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I'm lazy with modding. So I buy games on Steam for the Steam Workshop what will keep my mods updated automatically. And besides that, all my friends play on Steam, making grouping up easier.

I love GOG more than Steam because you actually own the games you buy there. But for 2 main reasons I'm still on Steam.

1. Linux support out of the box.
2. Regional pricing.

Regional-pricing and it's more convenient. Although I'd also buy games from Origin from time to time due to them having better prices than Steam.

The games I got this sale weren't cheaper anywhere else.

I think your question can be divided into several, each with a different answer:

• Why use the Steam Game platform, and not Epic, Origin, etc.
  I think it's obvious and self-evident that Steam is simply a much better game platform overall.
  More mature, and has much more features (including social) and users.

• Why others buy games directly from Steam
  There are various reasons:
  Some don't trust 3rd party stores that sell keys (they don't see a difference between G2A and Fanatical for example)
  Some find cheaper prices directly on Steam
  Some use Steam credit from selling cards or in-game items you won, for example, to buy games. Sometimes people have hundreds or even thousands of dollars of Steam credit from selling items on Steam. It's a whole economy.

• Why I personally buy games directly from Steam
  I actually have some money in bitcoin, and if I want to use that money to buy games, I'm in a bit of a pickle.
  There aren't that many stores that sell Steam keys and take bitcoins. And the ones that do, are not very reliable.
  So the easiest way to do it is to simply buy Steam pre-paid cards using bitcoin, and then add them to Steam as store credit.

• only sold on Steam
• lowest historical (believe me, it happens even in EU)
• cheap wallet (by selling items, but also by getting discounted wallet codes)
• collecting (personal reason)

And don't forget that there are many casual players who don't even know that bundles or resellers exist.

There are many reasons actually. One being that EGS is not cheaper for me. SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated costs the same on both stores. Red Dead Redemption II costs the same. The list goes on. It's the greedy publishers I tells ya. Don't have any reason to buy from Epic and their launcher sucks. No shopping cart. No achievements. It's just sad.

I have purchased several hundred dollars worth of games from Steam using wallet funds that I got from selling game cards from games I purchased on other platforms.

Price, it's hard to argue with cheaper prices. In my region Steam is noticeably cheaper than other stores, and thanks to cards and the like I didn't spent a cent on this sale, got like 10 or so games just by selling items on the market. Sure, nothing fancy, but I like them.

Let's agree that we disagree.

If it was only about the prices piracy "store" have always the lowest ;) .

Is not all about the prices, it has to do with something that is almost impossible to quantify, satisfaction. Even if we don't realize it, buying something gives us satisfaction, and the place where we make that purchase has a lot to do with that satisfaction.

Steam now has more good old games than Good Old Games (GOG).

Absolutely blew my mind.

With how often EGS giving coupon and regional pricing, I'm 100% agree that EGS or other Steam key site win on "Price Tag". But there are several reason why Steam store still a competitive source, and here's my line of reasoning :

1. Why Original? If you want to compare raw selling point game vs game without any additional benefit piracy are the king (except for online game), the price is $0. I know many of you here are working on IT and loathe piracy but they did exist. The reason why people buy original game from Steam is because their huge added benefit. Achievement, auto update, community, easy purchase, easy modding, etc (+ no guilty feeling, but as much as we want this to be the main reason, it's not). So for this one it is (PRICE VS ORIGINAL BENEFIT)

2. Why Steam? In business there is a term called economic moat (competitive advantages), and steam have this. They provide best service, and an industry barrier in the form of library, with this 2 point even tho other DRM "Price Tag" are cheaper people still hesitant to changing. So for this one the answer are (PRICE VS STEAM ADVANTAGES)

3. Why Steam Store? This one have many point to explain :

   • Ease of access, it's located next to your library in your DRM, also have review and disscussion in one place, refundable, 100% working
   • The "Actual Price" and wallet binding, wallet are not 100 USD = 100 Wallet, you can get it from selling drop item and card to market, buying item under their market value, etc. and your wallet are locked for steam purchase only
   • Maybe this sound strange here at Steamgifts, but many people didn't know about website that selling Steam key, and some of those who know didn't have trust, because all website looks like grey market for them, and some of them who want to buy have issue with the access to payment (at least many of my friend did)

Reasons one through seven for me: price.
Reason eight: sometimes it's the only storefront for the game.
Reason nine: points toward event crap.
Reason ten: simpler to get a refund.

Edit: reason one: consolidated collection.

Dont forget, that alot of people still have bigger amounts of Wallet left from Trading times.

Sometimes a game simply isn't available elsewhere... especially if it's made by an indie developer. Example

It's regional pricing that really does it for me. Almost every game is significantly cheaper on Steam in my currency. Plus, during big sales they have the "get x off if you buy y worth of games", which most other stores don't have. So I almost always buy on Steam only, if they don't appear in bundles.

I won't buy from Epic because it is partially owned by TenCent.

Epic is pure shit because of exclusivity deals.

I'm no Steam fangirl.

I'm a mac user. I have probably 800+ mac compatible games on my Steam account. EPIC has mac games too, but they gave away a few that I already own on Steam and they were Windows-only. That kinda sealed my "stick with Steam" mentality.

Out of all the platforms, Steam gives me the most choices. If I buy a Windows machine, that might change, but for now... lol

why?
why not!

I rarely buy directly on Steam because in Europe it's just too expensive. I understand why a Russian or a Brazillian would buy on Steam.

• I like to keep the majority of my games on one platform.
• I use forums a lot on steam for games to ask questions when needed and converse about the games.
• It's easier to play games with friends when we're on the same platform.
• Workshop is the main source of mods for some games.
• News feed for games on Steam helps me know what updates have been made to games and whether or not it's worth a revisit.
• Steam Overlay is helpful, giving me access to many things without having to alt tab all the time.

Those are some of the main reasons I stick to Steam for the most part. Probably more I'm just not thinking of since I've been up a total of 10 minutes. If Epic updated client features, and stopped with the exclusive bullshit, that's really just, sell anywhere but steam, then maybe I'd give them a chance, but... As is, it seems less like they're trying to do something good for gamers/developers, and more like they're just trying to become the new top dog.

I share my games with other people, when you've got a 1000+ library and 3-4 other people using it, it just makes sense to buy what we want from Steam, though I never buy them from the actual store unless they're on sale.

You don't buy games on steam. You pay for the right to play them. You don't own the games on steam. That's the Steam bois.