Link: https://kotaku.com/valve-says-the-companies-making-ram-give-them-a-price-and-if-they-say-no-they-never-talk-to-us-again-2000709575

If that sounds a lot like a cartel, well, you wouldn't be the first person to point that out

How long until valve makes their own ram?

It would be great if they did, but getting the necessary tech up and running takes time.

It may sound unlikely, but valve is nowhere near the size of would need to be for that. Also the fabs that actually make the ram are owned by like 2-3 companies world wide. Everyone just rents time slots in those, booked many years in advance. It costs billions and takes many years to build more of those. The machines used in them are made by exactly one company world wide.

Tldr: never

Cartel when my favourite monopoly doesn't get preferential treatment.

Bullshit. Whales are lining up to buy Gaben his ninth yacht.

I don't even think the Steam Machine is a bad deal, especially if you have a decently sized Steam library. That's the draw. Yeah it's a few hundred more than a PS5, but with the PS5, you gotta buy games. If you already have a Steam library, the Steam Machine has an advantage the consoles can't really touch, given all the deep discounts, giveaways, Humble Bundles that gave Steam keys over the years, and so on and so forth. Also, I do believe Steam Machines can play GOG and Epic sold games as well. Probably emulators, too.

So what would a PlayStation/Xbox be worth if it included as many games as you have on Steam? If you have zero games on Steam it's a moot point. I myself have 268 games in my Steam library. 64 of which can be played on my current computer (Mac), though most of those probably still use Intel code, which means I won't be able to play them next year when macOS 28 drops its Intel compatibility layer.

They have nowhere near the scale for that. Also notice that companies that do make their own ram (Samsung) are looking at the same price pressures as everyone else because of the whole “market” thing.

"Bullshit!" the commenter exclaimed, before seguing into a bunch of unrelated nonsense.

Never.

There can be two bad things at once. Nuance exists.

As is the style of the times.

Uhhh the RAM industry has a long history of price fixing. You know, cartel stuff.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DRAM_price_fixing_scandal

for context: she’s a gamedev who has released games on steam (and itch). games that you should check out, they’re good!

Tied an onion to my belt, and other such quips

You can get older process/slower clocked memory right now. But that’s not what you want in a gaming pc.

long history

Two examples.

One of which was thrown out.

yeah, you're right, it could be done, but with chip manufacturing it always takes 10 years to get the factories into production mode, and basically many chip manufacturers aren't confident enough yet that the memory shortage will still be a thing by then.

are made by exactly I’ve company world wide

Fixed, thx.