itch.io

There have been numerous issues with them removing tools for power users, with repeated feature removals going back more than a decade. More recently than the beginnings of that, but still around 10 years ago, GabeN had laser eye surgery. Before that time, Steam had really solid support for larger fonts and options to enable which made it easier for people with vision trouble to navigate the app. Within a month of his surgery, he removed those features, but users made skins which act as replacements, so it was ok for a while. Several times since then, the exact tools those skins relied on have been removed, with the process repeating multiple times when a new solution was found to allow those users to have a comfortable experience using Steam. With the power user tool removals, they at least keep presenting "only X% of users bother with these tools anyway" arguments (ignore that their X% is usually larger than the number of MacOS and Linux users combined and they maintain support for those platforms because they know they'd have legal backlash if they didn't, but this issue is fine because they can't get sued over it).

My personal issue, however, is more serious. In 2019, the Steam client was turned into a demonstrable health hazard for some users with a variety of photosensitive medical conditions, including migraines and epilepsy. I get migraines severe enough to sometimes result in hospitalisation, so while that's not (usually) as bad as epilepsy, migraines aren't something to just shrug off. There are some less severe issues being triggered by the client as well, but those two are the big ones, and were the first for people to identify. Which, for reference, happened for some people within days of the update, and Valve have directly admitted they knew about the problem at most 2 days after causing it. I didn't find out until a while later, after having assumed something else was going on (because obviously Steam wouldn't get an update that stupid and not have it fixed instantly, right?) until someone pointed out there was a known issue. Even then I didn't take it seriously (because, obviously, again, Valve has a great reputation, they wouldn't do something like this -_- I feel dumb for having believed that now). I took steps to test and confirm it before asking them to fix it, and provided demonstrable proof that the Steam client was the active and proven cause of the problem. They didn't just confirm it, but admitted they'd known basically since the update went live, and were deliberately refusing to take steps to fix it.

Since then, I've seen the company take additional steps to remove tools they knew were being used by people to work around the problem, violate privacy laws, and behave in deliberately abusive ways, including 2 instances where staff have literally tried to coerce people into self-harm over requests for them to fix the problem.

So yeah, at this stage, even if they eventually do fix the issue, I'm never going to be spending money anywhere that results in Valve getting a portion of it.

Oh, and for a bonus round: Remember that story ages back when Epic was "stealing data" from Steam users? Fun fact about that - they didn't actually "steal" the data. They were using directly provided API tools that Valve had been making available with full instructions on how to access that information for almost 10 years to other companies, and accessing data which Valve had a legal responsibility to keep secure but which they were instead rolling out the red carpet for anyone to ask for and all Epic did was make people realise their data was at risk. But nobody talks about that part of the story, because none of the news sites which reported on it had that information when the news broke (and most didn't even bother with updating their articles, let alone any of them actually publishing a proper follow-up to correct the misinformation).