Comment by 0x073
4 days ago
I dont care about faster startup times for steam, as long as its under a minute.
If any big company want a good steam alternative we would have it.
Every alternative launcher, uplay/ubisoft connect, origin/ea app, epic games, gog started with a store platform and stopped. Its like the marketing team just looked at the store but not at the rest of the steam features.
It's funny how Steam has had like, what, 5 competitors in this space (Ubisoft whatever, Origin/EA whatever, Battle.net, GOG, Epic Games), and none have even got close to Steam marketshare or feature set.
Ubisoft and EA have more or less surrendered. Battle.net is distinct enough with a group of exclusives including WoW to keep going. GoG is kept alive by its one single USP, and its launcher isn't even relevant to that, so it's just there, not really doing anything. Epic is seemingly trying to compete against Steam, but seems blind to the reasons why people like Steam.
How many of Steam's competitors offered third party games? I don't have any interest in using a launcher from a publisher that only sells/launches its own games. I'd have to remember who made what, and deal with different TOS.
At least 4 of those. EA no longer offers any 3rd party games on its own store, but it did.[1] Ubisoft did once upon a time.[2] Not sure if they still do.
Battle.net is still limited to Activision-Blizzard, with a sprinkling of other Microsoft IP following the buyout. Although that might change soon?[3]
[1] https://www.ea.com/ea-pc-third-party-titles-2022
[2] https://gamesbeat.com/ubisoft-welcomes-third-party-games-on-...
[3] https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/cd-projekt-red-and-bl...