Valve to Face Antitrust Lawsuit Over Steam Gaming Platform

Newbie_52 said:
For you all having memory issues, can you uncheck enable gpu accelerated rendering in web..... settings - interface ->. View attachment 475103

https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/6502
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I've tried this, didn't do anything. Having said that, I think this problem has been resolved with the latest round of updates. Here's a screenie of steamwebhelper memory usage today, memory useage is higher, but not as high as I've seen it.

I'm gonna keep monitoring this:

VRjgFWk.png
 
There's no real point comparing different platforms when different operating systems use differing schedulers and implement differing memory management/memory optimization. Furthermore there's nothing to state that the development of Steam under Windows tracks the development of Steam under Linux.

There's also no real point simply comparing memory usage when everything is running ideally for the reason mentioned above, as well as the fact that differing memory capacities are going to be utilized differently.
 
NightReaver said:
I'm amazed to this day that anybody can take EGS seriously. Literally the only time I see any positive mention of EGS is when they're giving out free games or some timed exclusive. How is that healthy in anyway? I never hear anything good about EGS as a service or as a product. Only when they're giving out gibs.
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Initially I felt the same way - but now I think Epic is taking the extremely long view. Take it this way: HOW would you possibly begin to compete with Steam, honestly, as an actual platform? Forget niche DRMs like Origin, I'm talking an entire platform.

Here's when it changed my mind - after getting about two years worth of free games (however long its been) I noticed two things.

1. I checked Epic and DIDN'T buy something I wanted off of Steam, just to see if it was cheaper.

2. EGS is running on my computer regularly, simply so I get the free game notifications.

That's a big deal in the SaaS world. The money they are spending to do that is chump change to them --the biggest thing they've done is put a chink in the exclusivity armor of Steam. Valve never really built anything community wise on Steam that was special; I don't care about the social features and never really have. (Imagine if they had built something like Discord or Twitch, early on, integrated, but that's easy hindsight)

The point is not to win. The point is to be first considered even in the realm of competition. If gamers start checking EGS for Prices when a game comes out, that's a big win for EGS.
 
Eh, I use websites to check game prices these days. isthereanydeal and gg.deals. Steam's pop-ups get annoying enough, I don't need them from Epic too especially because Epic launcher usually takes 5-10s every time I pop out of a game to refresh itself and its game list screen has gotten slower to load over the past year.
 
Flogger23m said:
I don't really want that in Steam, and I assume many people don't either. I want it to be as minimal as possible. The chat feature could be better, but Discord is a bloated, impossible to navigate mess.
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Steam is already too bloated as it is.
 
Flogger23m said:
I don't really want that in Steam, and I assume many people don't either. I want it to be as minimal as possible. The chat feature could be better, but Discord is a bloated, impossible to navigate mess.
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You aren't wrong - I am thinking of Discord from maybe 3 years ago, not the mess it has become.
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
steam is not monopoly,
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Monopolistic power is not something that simply goes does a competition exist, but has some notion of relevant force.

Microsoft was never a strict monopoly I think, but people argued that it had monopolistic power.

  • Steam is the world’s largest distributor of PC games, taking up 75% of the global market share.
And for indie/third party game, game sold not directly on the publisher own platform (cyberpunk/witcher on GoG, Ubi game on the store, etc...) we could imagine a percentage ridiculously high.
 
I hope Steam's popularity continues to grow, as they do far more than simply act as an online games store, and have probably been in the industry far longer than anyone else - I don't see anyone pushing the notion of alternate PC platforms to the extent Valve have done, and while it's naturally a business decision, it's a commendable business decision that's working.

I also hope Epic die in an horrific dumpster fire.
 
LukeTbk said:
Monopolistic power is not something that simply goes does a competition exist, but has some notion of relevant force.

Microsoft was never a strict monopoly I think, but people argued that it had monopolistic power.

