How is Valve not a closed platform for the games that it sells?
You can't really export the game outside of Steam, or use it with Steam disabled for any significant amount of time.
You can't really export the game outside of Steam, or use it with Steam disabled for any significant amount of time.
While on the other hand, an gamer or game-maker on iPhone or Android or Nintendo or Playstation or XBox has no choice in digital distribution channels.
(And of course the latter have other flaws too - like their famously capricious acceptance processes)
One could even go on to argue that PC gaming allows you to launch your own game store that allows resale if you think it's so important. Personally I don't find that a very convincing argument, though.
Further, many games purchased on Steam provide keys that work without using the steam account.
For library management, GOG 2 (Alpha) is the best solution I've personally seen (have the various storefronts installed, import the connector for GOG 2, all the games from that storefront are imported into GOG 2, can install/play/etc. on a whim).
- because games are software, it is hard to enforce that people “selling” them don’t keep a copy for themselves as well
- apparently, this may have allowed an exemption from the “must allow reselling” rule
- because iOS is a walled garden, it is easier to implement DRM to prevent this
- therefore, the courts would have been more likely to force the App Store to allow resale
That isn't true for all games. There is this [0] list, but I have no idea about its quality. Essentially there are games that don't use the steamworks DRM parts, so while you do not get a steam-independent installer, those games still work after uninstalling steam (and you could probably watch the installer to make your own for a completely steam free PC).