Storage and bandwidth definitely weren't cheap in 2003.

To access the same number of people, all around the world, compared to physical stores it's essentially a rounding error. Rent alone for all the stores would be far more than Valve had to spend, then you need employees to operate the stores and all the other ongoing costs. Storage was not as cheap, and from a consumer point of view it wasn't cheap, it it's far cheaper than physical stores around the world.

Additionally Steam provides features that a brick and mortar store could never even think of providing, including updates, DRM, instant access to global consumers, community features, in-depth data analytics, and the ability to adjust pricing in real time.

Not sure how that's relevant, but yes. I didn't say they didn't.

While a lot of the work Valve has put in Steam seems both obvious and ubiquitous today, these were features they pioneered for both developers and consumers.

Again, sure. It doesn't contradict anything I said so I don't know why you said it.

I'd also like to point out that the only digital marketplace I'm aware of that charges less than 30% by default (Epic) is famous for losing billions of dollars in the endeavor.

Once again, sure. It doesn't change anything in my comment.

I don't know why if anyone says anything that is not just gobbling Valve's cock with enthusiasm they get people showing up talking about how great they are. Sure, I like them too. It doesn't mean there aren't reasons to complain. That's how you end up with companies enshitifying.

It almost feels like bots how frequent it is, but I just think you people have a compulsion to defend them from what isn't even criticism, like they're going to praise you for it. Well guess what? They don't even know you exist.