STEAM has the customer base it does, NOT because STEAM is a customer oriented store, but because for more than a decade if you wanted to play on PC, for 99% of the games out there, you had no choice other than to use STEAM regardless of where you actually bought the game.
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the following info is only the tip of the iceberg in regards to Valve's anti-consumer policies and market control.


Valve is not your friend

https://www.polygon.com/2017/5/16/15622366/valve-gabe-newell-sales-origin-destructive


https://theweek.com/articles/844962/how-capitalism-killed-best-video-game-studios

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Valve was finned $1,600,000 for anti-consumer practices, and refused to cooperate with the court.

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/valve-and-5-steam-publishers-have-been-fined-e7-8-million-for-anti-consumer-practices/#:~:text=The%20European%20Commission%20has%20fined,country%20a%20person%20is%20in .

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Valve's refund policy was court ordered, and at first Valve would only refunded to your wallet, regardless of which payment method you used. It was not until much later Valve setup a proper refund policy, and Valve mirrored EA's refund policy...that's right...Evil EA had a better refund policy than STEAM.

https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-loses-final-appeal-in-australian-lawsuit-on-the-hook-for-dollar24-million-fine/
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Valve uses Most Favored Nation clauses to remove price competition and keep game prices high.

https://www.svg.com/323319/the-seriously-shady-reason-valve-is-being-sued/


Valve is now in court about it, again.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2022/05/judge-brings-dismissed-steam-antitrust-lawsuit-back-from-the-dead/#:~:text=Last%20November%2C%20Western%20District%20of,Humble%20Bundle%20creator)%20Wolfire%20Games .

In his latest ruling, Judge Coughenour also seems newly receptive to earlier arguments that Valve uses its monopoly power and locked-in player base to impose punitive restrictions on publishers that might otherwise decide to avoid Steam. The ruling makes particular note of "a Steam account manager [who] informed Plaintiff Wolfire that 'it would delist any games available for sale at a lower price elsewhere, whether or not using Steam keys [emphasis in original complaint].'" The amended suit also alleges that "this experience is not unique to Wolfire," which could factor into the developer's proposed class-action complaint.
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Valve has been sued by actual governments numerous times for violating consumer protection laws, and in every case, Valve fought it in court even though they knew they were clearly violating the law.

Valve continues to violate consumer protection laws to this day, specifically by implementing Geo blocking...something they were already fined for.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/valve-loses-appeal-against-eu-antitrust-ruling



Valve screws companies as well.

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/valve-loses-steam-controller-patent-lawsuit-owes-4-million/1100-6487088/



NFT games still being released on STEAM deespite STEAM claiming otherwise.

https://decrypt.co/153196/crypto-nft-games-still-launching-steam-despite-ongoing-ban

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctLmyHfApIs



Do your part to make the gaming industry better for gamers and developers by purchasing games from other stores....

Epic (some games are DRM free, and Epic only takes a 12% cut whereas Valve takes 30%)
GOG (Games are DRM Free)
GamersGate (has many DRM free games)
Humble Store (Some DRM free games)

Key Sites, Retail, etc, and if at all possible, do not buy from the STEAM store.


Epic and GOG also allow you to share your library and play at the same time, STEAM does not.