Kevin Karhan :verified:<p>Similarly, <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/consumers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>consumers</span></a> cut back on <em>"non-essential spending"</em> as well, as <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/Greedflation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Greedflation</span></a> & <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/Shrinkflation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Shrinkflation</span></a> bleeds them dry.</p><ul><li>Cuz even when they are <em>able and willing to pay</em>, they get <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwuXF1AyKak" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">treated like shit and shafted hard</a> to the point that <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/piracy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>piracy</span></a> is not just ramping up, but getting <em>socially accepted</em>.</li></ul><p>Or to put in the words of <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/GabeNewell" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>GabeNewell</span></a>: <em>"Piracy is always a service problem!"</em></p><ul><li>And given how <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/Valve" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Valve</span></a> turned their <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/OnlineDRM" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OnlineDRM</span></a> aka. <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/Steam" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Steam</span></a> into something that <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/IndieDevs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>IndieDevs</span></a> get <em>bullied into publishing on</em>, there's certainly some weight to it, as even <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/EpicGames" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>EpicGames</span></a> struggles to get even a tiny market share from Valve's <em>de-facto <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/monopoly" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>monopoly</span></a></em> despite burning through millions <em>if not billions</em> of money to give away <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/games" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>games</span></a> (after all they still need to pay the licensees/publishers/creators of the games they give away)...<br></li></ul><p>Add to that the obnoxiousness of <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/AlwaysOnlineDRM" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>AlwaysOnlineDRM</span></a> that makes modern Games <em>literally unplayable</em> when the <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/Publishers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Publishers</span></a> decide to kill the infrastructure needed for it. </p><ul><li>Steam at least does have contingencies in place to actually remove it's <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/DRM" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DRM</span></a> and allow users to get a <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/DRMfree" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DRMfree</span></a> copy of their games <em>if they were to close shop</em> but that's not the norm in the industry. Otherwise <a href="https://infosec.space/tags/StopKillingGames" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>StopKillingGames</span></a> would not be necessary as a petition.</li></ul>