  • Steam is the world’s largest distributor of PC games, taking up 75% of the global market share.
And for indie/third party game, game sold not directly on the publisher own platform (cyberpunk/witcher on GoG, Ubi game on the store, etc...) we could imagine a percentage ridiculously high.
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Monopoly on access perhaps. Despite the fact there is plenty of price competition on Steam compared to other stores. Though lately those other stores (ubisoft, epic, origin, gog) have started to allow that access to approved 3rd party sellers.

US state gov run schools have never been a strict monopoly but most people seem to think they're the best way to do things. Then they cry about lack of options for tv, phone, internet, food options and cry about monopolies. Rationality and the word monopoly have not co-existed for 150 years in the USA.
 
Mazzspeed said:
I hope Steam's popularity continues to grow, as they do far more than simply act as an online games store, and have probably been in the industry far longer than anyone else - I don't see anyone pushing the notion of alternate PC platforms to the extent Valve have done, and while it's naturally a business decision, it's a commendable business decision that's working.
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Ironically, Steam is in the console market now.
 
LukeTbk said:
Monopolistic power is not something that simply goes does a competition exist, but has some notion of relevant force.

Microsoft was never a strict monopoly I think, but people argued that it had monopolistic power.

  • Steam is the world’s largest distributor of PC games, taking up 75% of the global market share.
And for indie/third party game, game sold not directly on the publisher own platform (cyberpunk/witcher on GoG, Ubi game on the store, etc...) we could imagine a percentage ridiculously high.
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Pfft in terms of units it affects its child's play to where Google, Apple, Sony and Microsoft are. Apple has a stronger hold of games even sold on it's laptops and PC's.

Steam while large, does NOT have monopolistic power. It's not even in the same stratosphere as Apple. Steam's power is specifically on X86 PCs (not consoles, phones, or kiosks), that's it. In all other areas other stores blow it out of the water. A Microsoft comparison is a joke as it's office suite alone even had a monopoly on Apple, and still does till this day.

What all this is about is really other mammoth companies using the courts and government to gain units. It's really not much more than that.
 
People may not agree, and as a Linux user perhaps I see things differently. But personally I've always been suspicions that both Apple and Microsoft are in the back pocket of Adobe - As there's no reason why the Adobe CC cannot be released under Linux and be popular, there was even official Adobe slides at one point showing the Adobe CC running under Ubuntu. I believe both Apple and Microsoft pay Adobe to make sure they don't release their CC to a broader user base (No, I'm not interested in percentages, it's still an untapped user base with growth potential).

In the same way, I believe Microsoft are in the back pocket of Tim Sweeney and his Epic platform. I believe MS are getting nervous at the advances being made regarding Win32 compatibility under Linux and the work Valve are putting into attracting a broader user base, and I think there's pressure being applied to certain gaming platforms to put a stop to these advancements.

Because, realistically speaking, unless you want to claim that Valve cover a broader range of x64 platforms (and apparently consoles, but I'm not too sure how popular Valve are on console) - Every game platform appears to trade blows when it comes to the number/type of titles available. If Valve hold the larger user base, it's because:

A: They don't ignore Linux users and actually treat them as an untapped source of revenue.

and...

B: They've quite simply been in the game since the beginning. If it wasn't for Gabe Newell pushing gaming under Windows during his time at Microsoft, there's every change it never would have happened as Microsoft exec's simply weren't interested at the time.
 
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FlawleZ said:
Anyone else still remember when games were released stand alone without a platform? MANY great games, in fact.
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Receiving my HL2 disc and realizing the game was not actually tied to the disc in anyway was so disappointing, I couldn't believe it was so restrictive. I still remember Dragon Age Origins was the last 'simple disc check' game I bought that wasn't full of DRM and had something you felt like you owned.
 
kac77 said:
What all this is about is really other mammoth companies using the courts and government to gain units. It's really not much more than that.
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? you think that a mammoth compagnies are secretly behind this ? A la Peter Thiel behind Hulk Hogan.

kac77 said:
Steam's power is specifically on X86 PCs (not consoles, phones, or kiosks), that's it
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Yes that exactly where the claim of monolistic power is said, purely on X86 PC game market, not on the video game market.

