I'm still waiting for a GOG Linux client, a Uplay Linux client, a Linux client from Epic etc.