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Steam is basically a PC gaming monopoly, so why isn’t anyone mad?
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this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2026
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I’m “mad”. Their business model should be illegal. If you buy a game you shouldn’t be chained to their platform.
This. One reason I'm reluctant to purchase games on Steam is how impermanent it really is.
You buy a game in Steam, you can't play it without Steam. Should Valve decide to cut you off or just stop existing, your games are gone. And switching to another platform leaves you trapped to play your previously purchased titles on Steam or buy it again.
That's not true though. For many games, after you installed it you can even uninstall Steam or copy/backup the game to another computer without Steam and play it forever. Yes, many games have DRM that will prevent you from doing that, but that's the game developers doing. Steam does not have any DRM by itself, nor does it require to be running or even installed to run games you originally got from it.
Again, unless the game developer went out of their way to add DRM.
It does, and the default practice is to enable it, even when DRM-less versions are available elsewhere. It might not be as fancy as Denuvo, but it is there and it doesn't allow you to run games without also launching Steam.
https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/drm
I am aware they offer a feature. It is up to the game developer to implement it though if they choose to, Steam does not force DRM onto anyone.
But Goldberg emulator has been widely and easily available basically forever and they've done nothing to try to stop people from using it or shutting it down. People are also able to add pirated games to their steam library and run them without fear of banning or retaliation on platforms like SteamOS or the steamdeck. Without being able to launch (pirated) games from within steam, using proton or gaming on Linux at all would be much harder.
For all I know, Goldberg emulator only works with multiplayer titles to enable local multiplayer capabilities. If the game is SteamDRM protected, it should not work and is very illegal.
Illegality is a general issue with piracy to begin with - Valve can snap on it any time, leaving us empty-handed. It is not a sustainable solution - just the only one we're left with. Instead of not suing emulators and certain tools just yet, I'd rather see them actually removing the damn DRM. I mean, we had enough Nintendo drama, didn't we?
On my end, I make sure to purchase DRM-free games and yarrr the hell out of the DRM-protected ones, but personal activism can only get you so far.
This is not just a Steam issue, I have games I bought and will never be able to play because of DRM. Until laws change, this won't change.
Indeed, Steam is just one culprit - yet culprit nonetheless.
Culprit in what way? It's the developers and publishers that put the DRM on the games, not Steam.
Steam features its own DRM, ensuring games cannot be launched without it.
Steam has enormous leverage in the gaming market and could at least influence the devs to make DRM transferable between the publishing spaces (but that might hurt Steam's bottom line).
Plenty of games release both on Steam and, say, GOG. GOG versions don't feature DRM, Steam versions do. Why?
You are not required by Steam to use their DRM, it's a service they offer. Publishers make the choice to use the DRM.
https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_big_list_of_DRM-free_games_on_Steam
That's not an issue with Steam that is an issue with consumer protection and copy right laws.
It’s definitely as issue with Steam. Once you purchase a game you can’t just launch it…you need to launch it through their platform. I don’t want to have my internet connected and Steam updated just to play a game.
That's only true if the publisher chooses to use DRM.
A meaningless distinction when none of the games you bought can’t be launched without Steam.
It's important to know who the bad guys are and what are the tools they use. We (gamers) should be focusing on the DMCA and publishers that use DRM. DRM providers are a simptom of laws that allow people to be screwed, not the problem it's self.
This is above my pay grade. I’ll never select a game for anything other than it’s enjoyability.
I definitely regret chaining myself to Steam…even if I didn’t know what I was getting myself into at the time. if I want to continue play the games bought there…I have to use Steam forever. Should be illegal.
I'm not advocating that we stop buying games. Life is to short, do the things you love and enjoy. It's you last sentence that is the key part, "should be illegal". That is what we need to focus on. DRM and platform lockin should be illegal. Now let's make that happen.
Go pirate it and live your best life.
I do want to clarify, though, that always-on drm is ass. Just, for now, in exactly how they're implemented, with all of the built up good karma, it's acceptable.
The real questions we should be asking are "why does it not suck with steam, but does everywhere else?" and "what can we realistically ask of steam to improve the experience?" and "is there a better alternative?" And "Why is it like this to begin with?"
How do we improve this without just whining? Because all things considered, Valve would probably work with reasonable requests, if you had a good enough idea.
Steam is not the problem when it comes to DRM. Steam offers a service, it's the publishers who choose to use the always-on DRM.
Yes and no. When Valve first released Steam, there basically wasn't anything like it. It was only for Valve games, it was required, and was basically always on DRM.
However, that also ended up saving PC gaming as a market and as a whole, because piracy was actually so rampant that publishers were looking at other options (consoles). So, when Steam as a platform showed being extremely successful at enforcing copyright protection but by offering the service of syncing your saves and letting you download the games you owned QUICKLY and repeatedly, basically eliminating the need for physical media, other developers eventually wanted in, and Valve eventually let some indie games on, which was a MASSIVE boon to their sales, too.
Then, other publishers wanted in, then they wanted their own digital distribution platforms, but then those platforms sucked and nobody wanted to use them, and those publishers whined a whole bunch (nobody seems to be able to figure out that you can't do predatory shit and that you have to offer BOTH a desirable game AND a desirable platform, and those that have, realize it's a lot of work and just go with Steam).
So, it's not so much that Steam/Valve is the problem, it's that they're such a good solution, and that is hard/expensive to compete with. It's not exactly simple, but it's not exactly complicated.
You can publish on Steam without DRM. I don't really know what point you are trying to make.
Well, firstly, that Steam, as a platform, is DRM. Not all DRM is always-on enforcement.
https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_big_list_of_DRM-free_games_on_Steam
I pirate for demos….but once I buy on Steam it’s more than irritating, and sometimes makes my games unplayable, when Steam is required to play.
Urm…I’m not an activist…I just want there to be reasonable anti-trust so you don’t have to go through a bunch of bullshit to play a game you own.
Not sure what you mean. You should be able to download games on their storefront elsewhere?
Yes. Thats how GOG wrks, for example. Everything is DRM free. I even have a script that downloads it all.
That said, a LOT of Steam is actually DRM free as well.
I’m not sure what you mean…once you’ve purchased a game on Steam…you have to play it using Steam…a platform that needs to be working for you to play your game.
That's a common misconception.
Many games are DRM free and run without Steam. This even includes Valve games such as Half-Life 2.
Here's a list: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_big_list_of_DRM-free_games_on_Steam
I wasn’t aware of that because I don’t own any games on that list.