Valve’s margins are almost criminal as-is. They make cash hand over fist, and they’re basically a monopoly already.
…So not much might actually change, at least at first?
But this why they don’t need to go public. They have plenty of cash. And it’d just shrink the slice of profit Valve’s owners get.
Still, even private, I’m afraid of what Steam might look like if big competitors like EGS and Microsoft footgun themselves out of the market, and GoG fades away due to their DRM-free policy.
It will inevitably focus more on pleasing its public investors than anything else, therefore enshittification.
Maybe Steam/Valve is a unicorn, but it’s not publicly traded and it’s doing just fine.
It is a unicorn. I dread the day Gaben dies and Valve ends up going public. It feels like the last bastion of decent online services.
Valve’s margins are almost criminal as-is. They make cash hand over fist, and they’re basically a monopoly already.
…So not much might actually change, at least at first?
But this why they don’t need to go public. They have plenty of cash. And it’d just shrink the slice of profit Valve’s owners get.
Still, even private, I’m afraid of what Steam might look like if big competitors like EGS and Microsoft footgun themselves out of the market, and GoG fades away due to their DRM-free policy.