Gaming

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Why doesn't Steam support Android? (feddit.org)

submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by Ulrich@feddit.org to c/gaming@beehaw.org

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Steam revenue estimated 2024: $10.8B

Google Play Store gaming revenue 2024: ~$31B

Why doesn't Valve want a part of that? I mean they already have an Android app. Several, actually. I realize there's some amount of investment but surely the payoff is worth it, and they have the necessary funds and skills? I mean if F-Droid can do it with nothing but volunteers and grants...?

Certainly plenty of games won't lend themselves well to the mobile experience but also plenty of them do.

From a personal perspective: I don't really care a whole lot for mobile games but I do like Balatro and want to play it on my phone, but if I want to do that I have to buy another license, which I can't even do because I don't run Google Play Services.

Epic got in on this already. Where's Valve?

Edit: my reflections on this conversation:

Valve could distribute their own app like Epic but they'd also probably have to remove it from the Play Store because now a cross-platform game would give them an Android version, thus breaking Google's ToS. So would doing such a thing outweigh lost sales from the Google version, and would it impact customer satisfaction? I wonder how many people are actually purchasing PC games in the Steam Android app...?

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[–] Boomkop3@reddthat.com 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

No, it's the most popular because it's free and can be stuffed onto basically anything while being pushed by the largest advertising company on the planet. Diversity has nothing to do with this

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It can also be delivered with said advertising company completely removed from the system. Because it's open source.

Did you notice how the alternative wasn't even involved in this discussion? Why do you think that is?

[–] Boomkop3@reddthat.com 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

They were? Because steam already is on windows and linux?

As for Apple products: Apple does not like 3rd party app stores or allowing other companies to take payments. It took a legislative fight with the eu and quite a few fines before they decided to stop being ass much of a bunch of assholes.

If I had a good running market I wouldnt bother with apple either

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Because steam already is on windows and linux?

Really? You're really going to pretend Windows and Linux are alternatives to Android? Can we just have an honest conversation, please?

It took a legislative fight with the eu and quite a few fines before they decided to stop being ass much of a bunch of assholes.

You're mistaken. They're still a bunch of assholes. If you specifically live in the EU you might be able to distribute your own apps but they still require Apple's rubber stamp and Apple still gets to collect the vast majority of their tax. Not the case for Android (anywhere). And it's been this way from the beginning.

[–] Boomkop3@reddthat.com 2 points 2 weeks ago

They're platforms you can game on, are they not? You can plug a controller or a keyboard in either.

Also I never said Apple wasn't a bunch of assholes. I'm just glad a government stood up to them