That's true now, but Valve has been like this since the start, way before skins and microtransactions.

Most other companies would still nickel and dime the adults, though.

"We" is the kids' parents, and I would assume it's the parents' money.

They also nickel and dime the adults, but only the ones who make the games.

It's fine though, because they're nice to players and they've brainwashed them into giving their money to Valve instead of to the developers who actually make the games they fucking play.

to be fair, every gaming company nowadays is also doing this and still choosing go nickel and dime the adults and not do anything positive for the community

Steam lets you trade your items with others. with all the copycats that came out, im not sure any of them allow for you to trade things you bought with other players within the same game, let alone letting them buy it off you for virtual currency you could use to buy other games with

Does Valve even own games played by kids anymore? Aren't all of the cs skin traders and tf2 players in their 20s at youngest?

This kind of naiive cynicism is exactly why we don't deserve Valve, and will eventually lose companies like them.

The problem with Steam is developers are paying 30% to introduce their players to CSGO and DOTA2.

Another POV is, nobody on HN has any idea what he's talking about, it's all vibes.