For quite some time, PC players were growing weary of Valve and Steam.
Some felt that the company’s stagnant nature showed just how complacent Steam was in their current position.
Who could really blame them though?
Valve’s Steam makes millions of dollars and doesn’t require the same energy as full-on game creation.
Some were unhappy with Steam’s dominance over the PC platform, and some even going as far as to call it a monopoly.
While it may be true that Steam had the strong arm in the PC market for quite some time, we may have been a little more spoiled than we though we were, at least kind of.
Epic’s new Epic Games Store has really helped me to understand just how great Steam really is and has been.
Many are furious at Epic’s business practices and just how user friendly the store isn’t. Epic’s game store lacks some of the most basic tools Steam has included for a long time now. It lacks chat functionality, screenshots, and controller support. It also lacks all of the more pro-user additions Steam has such as user ratings, the workshop, the market, and forums.
Yes, there are plenty of issues with Steam and a lot of its features, but Epic Games Store lacks so many of these features and it shows just how anti-consumer the store is.
Some may be grateful for the competition that Epic Games Store brings, and it may be good that Valve stays on its toes so that it keeps improving, but it’s important to recognize the fact that the Epic Games Store is not trying to improve on the consumer experience.
If anything, be hopeful that the Epic Games Store’s existence brings real, positive change to Steam.
Who knows, maybe the Epic Games Store will clean up its act or maybe another, more worthy, Steam competitor will pop up.
Personally, I don’t mind having a few different game launchers installed on my PC if it means they are all actively bettering themselves to be better than the rest. I only have a problem with it when one has so many good features, fair business practices, and community driven features while the other uses last minute exclusivity deals and shady practices to drive store use.
Now more than ever it’s important to be happy for the fact that the anti-consumer business practices Epic is using right from the start aren’t being used by Steam.
I mean, even EA’s Origin doesn’t pull the same stunts Epic Games Store does.
The only games exclusive to Origin are games EA is publishing. There are plenty of games on the Origin store that are available on Ubisoft’s Uplay and Steam as well.
EA is attempting to compete with Steam in their own way, mostly subscription services.
Sure, you may not like EA or subscription game services, but at least they aren’t buying exclusivity deals to attempt to compete.
Hopefully with time things will iron out. Steam will hopefully rise to the occasion, and hopefully the Epic Games Store will slow down on causing controversy with its anti-consumer practices.
Hopefully.