No, it would never be allowed to happen. The virtual monopoly on PC game distribution being acquire by the company that runs the platform said store runs on would be a giant red flag for regulators. These same regulators threw a fit because Internet Explorer was the default web browser on Windows, lol.
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That’s not how a monopoly works. Steam is already basically a monopoly for PC gaming. Not to mention MS would be incentivized to kill SteamOS.
Any one with a PC can access any store they want. It open platform. Stores are not locked to platform like they are on console. Microsoft can fight them in court and make their point. Nothing is taken away from anyone. There is no exclusive. Anyone with a PC can use any store they want. Just cause its a bigger store does not mean its a monopoly.
A Monopoly cause its popular? PC is open platform i remind you. Nothing is locked down. They can go to court and argue this. I’m popular that make me a monopoly lol.
This has almost certainly always been Microsoft’s dream too. But there are two huge problems with this:
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Gabe ain’t selling or letting Valve go public until he’s ready to retire. Who knows when that’ll be.
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If you thought the ABK acquisition got political, this would be significantly harder to get through. The only way it probably could is if Valve’s value tanks for some reason and/or if the regulatory climate becomes even more business friendly than it is now. I’m not sure I want to root for either of those things.
You should look up the definition of “natural monopoly”. It’s probably not what you think it is.
It’s basically exactly what I thought it was. I’m not really sure what your point was, or even how it relates to my response.
If Gabe wants to sell? Nothing is stopping him.
Again with the Steam monopoly crap. PC is a open platform, its not closed like console is. You can run Steam on any PC, on any PC operating system. Windows/Linux, Steam is supported.
If it were to go to court? MS Lawyers would have a field day with FTC, CMA, EU. It would make the ABK case looks like child play in Microsoft favor.
Steam would be a fantastic purchase for game pass synergy.
Not to mention it would eliminate any talk about how Xbox sells.
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Hopefully they never get the chance to buy Steam.
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RE the whole Steam discussion.
Steam currently has 132 monthly active users with upto 33 million concurrent users at once (both of which is higher than Playstation).
Epic, GOG, Battle NET & MS Store don’t come anywhere close.
It would probably be the best path for Xbox right now, but much like Take-Two it’s not getting through regulators after ABK.
Something major would have to happen with the regulatory system or gaming industry for that to happen and there’s nothing on the horizon.
Regulators could argue that Microsoft would own a stranglehold on the PC market as they would own the OS (Windows) and largest game platform (Steam) not allowing anyone else to reasonably compete on PC. None of the above is even factoring in that they are now the largest gaming publisher on their own. Regulators could also argue it’s a horizontal merger as they have a competing store.
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Thought this was good to share, but i feel like we will not get a chance to see Octopath Traveller 3 with this news:
Kadokawa Corporation has acquired developer ACQUIRE, folks behind Octopath Traveller
To strengthen the ability to create IP in games as part of our game business strategy, we have made ACQUIRE Corp. into a wholly owned subsidiary,”
This is potentially amazing news! Kadokawa (Fromsoftware) currently owns the Tenchu IP. Acquire Games worked on the Tenchu games. You can see where I’m going here…
Octopath will be fine, it’s still up to SE which seems to be leaning to multiplatform now.
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Do you think that Tenchu might be revived as well as potentially realeased on the Xbox Brand? Mostly saying this because of recent news of Spike Chunsoft giving us access to Ai Somnium Files and Danganronpa.
Despite the recent rumours, Xbox is still a large platform so I there’s a chance (unless someone picks up exclusivity). Xbox has really been pushing for asian studios to publish on Xbox too.
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I think Kadokawa would still be open to letting Acquire work on contract/outsource work like Octopath
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They need to focus on making their own competitor to Steam. I’m talking billions of investment into a team and product.
By spanning console, PC, and mobile it has its own needs and requirements that Steam currently doesn’t even support.
I think the problem is Steam is and likely will always be the defacto platform on PC regardless how much money someone throws at establishing a new platform.
Look at Epic Games, they went heavy on exclusives, free games and the like and were still hemorrhaging money while Steam numbers continued to go up and up.
Everyone’s game libraries, friends and achievements are in Steam and have been for decades.
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You are 100% right so don’t take this as a disagreement:
Yeah the Epic store was the first thing I thought of when it comes to tackling Steam. The way I’m looking at it is that there are some key differentiators between MS’s store and one of which is that it serves multiple platforms and it serves Game Pass as well. The problem with MS’s store is that it doesn’t compare to Steam according to many PC gamers I’ve spoken to. Though I heard it’s gotten better.
So I’m thinking it doesn’t have to be as big as Steam but even if it was ¼ the size of Steam in terms of user base that would be an incredible number. A fairly lucrative number too.
I could have phrased it better but what I really am getting out is that I want them to make a better product that is comparable to Steam in terms of quality. They probably will never compete in terms of userbase. I think that will help both Xbox and Game Pass in growing numbers on the PC to the point where they don’t even need to consider the PS5 or Switch.
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Yep the MS Store isn’t great… I have never used Battle Net (ABK) but many people suggest it’s really good. Maybe they should try amalgamate the two?!
Your right if they can nail the UI and GP integration it could be awesome even if it never gets close to Steam. They have a head start on Playstation which will absolutely release their own PC marketplace at some point.
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Interesting, have they done this before with their other studios?