Steam
Hard to leave Stage 2
Valve’s storefront and client remain useful: reviews, workshops, and sales are genuine user surplus. The business model is mostly a cut of sales, not attention hijacking. Stage 2 fits: meaningful lock-in via your library and friends list, without the feed-manipulation playbook of ad platforms.
- Since
- 2003
- Function
- Gaming
- VC-backed
- No
- Public
- No
News signals
Nov 20, 2025
EU digital rules continue to shape PC storefront competition
Self-preferencingRegulatory risk
Jan 1, 2024
Steam subscriber agreement and storefront terms (current)
Dark patternsARPU growth
Sep 30, 2021
Judge dismisses antitrust case against Valve’s Steam platform
Market consolidationTake rate
More in Gaming
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Epic Games Store
3 Cashing inPC storefront and launcher competing on cuts and exclusives—better for devs in spots, still a platform tax and account wall for players.
-
itch.io
1 Plenty for usersIndie game marketplace where creators set their own price and revenue split—including 0% to the platform; bootstrapped, no ads, and structurally hostile to extraction by design.
-
Xbox (Microsoft)
2 Hard to leaveConsole ecosystem with Game Pass value—great until subscriptions, store rules, and account lock-in define what “ownership” means.
