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I would love to see an analysis of how valve's openness and goodwill affects their bottom line. Intuitively it should be a net positive for them, but there gott
by tra3 3mo ago
I would love to see an analysis of how valve's openness and goodwill affects their bottom line. Intuitively it should be a net positive for them, but there gotta be upfront costs, otherwise everyone would be doing it too.
- dismalaf 3mo agoValve is one of the most efficient (revenue/staff) corporations there is. Far more so than most tech companies even. If that's how you measure goodwill then it seems like it works.
- flaunf221 3mo ago> Valve is one of the most efficient (revenue/staff) corporations there is Efficiency is not a word I would use when speaking about rent-seeking. Landlord that 20 years ago bought some land that later became valuable and who is today renting it out is infinitely efficient as they are doing jack. And amount of respect they get is about equal to their economic output.
- dismalaf 3mo agoTrue but in the physical world a landlord has a monopoly over the parcel of land. Valve has a ton of competitors that seemingly get no traction and Steam is beloved.
- flaunf221 3mo agoNo landlord owns entire planet. You never need to agree. If you want to open your store (=sell your game) you can always just rent or buy some other place that this landlord doesn't own. Like for example 150 kilometres away from here where you may get 2 visitors per day, sometimes there will even be humans. Same with Steam. You are absolutely free to sell your game not on Steam. Except that unless you're a super massive giant selling highly anticipated game you might get no sales. But the choice to eat or starve is always up to you.
- moffkalast 3mo agoThey have an infinite money glitch in Steam, it hardly matters for them even if it makes a loss as long as it propagates the ecosystem.
- 3eb7988a1663 3mo agoThey have a money printer that gives them nearly unlimited flexibility. Being a private company means Gabe can do long-term investments without concern. Steam has been an incredibly good steward of its position, but I fear for the day when capitalism finally sinks its claws into the platform.
- kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 3mo agoCapitalism doesn't break things, it builds them. You're thinking of greed, which exists in all economic types.
- Root_Denied 3mo agoUnregulated capitalism breaks things for sure. That regulation can stem from government intervention or private ownership (or both). Regulation can also break things if done incorrectly/poorly/inefficiently/corruptly.
- dismalaf 3mo ago> capitalism finally sinks its claws Capitalism has nothing to do with short term greed. Some CEOs are just too arrogant and think that optimizing for the short term won't hurt goodwill. That's their own failure. Capitalism says nothing about how a business should be run. It's merely defining the idea that humans who own things (capital) allocate their resources and keep the result.
- jdiff 3mo agoI think they know it'll hurt goodwill. I think they don't think they have to care what other people think about them. I think they think they're too big to fail.
- BunsanSpace 3mo ago1. Valve is a private company with a money printer (steam) 2. the point of these initiatives is to build an ecosystem with steam at the centre. A better way to look at this is valve is trying to hedge it's self against microsoft. By creating an ecosystem of devices and software that's full open so they're not reliant on Microsoft. The goal of Valve hardware ISN'T to make money. It's to encourage others to build devices free of Microsoft that Steam can be installed on. They have nothing to gain by being closed, and everything to gain by being open.