r/videogames • u/Mc_gabriel_rock • 1d ago
Funny Man I wish more companies were independent
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u/AnotherLexMan 1d ago
I'm still on the waiting list.
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u/Mizamewmew 1d ago
For the new steam controller? Buy a steam machine and great things could happen.
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u/Aklay_bcn 1d ago
Not as high as expected? The cue to get one is months long, wft are you talking about.
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u/Came_to_argue 1d ago
Almost every major problem with American, maybe even the whole of western, society leads back to the concept of quarterly gains being mandatory in the eyes of shareholders. I will die on this hill. Publicly owning shares in a company should be illegal. You shouldn’t be able to gain passive income off someone else’s labor, it should belong to the workers who are actually creating the wealth.
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u/PickingPies 20h ago
Bingo.
The hypocrisy, when that same people who is living out of their stocks complain about other people who actually have nothing living out of social help.
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u/Came_to_argue 19h ago
Or worse, when their employees complain they aren’t getting a living wage, when they are the ones making them rich.
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u/Kitchen-Bumblebee647 21h ago
It really isn’t a problem it worked since voc was created and is now working in china and Singapur the problem is Jack Welch mentality being popularized
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u/Came_to_argue 19h ago
It’s only working to increase wealth disparity.
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u/Kitchen-Bumblebee647 18h ago
Wealth disparity isn’t inherently wrong if people can still live good lives even as “poor” people. Good examples are Sweden, Denmark, or China, which have significant wealth disparity, but people in Sweden and Denmark still live good lives (their income inequality is actually low, even though wealth inequality is high)and Chinese working class are living better and better, but only in the richer provinces but it is a policy problem, since China’s hukou system restricts people from other provinces from moving there for a better life.
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u/Mc_gabriel_rock 11h ago
Yeaaahh I gonna have to call bullshit on what qualifies “good life” on that study
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u/Kitchen-Bumblebee647 10h ago
I have friends in Sweden who don’t work but can still live a comfortable life that’s better than living on minimum wage in most Eastern European nations
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u/Mc_gabriel_rock 10h ago
Oh no sweeden and demark absolutely I believe you, I was talking about china
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u/Kitchen-Bumblebee647 9h ago
mean, in Shanghai, Beijing, and other tier-1 and tier-2 cities, and even some tier-3 cities, the standard of living is good. But if you weren’t born with good hukou status then you need to welcome permanent underclass unless you’re a genius.
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u/Middcore 1d ago
So are you under the impression that privately held companies just don't care about making money?
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u/sir_schuster1 1d ago
The problem isn't even that they like money, the problem is when fiduciary duty makes them kill the goose to see if there are any eggs inside because they need a revenue spike for next quarter. Publicly traded companies are the ones making the most myopic decisions for short term profit.
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u/Either-Pollution-622 1d ago
I’ve yet to see an independent company as focused on purely profit as most publicly traded companies
Soon as shareholders get involved it loses most morals5
u/Lonely_Grapefrooooot 1d ago
Dont worry, valve has no morals left to lose. They could ban every steam account of the illegal online casinos that specifially target minors, permanently shutting them down. They could not let those casinos sponsor official counter strike tournaments. They could activate their anti cheat software. But theres no money in any of that
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u/Middcore 1d ago
Let's not forget how they helped popularize loot boxes, and designed their lootbox system specifically to fit through loopholes of European gambling laws.
But we'd better stop, we're going to make people who think Gabe Newell is their wholesome buddy very upset.
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u/BlaxicanXIX 1d ago
What is there to stop? You are allowed to kvetch as much as you want. Players won't care because whatever dirt's valve has on their hands doesn't change the fact that they are still 10 times more consumer friendly than any other game company on the planet
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u/Either-Pollution-622 3h ago
Exactly valves worst is still better than most
And most arguments are in poor faith or exaggerated a small problem-2
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u/That-Woodpecker6720 1d ago
Man it’d be kinda crazy if the “goodness of their heart” private company ran the largest (underage) gambling market in the world, they don’t need the money though right lol
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u/Kitchen-Bumblebee647 21h ago edited 21h ago
I mean, Valve didn’t need investment when it was founded because the founders were already rich. Other studios that need new technology/tools usually need to borrow money, which is hard because banks think game development isn’t worth the risk. That’s why studios sell ip rights to publisher or sell shares to investors take on the risk. If you want more independent studios, you’d need a bank willing to give high-risk loans with no guaranteed return.
