Steam is a shitty example, I have no idea why the author brought it up. I don't see Valve "clawing back the value to themselves" at all. Where this launcher shittiness happens in gaming are the other launchers, because studios act the same as media rights holders did with Netflix. As soon as they saw that streaming is profitable, they clawed back whatever IP they could, just so they can launch their own shitty delivery product. Which makes sense to a business, but for the customer, it's now shit. Same with the other Steam competitors with their shitty launchers and exclusives. And in the meantime, Steam delivers customer value better than ever. I also give them props for funding open source development - the windows compatibility layer they package works like a charm, and its development improved gaming on Linux for every Linux gamer, not just those who pay on Steam.