It's no secret that in the modern PC gaming landscape, Steam is king. Valve's digital storefront is the place many games rely on for getting any sort of success with players, to the point that a recent study from independent firm Atomik Research published by distribution platform Rokky revealed that 72% of developers "see Steam as a monopoly." That description certainly holds a largely negative connotation, a connotation Baldur's Gate 3 publishing lead Michael Douse seeks to push against.
Taking to Twitter, Douse responded to a post concerning the Atomik Research study in no uncertain terms, saying that, "It's almost as if [Steam] isn't providing a shit service.." Douse continues by adding that Steam isn't "defined by public shareholder KPIs." That business acronym, if you didn't know, stands for Key Performance Indicator and basically refers to a business constantly trying to reach measurements of success determined by shareholders. KPIs can often be harmful when they establish a seemingly absurd benchmark in order to be considered "successful."
A great example of this in gaming would be the recent revelation from Bloomberg that Microsoft executives have been expecting its Xbox division to achieve 30% profit margins since 2023. Since that time Xbox has also faced many rounds of layoffs, multiple canceled projects, and the rise of subscription costs for Game Pass.
Douse is highlighting that Steam's place as nothing more than a distribution platform, and a good one at that, is not nearly the same as the "monopoly" the Atomik Research study seems to suggest. Even as more and more AI slop crowds Steam's storefront, it still remains one of the most user-friendly places to discover new games.
Douse isn't alone, veteran analyst and Circana games head Mat Piscatella also seems distrustful of the study: "In other words, 72% don't know what a monopoly is," he writes on Bluesky. Other experts, like Rokky's very own CEO Vadim Adreev, admit that while Steam is important it, "Isn't the entire world." Adreev mentions that globally there are markets where local platforms will always be stronger than Steam.