Apple has 14-20% of the smarthphone market, does not really compare to steam 75%.

kac77 said:
A Microsoft comparison is a joke as it's office suite alone even had a monopoly on Apple
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Many competitive office like suite exist on Apple, from google to LibreOffice, it was not a comparison, it was a claim that the existence of a competition (like Unix/Linux where on the x86 PC market and apple on the personal computer market) is not enough to say that the claim of monopolistic like power is being used by a company.
 
LukeTbk said:
? you think that a mammoth compagnies are secretly behind this ? A la Peter Thiel behind Hulk Hogan.
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Companies routinely use courts to seek advantages. Look up Rambus.
LukeTbk said:
Yes that exactly where the claim of monolistic power is said, purely on X86 PC game market, not on the video game market.
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If you think Valve isn't going to bring up the point I'm making you're crazy. The video game market is huge. Having 19% of the total video game market does not a monopoly make. This is why Apple is able to have a monopoly on their products. Overall compared to Intel, Microsoft, AMD they are chicken scratch.

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LukeTbk said:
Apple has 14-20% of the smarthphone market, does not really compare to steam 75%.
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Not in the video game market. Steam does not have 75% of that. It's got at best 19%.
LukeTbk said:
Many competitive office like suite exist on Apple, from google to LibreOffice, it was not a comparison, it was a claim that the existence of a competition (like Unix/Linux where on the x86 PC market and apple on the personal computer market) is not enough to say that the claim of monopolistic like power is being used by a company.
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None of them hold a candle to what Microsoft's Office suite has on the platform. As for "is not enough to say that the claim of monopolistic like power is being used by a company" would apply to your stance here as well.
 
ZeroBarrier said:
I also remember when demos were a thing and gave you a basic idea of what the game you wanted to spend your money on was like before shelling up the cold hard cash.
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I use to play demos sometimes and not even buy the game lol .

Not because I had to just the demo was so much fun even when not buying the game. Which is weird.
 
kac77 said:
Companies routinely use courts to seek advantages. Look up Rambus.
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Yes but we know who is officially behind the lawsuit and it is not but really not a competitor of steam, so the question of do you think they are secretly behind this ?

kac77 said:
As for "is not enough to say that the claim of monopolistic like power is being used by a company" would apply to your stance here as well.
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For sure and the monopolistic like power, actual action need not just be demonstrated but also usually harm to consumer at the end has well (usually where it does not hold much for something like an Apple App store, google search engine, youtube videos and I would imagine steam)
 
LukeTbk said:
Monopolistic power is not something that simply goes does a competition exist, but has some notion of relevant force.

Microsoft was never a strict monopoly I think, but people argued that it had monopolistic power.

  • Steam is the world’s largest distributor of PC games, taking up 75% of the global market share.
And for indie/third party game, game sold not directly on the publisher own platform (cyberpunk/witcher on GoG, Ubi game on the store, etc...) we could imagine a percentage ridiculously high.
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uh what?

The video game industry as a whole marked yet another sales record last year, being now worth over 130 billion U.S. dollars. 2022’s Top 10 biggest video game brands are also largely the same as in the previous years. The following lists the Top 10 biggest video game companies 2022 in the world by the achieved gaming revenue last year.

Note: Only the gaming revenue is being taken into account for this ranking. Revenue that a company may have generated from other branches of business is irrelevant here.
While video game companies can technically be seen as software companies, non-gaming software sales are not being counted here. Check out the separate ranking for the Top 10 Largest Software Companies.

