It’d be impossible to create a competitor in this day in age, because what made Steam win out is that it was the first and that it hasn’t acted like a greedy dick trying (too much) to monetize their platform dominance. Arguably, GOG is a better platform because it is much more against DRM, but when you get right down to it, gamers don’t really care enough about those issues to put a dent in it even if the loudest voices do, so I doubt Steam’s success has much to do with being a ‘democratic platform’.
You’re ignoring a ton of stuff Valve has done. Look at what they’ve done for Linux gaming at a bare minimum.
If all you’re doing is buying games for Windows, Steam doesn’t offer much more than GOG.
But if you’re playing those games, well, that’s a different story.
Not to mention that Steam lets you use keys bought from other platforms.
It’d be impossible to create a competitor in this day in age, because what made Steam win out is that it was the first and that it hasn’t acted like a greedy dick trying (too much) to monetize their platform dominance. Arguably, GOG is a better platform because it is much more against DRM, but when you get right down to it, gamers don’t really care enough about those issues to put a dent in it even if the loudest voices do, so I doubt Steam’s success has much to do with being a ‘democratic platform’.
You’re ignoring a ton of stuff Valve has done. Look at what they’ve done for Linux gaming at a bare minimum.
If all you’re doing is buying games for Windows, Steam doesn’t offer much more than GOG. But if you’re playing those games, well, that’s a different story.
Not to mention that Steam lets you use keys bought from other platforms.