i don't know. you're taking a really simplistic view of loss leaders that doesn't really apply anymore. you're taking everything valve says at face value.

despite 1/5th of active players on Steam playing Valve titles, valve titles are probably closer to 1/2 of the revenue, since DOTA2 and CSGO are really well monetized F2P games. probably less than 1/10th of the platform's revenue goes to pay-to-play titles like the majority of them do on the switch (except maybe fortnite).

nintendo by comparison: basically none of its titles, despite being very popular, have IAP, and the ones that do (like tracks in mario kart) it's DLC, it's not microtransactions / lootboxes.

so: define consumer friendly. is it really a 3x more expensive console, that primarily sells lootboxes? i feel like this stuff about open or not open misses the forest for the trees. yes, you can play pirated games on a steam deck.