Speaking in inevitability isn’t very realistic regardless of the outcome as inevitably the solar system will collapse and steam will surely be out of business then, right?
What we do know is that steam is exceptionally profitable, at least according to their own internal metrics, at nearly 800k per employee. So they have no need to pump more, except “because more” but all we can do is consider that they haven’t yet and hope it continues.
I personally think Steam’s timeline to replacement is 100% based on how long they can maintain a positive relationship with their audience. I don’t disagree that a replacement will come, but we have seen other publishers spin up stores and largely fail because of shitty patterns so for now we are back to the “wait and see”. Their replacement will be the result of their own failures to meet and maintain a very vocal customer base
That’s how we do it today… with version control. I get angry every time I have to do it