The Hidden War Against Steam

 

Steam controls most of the PC gaming market. It takes a 30% cut from sales. It has faced lawsuits over price parity and anti-steering rules. Yet somehow, players still defend it harder than almost any other tech platform. That is what makes Steam so strange. Competitors like Epic Games, Microsoft, Amazon, EA, and Ubisoft have spent years trying to pull users away. Epic has spent billions on free games and exclusives. Even then, most players still go back to Steam. This video breaks down the lawsuits against Valve, the claims that Steam acts like a monopoly, and why those claims are more complicated than they seem. Steam may have huge power over PC gaming. But it also offers better sales, refunds, family sharing, regional pricing, strong support, and a platform people enjoy using. A lot of Steam’s strength also comes from decades of trust. Valve built beloved games. Gabe Newell has stayed close to the community. The company is private and often seems more focused on long-term loyalty than short-term pressure. Steam is not perfect. Some lawsuits may expose real problems. But unlike most giant platforms, Steam earned its position by making something customers still choose even when cheaper or free options exist.

Why nobody uses Craigslist anymore?

 

At its peak, Craigslist was generating over $1 billion a year with around 30 employees — outperforming Google and Facebook on revenue per employee by a factor of 10 to 20. Founder Craig Newmark turned down VC billions, refused to run ads, and demoted himself to head of customer service. Then the company lost more than 70% of its revenue. This is the rise and fall of Craigslist.

The Rise and Fall of MSN Messenger, the Chat App That Defined Online Life Before Social Media

 

MSN Messenger once defined online communication for an entire generation. From instant messages, custom statuses, emojis, and nudges to its eventual decline, this video explores how Microsoft’s iconic messenger rose to global popularity—and why it ultimately disappeared.

Yahoo!: The $125B Company That Burned Itself to the Ground

 In the year 2000 Yahoo was worth $125 billion and was the front door to the entire internet. By 2016 it sold its core business for $4.83 billion — less than four cents on the dollar. Then the real story came out. A data breach affecting three billion accounts that the company had hidden for two years. A $35 million SEC fine. A deal price cut. And a Verizon rebrand that lasted exactly as long as it took for them to sell it again. This is the full story of how the company that could have bought Google for $1 million and Facebook for $1 billion spent twenty years refusing to answer one simple question — what is Yahoo? — until the market answered it for them.

Gamergate: The Sexist, Alt-Right Side of Fandom

 

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As the internet brought diverse new fans to the boys club of nerdom, a real-life movement arose to keep women and marginalized people out. » Subscribe to NowThis: http://go.nowth.is/News_Subscribe » Sign up for our newsletter KnowThis to get the biggest stories of the day delivered straight to your inbox: https://go.nowth.is/KnowThis What is fueling this misogynistic nerd rage? Why are they targeting marginalized creators with organized harassment campaigns, and what kind of damage have they done? Gamergate is just one symptom of a larger trend that's tearing online communities apart. And to understand Gamergate, you need to understand how fan culture turned toxic. For more on the dark side of the internet, check out ‘Onision in Real Life’ exclusively on discovery+. #Gamergate #ZoeQuinn #KellyMarieTran #BriannaWu #News #NowThis

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