4. Steam the censor

If one thing is clear is that, as far as the digital distribution of video games is concerned, Steam is a de-facto monopoly. So this means that any games that Valve does not see fit for “public consumption” will not be available on Steam, which essentially means the game will not be available at all. Some could argue that this is worse than state censorship. Take the case of the video game “Hatred”, developed by Polish studio Destructive Creations. It certainly is controversial, as it involves murdering other people for the sake of it, without any pretext whatsoever. So Valve decided to pull the game from Steam. Now I am not defending the game in question, but isn’t a game like GTA V about committing all sorts of crimes, and yet you can purchase said game anywhere? It is scary when a monopoly company like Valve can decide unilaterally what people can play or not.

Update: Hatred is now back on Steam Greenlight. But it remains to be seen whether Valve will ban any other games based on their content or concept.

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Next: 5. That ever-growing Steam list