Game devs praise Steam as a 'democratic platform' that 'continues to be transformative' for PC gaming today

nanoUFO@sh.itjust.worksmod to Games@sh.itjust.works – 372 points –
Game devs praise Steam as a 'democratic platform' that 'continues to be transformative' for PC gaming today
pcgamer.com
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It's not innovative anymore, but it sure was when it released. But they kept it near its peak instead of making it utter horse crap.

It's not innovative anymore

What have you been smoking? That's just plain wrong. See my other comment for examples.

It's just that they don't push their innovations down your throat.

Steam Deck had a bunch of cool tech launch both with it and soon after it launched, like Steam Input. If you don't need it, you don't have to know about it, but it's there if you do. Likewise, AMD GPU drivers got way better due to Valve investment. Steam on Linux was super buggy some years ago, and it had growing pains with Wayland. That's all working properly now.

And that's exactly why I like Linux over other OSes. My software quietly gets better without me doing anything, whereas on Windows or macOS, there's a big banner with stupid updates every time there's a major release. Or maybe that's because I'm on a rolling release distro, IDK.

But yeah, quiet, impactful improvements are the way to go. If things aren't breaking, they're doing their job.

Steam Deck had a bunch of cool tech launch both with it and soon after it launched, like Steam Input.

Steam Input actually started years ago with the Steam Controller 🙂 Valve has been quietly improving it for a long time now, and it's only gotten better with the Deck. SI is the #1 most underrated thing in gaming I swear.

But yeah the Steam client has quietly and steadily improved on Linux, even in the past 6 months. I saw issues with storage sizes, graphical bugs, page loading errors... and nearly all of it fixed now. It's in a good state.

Steam on Linux is still buggy as shit. Can't even properly full screen it with multiple displays. Shits the bed.

It was utter horse crap when it released. The military green Steam was among the worst pieces of software ever conceived. So they worked a lot to make it as good as it is today.

worst pieces of software ever conceived

Oh you sweet summer child. You've clearly never used Peoplesoft, or the shovelware packed with printer drivers, or browser add-ons from the Netscape days, or the horrible CD burner programs pre-installed on PCs in the 90s...

Well... I did. And i can still say that first Steam app was a steaming pile of crap.

It wasn't great but I remember distinctly - it worked well enough after a few weeks and I've literally never missed a day playing since. Compared to other game 'services' it stays out of the way, doesn't eat memory and works. at the time, I worked for a software company that shipped physical box copies and tried to convince them that this was the future - nope. It was a fad or for games only. Sigh.