So we have a 360 degree loop around the discussion and when we talked about corporations, and now reflecting back to the opinions of "
One launcher for all" it's kinda not what benefits the consumer. In this system under this idea of endless growth, pure profit driven culture and the stock market casinos where competition is required for anything civilized to come out of it ... isn't it better to have more launchers, isn't that more diversity, like having more GPU manufacturers instead of just two.
Intel is coming to the game, but at what price, Raja Kuduri had left AMD for that to happen, so what if AMD sinks now or later? There won't be any more of them, it would still be only 2. So nothing happened, one guy moves to diff company, old company goes bust, same story goes on.
So you (supposably) want diversity on one end, but then on the other end you want one launcher to rule them all? That's called double-standards boys and girls. It looks like this "inclusiveness/tolerance" thing is just a big trick, their opinion changes based on what suits them in a particular time and area. If you're supposably "tolerant" , then you have to tolerate Metro being on another store, you would have to tolerate the exclusivity too, right ???
Even tho the allegations against Epic Games Store are quite worrying, the 40% Tencent ownership and the data flowing to chinese govt doesn't sound very well for a new launcher entering the field.
https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/am18zn
That said, you can be well assured that all your Steam Data is vaccumed by the NSA anyway if it isn't by Tencent.
What's the point tho, well, all of the understanding is, there's many points, but ofcourse the relevant point here is that Steam just because it is established doesn't mean it is all that good, Gabe Newell was a MS guy and he apparently got the blueprint of the world 15-20 years ahead (it's not that hard tho), it just took some time for the ARPANET to be deployed in lots of places around the world and when the bandwidths were high enough it started working, he's no genius, betting on such a huge risk on Steam so early outside of the for-profit culture is just not a coincidence, not something any stock market player would ever do, UNLESS you have strategical foreknowledge.
If Valve was some fan favourite enlightened pro-consumer saint, they wouldn't be so silently exploiting the market dominance, well, they (corporations in general) usually telegraph it in various interviews/trade shows, which is not actually some good hearted advice, it's BRAGGING, but it's not like they tell you in your face "
We will be your second parent for the next 20 years, our nose will be all over your room even your underpants, all your base is belong to us." even tho it's taking place.
If Valve truly was some fan favourite enlightened pro-consumer saint, they would be doing a lot more WITHOUT THE NEED OF A COMPETITOR OR COMMUNITY TO FORCE THEIR HAND, they would be doing a lot more against swatting, they would be creating a integrated steam game-timer with reminders for playing too long, reminders to take breaks, they would be promoting all kinds of healthy lifestyle things, they wouldn't promote toxic sugary drinks and snacks, educating about the dangers of sedentary lifestyle, playing games for long periods.
Infact the most unhealthy part about playing games is sitting down and not moving and thus not breathing much oxygen for long periods of time, second is the eyestrain and bad light spectrum from LEDs (artificial light) including flicker rate (look for non-PWM-dimmed monitors, with DC-dimming)
So if they want to be all inclusive, which is what google is doing, they have to also be your parent and your doctor and your fitness trainer and your friend and your car and your bicycle and your phone and ... your government? Well that's what it leads to doesn't it. Are you sure they're going to do ALL of these things for you for FREE all in your benefit exactly how you want? Do you even know if something is in your benefit that they offer you?
So will we see it one day? - "Steam GameTime" - Reminds you to unsquish your nerves in your butt after sitting for so long playing CSS.
Tencent doesn't even own a majority share. And to top even that off, the last 1.5 page went in-depth on the Russia Ukrainian conflict which is just about 100% unrelated. And as for sharing personal data, you've got GDPR these days so its not something a random company casually tends to do. The potential height of the fine alone can amount to over twice the difference between Epic and Valve's fee.