The founder and CEO of Divinity Original Sin maker Larian Studios Swen Vincke has downplayed much of the negative press surrounding Steam.

In an interview with GameStar, the development exec said that Valve's platform is doing more good than harm for the PC games ecosystem and is worth the 30 per cent cut that developers hand over.

Furthermore, Vincke said that the sales on both GOG and Steam - which have come under fire for supposedly devaluing games - are actually a good thing.

"Steam is not your enemy, Steam is open, free, fair and doing so much for our hobby, Steam has provided the best prices - for players and developers alike - and it's good for all parts of the PC gaming market for growth in many other software areas that you often do not even see so much - VR programs and presentations at trade shows, for example. "

He continued: "Steam takes good care of us and is worth the money."

He added: "Sales on Steam and GOG are miles more profitable for us than retail sales, and in general we'll need fewer middlemen in 2018 than we did five or ten years ago."

Furthermore, he said that the growing fragmentation of the PC games market is bad for business.

"If Steam as a neutral platform loses market power, it flows even more back to the publisher," he said.

"That's not good for the creative freedom of the developers."

Steam has come under increasing fire, even more so after Valve decided to totally open up its platform.