Consider building a tower, downloading everything youve purchased on steam, and keep it offline. Maybe have a 2nd set of hard drives as a backup. Put these priceless artifacts in your will.

Plan accordingly and enjoy the ride while it lasts.

[–] Laser@feddit.org 15 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I love steam, but let's get real here for a second. Valve will change some day. Enshitification is inevitable.

Steam is an example where I'm not sure when it would happen.

It already comes with a hefty fee of 30% per sale on the platform. I don't think they can raise that without serious backlash. And there also isn't really a need, Steam prints money. It prints money because it's where users are. Users are there because they like the features. Some good features are only there because of laws (e.g. refunding); Valve can't remove these.

So how would you make the service even more profitable?

Enshittification happens because corporations want (more) money out of a service that built a userbase. These were often running at a loss. To turn a profit, they need to change.

Steam can sell you licenses to games you don't own already. It's up to each publisher. Valve doesn't care, they just deliver.

[–] Gingernate@programming.dev 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Arrg matey!

[–] Khrux@ttrpg.network 7 points 2 months ago

I don't play many AAA games but I'm forever gutted that the fight to make them able to be pirated is a losing battle. I want to pay for my indie games but on occasion I look online at the crack status of AAA games from oecen 2-3 years ago and they're still not playable.

It creates a weird dichotomy where people who pirate or at least don't buy expensive games don't take part in the mainstream gaming conversation at all, which is totally different from the rest of pirated media.

[–] communist@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

They will never go public so enshittification rules don't necessarily apply

[–] jeff@programming.dev 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Never say never, but I don't think it's going to happen while Gabe is in charge

[–] communist@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I doubt gabe would choose a successor that would make steam public either, though.

[–] jeff@programming.dev 5 points 2 months ago

Maybe, maybe not. As equity holders get older they may be looking to cash out so they can fuel their retirements.

I don't think that's something Gabe is interested in, but we're talking about what will happen when he dies.

[–] ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 months ago

Sure, but hopefully that's a very long time away, and there's always piracy. Hopefully Gabe lasts for another 20 years or longer. Hopefully he has a high-quality person as a successor.