When Microsoft signaled it might lock third-party storefronts out of Windows, Valve's CEO — a former Microsoft insider — recognized the platform control playbook. He had helped build Windows. He knew exactly where it was heading.

The result was Proton. A compatibility layer that quietly made Windows optional for millions of gamers. Built not from ambition, but from strategic necessity.

This episode breaks down one of the most instructive platform strategy stories in tech: how aggressive distribution control creates the alternatives it seeks to prevent, why the most powerful lock-in is the kind nobody talks about, and what Christensen's Innovator's Dilemma looks like when it plays out in real time.

Essential listening for product leaders who think beyond the roadmap.

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