Yes mabye you need to be PC to see the context. For me steam is just THE culprit that started the digital only future and killed the Disc based PC gaming. As a fan of Disc based media I was never found of Steam. And Epic is just another steam wannabe, so it is hard to understand why so many People l ike the one and hate the other. To me they are all the same.
But maybe I really have to wrong Background to understand the Problem completely.
Alright, I'll make a quick history for you, as you may lack the background for it, which is okay:
What you call the disc based PC gaming is seen with rose tainted glasses. Back then; Disc based PC gaming was a pain in the ass for multiple reasons:
- You still had to activate the game with a key (which could be either missprinted or already used, in which case you were screwed).
- Updates couldn't be done, you had to download files uploaded in shady russian websites.
- THose disc based release often had HARSH copy protections which often meant you couldn't even boot your product
Before Steam was big, PC gaming was going through a harsh phase. Because of what I said before, piracy rates were really high on PC. Which means a lot of big publishers basically abandonned the platform. Ubisoft wanted to stop releasing PC games, Epic (yes, the same epic) abandonned PC for consoles because of piracy, Japanese publishers wouldn't release games on PC and Western publishers wouldn't often delay pc versions and ship them in a terrible state.
When Steam happened in 2004, it wasn't good for a simple reason: Digital distribution had yet to be created. It was in its infancy. So yeah, the beginning was harsh and for a good reason. But Valve, as opposed to other publishers who left the platform, thought it was worthy to work hard on it and push the platform. Since 2010, Valve has been pushing for PC and made Steam big but also pushed for smaller markets with regional pricing, were they were told piracy was too big, like China or Russia.
Following Valve's effort, PC saw a resurgence a PC users buying games. Starting from 2010, multiple publishers started to support the platform again. And some even came for the first time, like Japanese publishers.
Valve's effort were the following: Developping a convenient to use platform. I'm a console gamer at heart, who also played on PC but knew it was a hassle to do. Valve pushed for controller support. Valve made downloading, updating and playing your games easy with a single click on PC, which wasn't possible before. Valve made possible for people like me to play their PC games on a TV with a TV interface that supports controllers.
It's because of Valve's push for the platform that today, I can play Resident Evil, Dragon Quest or Shenmue on PC, games that wouldn't see a PC release otherwise back in the days.
Because they pushed for a pro-customer stance:
Giving users features like cloud saves, sharing games, refunding games, modding support, controller support.
People like Valve because if today they can play on PC, that's because they're the only one who supported the platform when Epic left and many others too.
People hates Epic because they come back in a strong way, by forcing users hands with a orse service. 2019 Epic is worse than 2009 Steam, which supported achievements and cloud saves.
2019 Epic has no excuse because it's 2019. These features are old and everyone has them now.