Steam, GoG, Humble Bundle, and Itch are the platforms I regularly buy PC games on. By far and away, Steam is #1. It’s got the games, it’s well integrated into everything, easy to use (especially on Linux). GoG is good, although I set up Heroic to use with GoG. It’s close, but not as many games that I want, and Heroic+GoG is a little less polished than Steam. Humble Bundle and Itch are generally too niche, although so much of my Steam library has come from Humble.

GoG was my second digital store, I resisted Steam for so long, but over the years, Steam has become my #1 source for games. It’s just so easy, plus they are relatively consumer friendly. With the revamp of Steam Families, it’s just so so much easier to have everyone playing on Steam. Plus I have a Steam Deck.

I try and buy games on GoG, set them up with Heroic, and it works great, better than EA, Epic and other storefronts, but just not quite as slick as Steam.

One day St. Gabe will be martyred, and Steam will undergo the unavoidable descent into enshittification, as to will GoG. I do not pledge undying loyalty to any platform, but Steam and GoG have been awesome for so long.

Besides, other than Itch and Humble Bundle, who even comes close in being good to use?

Or a renewal step. If it’s not worth renewing, let it into the public domain.

This is why It’s A Wonderful Life became a Christmas classic. Because it was in the pubic domain, it was used as late night filler.

The MPAA and RIAA miss the point. If It’s A Wonderful Life was still copyrighted, it wouldn’t have become a classic.

It’s like the concept of Abandonware. If video games had a large copyright clearing house like the MPAA or RIAA, Abandonware wouldn’t work, but abandoned media will disappear. Heck, non-abandoned media also disappears because profits don’t reward preservation.