3 ms·

Would you make the same argument for PS/XBox/Salesforce marketplaces? They have similar restrictions.

• CydeWeys 6y ago
  Yes, but they're of lower priority. Gaming has increasingly moved away from the PC (the only truly open/competitive platform) towards the walled gardens of consoles and mobile devices. This has a censorious effect in what's actually allowed to be released, the big platforms get to do a lot of rent-seeking, and crucially, games are increasingly going digital, which eliminates a consumer's right to resale and loan games to their friends. The gaming marketplace would be a lot more competitive and interesting without gatekeeping. About the only downside you'd see is that the up-front cost for some consoles would need to be higher, because selling them as a loss-leader and making the money up in back-end licensing fees would no longer be allowable. I would love to see some sort of regulated 10% rake cap on digital marketplaces (both mobile and gaming) and ticket sales. Note that this would apply only to games being distributed through the platform owner's marketplace, and that consumers would be allowed to install by right software from other sources as well.