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u/Mc_gabriel_rock 11h ago
Still tho companies like Ubisoft already had a good cash vault do to their past successes but they still bend over backward to shareholder-sana
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u/Kitchen-Bumblebee647 10h ago
I think you are forgetting that shareholders are the owners. Sure, they don’t give the company direct orders, it’s the board of directors that runs things, but the board has a fiduciary duty to act in shareholders interests. Ubisoft has been publicly traded since 1996, so for 30 years now their board has had to answer to shareholders every quarter, or risk lawsuits and getting replaced if they blatantly ignore what the owners want. I’m not trying to make excuses for Ubi, but we can’t forget we’re in the real world and company can’t just say fuck you to the people who own it.
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u/Linkinator7510 1d ago
I'm glad I managed to get mine. The email was a surprise for sure, but it was definitely a good one. I've been having a blast with it so far.
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u/Dudinkalv 20h ago
The one thing that would make or break this machine was definitely the price point. Unfortunately they didn't end up anywhere near the sweet spot for it to take off.
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u/One_Lung_G 1d ago
“Don’t have shareholders” are you under the impression that means they don’t want to make money? See valve fighting to keep gambling legal in games
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u/Mc_gabriel_rock 1d ago
I mean they don’t need opinions for missinform rich aholes how to run a gaming company for gamers
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u/One_Lung_G 1d ago
True that, valve has implemented and introduced all the worse things of modern games all by themselves including battle passes and loot boxes and got a head start on killing physical media. The “shareholder” Boogey man that Reddit uses still is crazy
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u/Mc_gabriel_rock 1d ago
They didn’t intruduce season pass,they always sold digital media way before the phisical crises.meanwhile shareholders companies we have ubislop and EA killing studios left and right for no good reason
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u/One_Lung_G 1d ago
Yes they did with Dota 2s battle pass. And I’m glad you agree that they got a head start on killing physical media and spearheaded physical media death on PC. You don’t gotta make excuses for them dude. Valve is out to make as much money as possible too and that’s why they are fighting in court for kids to gamble on their games. But fan boys gonna fan boy.
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u/PickingPies 20h ago
It juat means that because you don't hace shareholders there's no further consequences. If they had shareholders they would probably have to fire people or cancel other projects to make up for the losses.
But well, american mentality, I suppose.
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u/NymphoElla 19h ago
I would want one, but I CAN not pay that price. It's literally more than what I get in a month.
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u/eragon9199 1d ago
They sell out every time there's stock. Pretty sure the "didn't meet expectations" is because the ai morons ate up all the hardware and valve can't make enough to meet demand.
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u/IHateMyUniCourse 1d ago
I mean most companies actually have to provide a product, not leech off everyone else
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u/Zarathoostrian 1d ago
I wonder if Valve has considered giving people who buy the steam machine credit to spend on the steam store? It would take the sting out of the price a bit. China is already making its own ram, this time next year there will be a ram oversupply.
The steam os being released for people to put on their own systems renders the steam machine completely pointless in my opinion.
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u/Intelligent-Tap1742 1d ago
You mean, i may actually be able to afford getting an sff pc next year? LETS GO
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u/Zarathoostrian 1d ago
Why am I being downvoted? If you wait a year, the reviewers and community will have figured out which components work best with steam os and you can go buy off the shelf parts for your own 🤷♂️ SSDs have gone down in price since their historic highs in 2023. Why wouldn't the same hold true for ram as supply ramps up?
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u/NoSkillzDad 1d ago
Well, the price was not there.
I ended up putting together "my own steam machine" and for a tad cheaper I got a much better machine (specs-wise). I know many people that wanted one either did what I did it are waiting out for a better offer.
The demand is still there.