It's hilarious to me that Epic will never introduce features like this, and also complain Steam has a monopoly, as if they're at all comparable
The fact that Epic Game Store exists at all is proof that Steam isn't a monopoly. A monopoly means they're the only option. Steam is not the only option. It is simply the best option.
But how does the EGS exist?
Because they are able to subsidize it with investor as well as Fortnite money. I doubt it's turned a profit for them.
Wouldn't exactly call that "viable competition"
That's the thing that gets me. Undercutting is the quintessential anticompetitive practice, and it's Epic's entire business model. They give away games for free because they are trying to siphon some of Steam's customers. They make exclusive release deals with publishers because they want to force people to use their platform. They are trying to compete with Steam using their resources from the success of Fortnite and Unreal rather than compete with the storefront by actually having a better storefront.
One of the problems Epic has is that it is only a store front. Steam is a fully featured platform.
Epic, in their lawsuit, wants to break Steam's store and platform into separate applications, so they can compete.
Sort of like how people want to have different app stores on their iphones.
Difference is: Steam has no restrictions in the first place. You can add non-Steam games to the client if you want. You can use Proton if you want.
Steam offers all of these features for free. What is the point in breaking them apart.
Most important difference: Steam isn't the only way to install apps. Even on Steam Deck.
That's easy to explain. EGS managed to make everyone hate them just as it started. How do they expect to be profitable if they piss off the entire market?
There are other stores such as GoG that have actual users.
Steam does have a monopoly though. They don't do anything anti-competitive with it, so there is not much Epic can do about it (other than make their platform better for the people using it).
Steam does not have a monopoly by any actual definition of monopoly, though. A) Mobile gaming makes up the most of all video gaming revenue. B) On PC the most revenue is made by games that aren't even on Steam in the first place (Minecraft, Fortnite, Roblox). Steam's 2023 revenue has been estimated to be around 8.6bn USD out of 45bn USD of PC gaming revenue. That's barely a 5th of the market power. By no account this can be actually considered to be a monopoly.
I love this graphic because it’s a reminder to self-proclaimed “gamers” that mobile gaming has been doing laps around “real” gaming for over half a decade now, with no indication of the trend changing. Yes, mobile games are typically lower quality and more predatory, but it’s undeniable that the average person who plays video games now is just a regular person with a phone.
Yes, but... it's like comparing people that go to the cinema and people who watch reels on Instagram.
Okay, both things involve watching a video, but they are two very different experiences.
This is by revenue, so whales succumbing to mobile bullshit may distort it - a lot.
This is why Steam is as popular as it is, they just release features that people like. Sure GOG doesn't have DRM and Epic Games gives a bigger share to developers but Steam gives players what they actually want.
not just features for the average consumer, but also a plethora of tools for developers. But then you'll see some airhead keep saying about the 30% cut that steam takes.
Having developers pay a one time fee for dedicated servers that the players don't need to pay for is amazing.
Steams custom controller profiles alone used on Steam Deck are killers for me. Nothing else amounts.
Steaminput is a massive deal, it supports gyro, remapping, profiles, and extensive customization. XInput can't compare and the epic games store relies on developers for everything. That's the reason why I will always pick a Steam Controller over an Xbox controller.
Now if they would only release a Steam Controller 2...
XInput can't compare
XInput is X11 API and SteamInput can be used through SDL or directly.
I meant Microsoft's Xbox input method, absolutely nothing against x.org
Xinput is the Xbox/Windows game input API
GOG has DRM for many titles: see Galaxy. As I understand it, it isn't as pervasive as Steam, but is necessary if you want multiplayer on many titles or care about extras like achievements.
Achievements or multiplayer matching not being implemented in the game itself isn't on GOG. They still allow you to download and launch any game you've bought, without even requiring galaxy.
Also lesser known is the fact that there are DRM-free games on steam. Download them once, you can play without having steam running or even installed. Using a client to download isn't inherently DRM either.
Cloud sync also requires the drm, but the advantage that gog and itch have over steam is that for most games you just get the executables and you're good to go.
Tbf to cloud sync, nothing is stopping you from using your own backup/restore service with your drm-free titles compared to the other features that Galaxy offers.
If my screen recorder software doesn't put an "UNREGISTERED HYPERCAM 2" watermark at the top left corner, then I'm completely uninterested, smh
This is awesome. Steam continues to release great stuff
This is pretty great! I'm interested to see how the quality will compare with my OBS replay buffer settings. One of the best things is that it's coming to Steam Deck! Mostly excited to see how well this works on Linux.
It'll almost be like having xFire again!
...I miss that software. IIRC they were bullshit-litigated out of existence.
Now there's a bit of software I haven't thought about in a long time
IT WAS SO GOOD! It was better in like 2010 than shit like discord is today.
Would be an incredible product today if it continued to receive development (w/o enshitification ofc).
Excellent.
Any information on if this tool separates game audio from other applications?
Maybe?
The page says it captures game audio only by default. But you can switch it to all audio if UPI want to capture something like external voice chat.
Awesome. OBS has never prioritized Linux performance, curious how this will compare.
To be honest, OBS is way more advanced than a screen recording tool. It's basically a live program director
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