The 10 Biggest Video Games Companies in the World 2022​

game-companies-1024x683.jpg

1. Sony​

1920px-Sony_logo.svg.png

Sony Group Corporation​

Gaming Revenue: $24.9 billion

Founded in: 1946
Based in: Tokyo, Tokyo Prefecture, Japan
Main industry: Electronics

Most profitable game sold in 2021: PlayStation 5 (video game console)

Official Gaming Website


Sony remains the biggest video game company in the world in 2022. The Japanese tech giant now makes most of its gaming revenue, which totaled $24.9 billion last year, with the PlayStation 5 which came out in 2020 and became the world’s most popular next-gen video game console. However, Sony also produces many original video games for its console. The company’s handheld video game console, the PlayStation Vita, contributed to Sony’s no.1 position on the video game market as well.

2. Microsoft​

1920px-Microsoft_logo_2012.svg.png

Microsoft Corporation​

Gaming Revenue: $16.3 billion

Founded in: 1975
Based in: Redmond, Washington, USA
Main industry: Software

Most profitable game sold in 2021: Xbox Series X/S (video game console)

Official Gaming Website


The world’s largest software company is also the world’s second-largest video game company. Microsoft made around $16.3 billion with Xbox Game Studios, the company’s gaming branch. The gaming revenue was primarily generated by Microsoft’s new next-gen Xbox Series X/S sales of course, but Microsoft additionally develops video games itself or owns studios that do. A good example of this is Mojang. The Swedish video game studio, which is owned by Microsoft, is known for creating Minecraft, which has recently become the most popular video game in history.

In 2022, Microsoft announced its plan to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, which would mark the most expensive acquisition ever within the gaming industry.

3. Nintendo​

1920px-Nintendo.svg.png

Nintendo Co., Ltd.​

Gaming Revenue: $15.3 billion

Founded in: 1889
Based in: Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Main industry: Gaming

Most profitable game sold in 2021: Pokemon Legends: Arceus

Official Website


Despite remaining in third place in this ranking of the Top 10 biggest video game companies in 2022, last year was still a very successful year for Japanese video game company Nintendo, helping the company to remain the world’s biggest purely video game developer. Nintendo’s revenue success, $15.3 billion last year, is largely driven not only by continued sales of the Nintendo Switch console but also by Pokemon Legends: Arceus, which proved to be the best-selling video game for Nintendo in the past year.

4. Tencent​

1920px-Tencent_Logo.svg-1.png

Tencent Holdings Ltd.​

Gaming Revenue: $13.9 billion

Founded in: 1998
Based in: Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
Main industry: Social Media

Most profitable game sold in 2021: PUGB: Mobile

Official Website


Chinese internet conglomerate Tencent is also involved in the video game business with an impressive gaming revenue of $13.9 billion. Tencent primarily focuses on online and mobile smartphone games, such as the company’s mobile flagship games PUGB: Mobile or Honor of Kings. But through the many video game studios, the corporation owns all over the world, Tencent has also become a big player on the video game big screen.

Tencent most notably owns Riot Games, the American video game studio that created League of Legends, a popular multiplayer battle arena game enjoyed by millions of players all around the world, even professionally. Tencent also owns shares in several other video game companies, such as in American video game giants Epic Games (40%) and Activision Blizzard (5%), South Korean Krafton Game Union (11.5%), or French video game company Ubisoft (5%).

5. Activision Blizzard​

Activision_Blizzard_logo.png

Activision Blizzard, Inc.​

Gaming Revenue: $8.8 billion

Founded in: 2008
(by merger of Activision & Blizzard Entertainment)
Based in: Santa Monica, California, USA
Main industry: Gaming

Most profitable game sold in 2021: Call of Duty: Vanguard

Official Website


Activision Blizzard comes fifth in the top 10 biggest video companies ranking of 2022. Founded in 2008 by the merger of American video game companies Activision and Blizzard Entertainment, Activision Blizzard generated $8.8 billion last year. The California-based video game studio can, as always, rely on its by far most historic game series Call of Duty, even the series’ latest installment, Call of Duty: Vanguard, saw a decline in sales compared to last year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops game.

