• smegger@aussie.zone
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    1 day ago

    I think the greatest strength valve has is being privately owned, rather than having to answer to investors. Combined with them genuinely appearing to care about the state of gaming, it’s a big thing. Especially with their contributions to open source and Linux gaming.

    Microsoft and such are all about the money, quality assurance has quietly been abandoned over the years.

    Here’s hoping we aren’t disappointed years from now.

    • badgermurphy@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      The fact that they are privately owned is the reason why they are even capable of caring about things besides profit above all else. Large groups of people like boards of directors and shareholders are only capable of caring about things in their lowest common denominator that virtually every person cares about, such as having more money.

      Note how all VC-owned and publicly traded companies behave like perfectly predictable clones of one another. They are all just apparatuses for money production, with the actual product they sell, their literal means of making the money, an afterthought.

    • skisnow@lemmy.ca
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      24 hours ago

      This is true, but also kind of depressing that Capitalism is now so insidious that people treat gaben like some kind of benevolent philanthropist for choosing to sit on a huge ongoing cash cow that makes more money directly to his bank account than he’s physically able to spend, rather than IPO it.

      • smegger@aussie.zone
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        13 hours ago

        On a scale of rich guys, he’s currently one that hasn’t done stuff to upset me. But of course, he’s no God. And the moment he or his company turn into soulless money whores, the trust will evaporate. But for now I’ll be happy that they’re contributing to things that don’t directly generate cash for them.

        • skisnow@lemmy.ca
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          5 hours ago

          Eh? How does becoming the main platform for Linux gaming not generate cash for them?

          • smegger@aussie.zone
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            4 hours ago

            Who said anything about them not making cash. Just that it isn’t their soul purpose. Their contributions to proton and stuff are helpful to everyone. And now it’s encouraging the likes of gog and epic to try, with varying levels of quality. But it’s something. It breaks us from the singular standard desktop gaming os.

            • skisnow@lemmy.ca
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              4 hours ago

              they’re contributing to things that don’t directly generate cash for them.

              Who said anything about them not making cash.

              You did. Don’t you read your own posts or something?

              • smegger@aussie.zone
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                4 hours ago

                Them selling games makes direct profit. Them improving a compatibility layer for another operating system creates more potential customers, sure. But it also lets people play most of their games from elsewhere too.

                Proton isn’t a direct cash generator, it’s a fortunate bonus of them having so much money and nobody else to answer to.

                • skisnow@lemmy.ca
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                  3 hours ago

                  On one hand I think I finally see what point you were trying to make, but on the other it reinforces my original point even more that the bar is now that damn low that we’ve got people simping for a marketing strategy like it was some act of philanthropy, because it happened to create a useful thing.

                  • smegger@aussie.zone
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                    2 hours ago

                    I see where you’re coming from. I’m just preferring to enjoy the silver lining given how uncommon that is.

      • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        20 hours ago

        The bar is so low it’s through the floor.

        Dude loved his yachts (plural) so much that he literally bought the company that makes them.

        He’s a billionaire; he’s not a good guy.

    • teslekova@lemmy.ml
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      1 day ago

      Yep. If Valve ever announces an IPO, they should be considered dead and we should all start to migrate away.

      • Geth@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 day ago

        To where? Leaving behind your library? I doubt it. They would have to do a lot worse than that, but it would be a cataclysmic event for PC gaming and their days would be numbered…

        • SpaghettiMaster@feddit.uk
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          1 day ago

          Moving away could just mean not buying more stuff there rather than not playing what you have already bought.