Valve's Steam Prioritizes Revenue Over Curation
Source: Aftermath
Valve's hands-off approach to Steam's storefront—resisting content moderation, algorithmic curation, and now AI governance—prioritizes transaction volume over editorial judgment. The strategy works financially but abandons the gatekeeper function that made Steam valuable, leaving developers and players to navigate an increasingly chaotic marketplace where discoverability has become scarce. This matters because platform power concentrates among those willing to curate; competitors like Epic or emerging PC alternatives gain legitimacy simply by exercising restraint.