this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2025

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Why doesn't Steam support Android? (feddit.org)

submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Steam revenue estimated 2024: $10.8B

Google Play Store gaming revenue 2024: ~$31B

Why doesn't Valve want a part of that? I mean they already have an Android app. Several, actually. I realize there's some amount of investment but surely the payoff is worth it, and they have the necessary funds and skills? I mean if F-Droid can do it with nothing but volunteers and grants...?

Certainly plenty of games won't lend themselves well to the mobile experience but also plenty of them do.

From a personal perspective: I don't really care a whole lot for mobile games but I do like Balatro and want to play it on my phone, but if I want to do that I have to buy another license, which I can't even do because I don't run Google Play Services.

Epic got in on this already. Where's Valve?

Edit: my reflections on this conversation:

Valve could distribute their own app like Epic but they'd also probably have to remove it from the Play Store because now a cross-platform game would give them an Android version, thus breaking Google's ToS. So would doing such a thing outweigh lost sales from the Google version, and would it impact customer satisfaction? I wonder how many people are actually purchasing PC games in the Steam Android app...?

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

That's like saying Amazon has a "barrier" to online sales because they refuse to allow Target to sell products on their site for free. They're competing services, why would they allow that?

I'd wager the majority of Android users have never downloaded an application other than from the Google Play Store.

Developers most often distribute software outside of official repos in Windows and MacOS, and they do so successfully.

It's not that hard, you just follow the prompts on the screen.

[–] Evkob 11 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I think you're overestimating the tech savvyness of the average person :P

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

The average user already uses Windows and/or MacOS, and I would argue those installation procedures are far more complicated.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

The average person has never had to install Windows or MacOS, they buy a computer with it pre-installed. And they buy phones with Google Play pre-installed.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

We're not talking about installing an operating system. I'm not suggesting Steam create their own OS (although they're also doing that). We're talking about installing an app.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Then why did you bring it up?

The average user already uses Windows and/or MacOS, and I would argue those installation procedures are far more complicated.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I just explained this in the comment you replied to.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

You didn't explain anything. You said it's easier than installing Windows, and then you said you weren't talking about installing Windows. Huh?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

You said it's easier than installing Windows

No I didn't. What I said was:

We're talking about installing an app.

I'm saying it's easier to sideload apps on Android than it is on Windows and MacOS, where it is the primary distribution method used by average people every day.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

That's very much not true then. Have you ever tried to set up a third party store like F-Droid?

Android requires you to dig into the settings before you can install third party APKs, and gives you several big scary warnings about it. If you download an APK from the web browser, it will then prevent you from directly opening it, claiming it's to protect you from malware. Instead you have to open the file browser and find it in your downloads folder, then you can install it from there. Finally, it will give you even more big scary warnings about letting any app that isn't Google Play have permissions to install its own APKs.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I've installed them all. FDroid, Obtainium, Aurora, Accrescent, along with a slew of other sideloaded independent apps, on several devices. That's not how it works.

If you sideload an app, a pop-up will ask if you want to enable the current app to install the new app and give the typical warning about malware that you'll get on any OS (for good reason). You click the pop-up, it redirects you to the proper location in the settings app, you toggle the switch and...that's it.

The instructions are right here on Epic's website

Instead you have to open the file browser and find it in your downloads folder, then you can install it from there.

Yes that's how it works on Windows and Mac as well.