6. Electronic Arts​

Electronic_Arts_logo.png

Electronic Arts Inc.​

Gaming Revenue: $5.6 billion

Founded in: 1982
Based in: Redwood City, California, USA
Main industry: Gaming

Most profitable game sold in 2021: FIFA 22

Official Website


7. Epic Games​

882px-Epic_Games_logo.svg.png

Epic Games, Inc.​

Gaming Revenue: $5.1 billion

Founded in: 1991
Based in: Cary, North Carolina, USA
Main industry: Gaming

Most profitable game sold in 2021: Fortnite: Save the World

Official Website


8. Take-Two Interactive​

1024px-Take-Two_Interactive_Logo.svg_.png

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.​

Gaming Revenue: $3.4 billion

Founded in: 1993
Based in: New York City, New York, USA
Main industry: Gaming

Most profitable game sold in 2021: NBA 2K22

Official Website


9. Ubisoft​

Ubisoft_logo.png

Ubisoft Entertainment SA​

Gaming Revenue: $2.5 billion

Founded in: 1986
Based in: Montreuil, Ile-de-France, France
Main industry: Gaming

Most profitable game sold in 2021: Far Cry 6

Official Gaming Website


10. Bandai Namco​

BANDAI_NAMCO_logo.svg.png

Bandai Namco Holdings Inc.​

Gaming Revenue: $2.0 billion

Founded in: 2005
(through merger of Bandai & Namco)
Based in: Tokyo, Japan
Main industry: Toys

Most profitable game sold in 2021: Little Nightmares II

Official Gaming Website


The 10 Biggest Video Games Companies in the World 2022​

(based on latest revenue numbers as of March 2022, in U.S. Dollars)

TOP 10 BIGGEST VIDEO GAME COMPANIES IN THE WORLD:
1. SONY
Gaming Revenue: $24.9 billion
2. MICROSOFT
Gaming Revenue: $16.3 billion
3. NINTENDO
Gaming Revenue: $15.3 billion
4. TENCENT
Gaming Revenue: $13.9 billion
5. ACTIVISION BLIZZARD
Gaming Revenue: $8.8 billion
6. ELECTRONIC ARTS
Gaming Revenue: $5.6 billion
7. EPIC GAMES
Gaming Revenue: $5.1 billion
8. TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE
Gaming Revenue: $3.4 billion
9. UBISOFT
Gaming Revenue: $2.5 billion
10. BANDAI NAMCO
Gaming Revenue: $2.0 billion

Valve is worth 4 Billion so that slots them in at #8 in the above list
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
uh what?
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Not sure how much the above tell us about Steam power in the independent game market not sold by their publisher platform.

The trial is not about steam having monopoly on video game, sometime I feel people have not read said case here before posting, is it possible ?
 
LukeTbk said:
Not sure how much the above tell us about Steam power in the independent game market not sold by their publisher platform.

The trial is not about steam having monopoly on video game, sometime I feel people have not read said case here before posting, is it possible ?
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well thank you... now take some of that there advice and follow it and go back were people were claiming monopoly in this thread..

XBL has 90 Million monthly users
Playstation has 47.6
Erpic Games 19.4 Million
Steam just edges out MS at 95 million monthly

from the OP

Litigation link
https://www.bloomberglaw.com/public...ionDocketNo221cv00563WDWashApr27/3?1652196691

US District Judge John C. Coughenour has ruled that Valve is going to face an antitrust case over Steam. Wolfire Games has alleged that the company created a "most favored nation" type monopoly over the industry that exploits developers and consumers. Valve is accused of having so much control over games industry with the Steam gaming platform that the corporation even dictates the prices and manner in which a developer can sell their non-Steam-enabled games.
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
well thank you... now take some of that there advice and follow it and go back were people were claiming monopoly in this thread..
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I do not remember monopolistic claim of steam on the world video gaming market, but on a sector the PC independant game sales. If you read it, the monopolistic force talked about are on the PC market.
 
LukeTbk said:
I do not remember monopolistic claim of steam on the world video gaming market, but on a sector the PC independant game sales. If you read it, the monopolistic force talked about are on the PC market.
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The consoles besides Nintendo have been regular cheap x86-64 computers since 2013.
 
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