I'm not sure what point you're disagreeing with me on? With that counter example? My point is that Steamworks doesn't support being one of those external depen

I'm not sure what point you're disagreeing with me on? With that counter example? My point is that Steamworks doesn't support being one of those external dependency on games not released on Steam. Xbox does, as seen with Sea of Thieves being released on Steam. Plenty do bake it into the game, because that Xbox login will not work otherwise on Playstation or Switch. Or even Android or iOS. See Minecraft. But I can't bake Steamworks into games not on Steam, PC or otherwise. Not like Valve is the only one with this issue though. It also applies to GoG's Steamworks competitor as far as I know.