Comment by franga2000
4 hours ago
That's true now, but Valve has been like this since the start, way before skins and microtransactions.
4 hours ago
That's true now, but Valve has been like this since the start, way before skins and microtransactions.
You’re ignoring how much of a role the TF2 hats played in pushing microtransaction skins.
Steam came out in 2003. TF2 hats came out in 2009. It’s lived in the world of micro transactions way longer than it lived in the before times.
I think you are blaming Valve for forces way beyond Valve's control. Valve isn't perfect, but it is a way better steward for PC gaming and PC gamers than any other American tech company would be.
It's harder to say that when they invented loot crates. Sure everyone's doing it now, and someone else would've done it eventually, but Valve pioneered it.
I suppose, yeah, some things would be a lot worse without Steam, so there's that.
2013 rather than 2009, I think? The pyro dropped in 2010, and I'm pretty certain hats came later.
I'd call crates the beginning, and those came with the Mann-conomy update in 2010.