• GnuLinuxDude@lemmy.mlEnglish
    1351·
    10 hours ago

    The announcement did not include Copilot? No mention of 300 useless AI features being shoved down our throats??!

    It’s wild how by virtue of the fact that Valve isn’t a publicly traded company beholden to shareholders, the same Valve which has a history of putting out half-baked goods and which has an always-on DRM client called Steam, seems poised to surpass most of its competitors both in the user privacy and hardware hardware spaces with just straightforward products. They have a product to sell, and that’s it. They don’t need to micro-optimize for bullshit like seemingly every other large tech company does.

    • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1818·
      8 hours ago

      That’s because they make an insane amount of money by taking 30% of every sale on their platform, which nearly everyone uses because they’re a near monopoly and the alternatives are terrible. Around $3.5 Million per employee, nearly 5x the next highest company, which is Facebook at around $780,000 per employee.

      https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/valves-reported-profit-per-head-from-steam-commissions-is-out-there-and-at-usd3-5-million-per-employee-it-makes-apple-and-facebook-look-like-a-lemonade-stand/

      • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        51·
        4 hours ago

        Around $3.5 Million per employee, nearly 5x the next highest company, which is Facebook at around $780,000 per employee.

        that’s a bullshit metric only useful to incite hatred. why the fuck do you want to say that valve is “this many times worse than facebook!”? it is obviously false.

        only thing this proves is that they have relatively few employees. which also probably means that most of them do real work instead of being overloaded with managers

        • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.worldEnglish
          11·
          4 hours ago

          The numbers just show that they are 8x as efficient. I only referenced Facebook because they’re the next closest company for comparison.

          I never said they were worse than Facebook. That’s your assumption, reading what you want, not what’s actually being said.

            • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.worldEnglish
              11·
              2 hours ago

              Which is also one of the reasons so few new things get done, and why they (until now) haven’t been able to count to 3.

              To get anything done you either have to be able to do it entirely by yourself which is unlikely, or get enough others organized and on board to make it happen.

              • CatsPajamas@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
                21·
                2 hours ago

                What? Valve released CS2 like last year? They do stuff all the time. They have like three games they’re actively maintaining while making HL3 and three new pieces of tech? This is a wild, unfounded take and feels ideologically bound.

                • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  11·
                  1 hour ago

                  That was 2023, and one of very few things made not to specifically promote their hardware or as a cheap spinoff of existing IP. And define “actively maintaining”, because general bug fixes for decade old multi-player games and managing item marketplaces doesn’t require much manpower.

                  Going further back there’s Aperture Desk Job which was a tech demo for the Steam Deck in 2022. Then an extended cut version of Artifact originally meant as a sequel in 2021, which is a Dota 2 card game, but still remains unfinished, so effectively abandoned. Then Half Life: Alyx in 2020 which 90% of gamers can’t play because it’s VR only, and clearly made to further promote their VR hardware. Dota Warlords in 2020 which was originally a community game mode. The original Artifact in 2018, which had abandoned iOS and Android ports. The Lab in 2016 which was made to promote the launch of the HTC Vive. A zombie CS spinoff in 2014, Dota 2 in 2013, CS:Go in 2012, Portal 2 in 2011, and Left 4 Dead 2 in 2009.

                  If you remove the spinoff and niche stuff from the list you get game releases in 2023, 2020 (arguable since it’s VR only and thus inherently niche), 2013, 2012, 2011, 2009.

                  That’s a pretty big gap of not much for the last decade game-wise. Its been previously documented and published that Valve has issues getting games developed because of the flat organization structure. Articles like this.

      • CosmoNova@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        3 hours ago

        You‘re getting downvotes for no reason. Also anyone who ever had to contact Steam support felt how criminally understaffed they are so it makes sense they make tons of money per employee I guess.

      • ysjet@lemmy.worldEnglish
        37·
        7 hours ago

        I should note that 30% is incredibly standard in the industry, and Valve offers a LOT more for that 30% than literally any other digital publisher. Physical publishers take substantially more, and the only digital store that offers less is EGS, which is simultaneously absolute dogshite and also has been trying very, very hard to astroturd the ‘30%’ thing for ages.

        Nintendo, Sony, and Apple all take 30%. I think MS does as well, but don’t quote me on that one.

        • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          5·
          4 hours ago

          don’t forget google. that applies to all paid apps, in app purchases and donations on the play store, not only for games. google also forbids you from showing any other donation option on your website if you link to it from your app.

        • adr1an@programming.devEnglish
          4·
          4 hours ago

          Fwiw, GOG has no DRM for their titles (its own niche space, not competition). Not sure if they charge 30% too, but even in such case they’re giving you more because of the lack of DRM.

          Steam is quite virtuous, they gave us Proton. But is far from being based.

      • JackbyDev@programming.devEnglish
        151·
        6 hours ago

        It’s fucking wild. Like, I love Steam, don’t get me wrong, but holy shit just suck less (edit: than other stores do) and charge less (edit: of devs) and you could gobble up a lot of that market share. But none of them do.