Yeah... that explanation was helpful to me because I'm... young...

Loved that show back in the day. Your link might be borked, tho

I'm Juuuust old enough to remember this cartoon, but was too young to really watch it

AI slop

I'd like to be clear what you're referring to, because I only know two things Valve is allowing in that regard

1. Games using GenAI are allowed on steam, but disclosure is required, which is a position I appreciate.
2. Steam hosts promotion events organized by third parties, where banners are displayed, a special page is available, and a lot of games go on sale - in those events (and AFAIK, none of Valve's own events) promotional art is displayed that is submitted by those third parties, and sometimes has blatant GenAI use

Is there something else I'm unaware of? Because otherwise I guess it's a matter of where you draw the line, because I'd still consider Steam the best platform available, and have to agree to disagree.

The point is that it could be worse, considerably worse. Yes, I know, the standards are low nowadays. I try to stay with GOG where possible but with Linux, you sometimes have better compatibility with Steam versions and you have the steam DB reducing the risks even further, even if that is not from Valve itself.

multiplayer company ownership

FYI it's "reins", not "reigns".

let's hope they won't turn it into an extraction shooter.

I think that would be best, like bobs red mill.

Employee owned (like John Lewis and Richer Sounds) or customer owned (like the supermarket)

Support good competitors like GoG

With the direction things are going, it looks like GoG may get bought by someone else or just go bankrupt, sadly.

I buy GoG over Steam without exception, but sadly it seems most gamers are not that way.

"Nonprofit" and "Valve" don't belong in the same universe. Valve is and has been 100/ about making money, and it's been very, very good at it. They behave like they do because they aren't publicly traded, so there aren't short-term investors wanting to pump the stock and bail out, so they look at actual long-term investment and profit strategies.

People love Steam around here, but it was the beginning of modern enshittification of gaming. It was literally launched as a way to create an online activation requirement for a single-player game (Half Life 2), and they've fully-embraced lootbox mechanics for years.

Gabe is a billionaire yacht collector, not your buddy. Public companies exist to drive up share value at all times. Valve exists to make Gabe more money.

Probably GoG, itch.io, or just direct sales. A lot of companies aren’t set up for physical distribution, aren’t big enough to get their product into the retail channels, and/or would have a hard time selling internationally. Steam didn’t invent digital game sales, they just made it a little easier. I think the first game I bought online was around 2000 or 2001. It was DX-Ball 2 from Longbow Digital Arts (RIP Seumas McNally), along with a screensaver I loved that they’ve open sourced and I wish I could get it running on macOS and Linux. I was still in high school and didn’t have a credit card, so I paid using a postal money order. If developers were selling directly in the ’90s they can make it work again.

GOG is always the go-to. Steam only if you can't wait to play it or its multi-player.

Oh yeah let me just pull entire factory tooling and logistical supply chains out of my hat.

Pro suggests he's getting paid.

His dad literally owns the team.