I also can't help but note that Gabe only began this public crusade when Microsoft released an app store that competed with Valve's app store.
Well, of course. It's not hard to see the writing on the wall. Valve is looking for a platform where they can't be muscled out before they're muscled out of the one they're on. You can only compete with a vertical integrator for a long as they allow you compete. Doubly so with software platforms. If you look at the trajectory of Microsoft's platform control, there is zero reason Valve shouldn't be shitting their pants right now.
Well, Valve owns social gaming graph for every user. Until Microsoft creates seamless integration between Windows and Xbox and imports xbox graph, Valve has pretty powerful network effect on its side.
they've already tried (and flubbed) this once. Not to mention that they already have a unified authentication platform in place. They just flubbed the 'seamless' part.
Well, of course. It's not hard to see the writing on the wall. Valve is looking for a platform where they can't be muscled out before they're muscled out of the one they're on. You can only compete with a vertical integrator for a long as they allow you compete. Doubly so with software platforms. If you look at the trajectory of Microsoft's platform control, there is zero reason Valve shouldn't be shitting their pants right now.