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Also, my first language isn't English, i got confused between platform and client, sorreh :/
Nothing wrong with calling it a platform. You can say it both ways since it has a software distribution infrastructure.. The Dutch version of the official Steam website even literally uses the slogan: "Steam, het ultieme online gameplatform"
Which translates to: "Steam, the ultimate online gaming platform"
As for the ultimate one, yes. There is not much competition. And the ones that try are miles behind in terms of community features.
EDIT: LOL, just realized that their slogan is actually your question. Well, guess Steam answered it for you. :)
Sometimes words overlap in their meaning. As far as Steam being a client and a platform, the Steam software you run on your desktop is the client (or client application). A web browser is also a client.
But Steam is more than just the desktop software. Most of the infrastructure and features exist on remote servers. When we're talking about Steam in totality, the client, the service, the infrastructure that's the platform. So whether Steam is a client or a platform really depends on the context which you're referring to Steam.
The term platform in technology refers to a lot of things, it's kinda of a general purpose term. A platform can be any sort of hardware or software that is a base for other things to operate off of. As a rough general purpose definition. Although individuals may have particular opinions about when it's appropriate to call something a platform.
So PC is a platform, like eram mentioned. Windows is also a platform. I write code on Microsoft's .NET platform (https://dotnet.microsoft.com/), which is a group of languages and tools to create all sorts of applications.
Not sure what you mean by "ultimate gaming client", though as of right now Steam is the biggest store for buying digital PC games, based on the sheer breadth of its selection, and it happens to use a (generally mandatory) client to download, install, and launch games.
The game hubs are definitely useful, as are the discounts, though discounts between different sellers are sorta equal these days since customers are aware of alternate stores for buying games, of which there are many, even if a good number of them just sell Steam keys. That said, the Steam keys just bring people back to Steam anyway.
But these are features of the website, as a sales platform.
As for the client, I'd strongly disagree with the idea that the interface is "great". It's clunkily uses lots of pictures (it used to but no longer has an option to display things in a text-only spreadsheet-like layout), it has mandatory advertising space (that's glued to the top of the Library homepage, no less), and it's not keyboard-friendly. (To be fair, it was never all that keyboard-friendly, but at least you could launch games via keyboard in the main Library view of a previous version of Steam.)
It's hard to replace because it is the mandatory client which one needs to use to download/install games, and (for many games) even to access them. And that's not to mention the "soft DRM" features like community features and achievements, which are meant to incentivize people to keep using it even if they're not strictly necessary for accessing the game.
Also, It seems like they are self aware, LOL.
remote play both local and over internet,
regional prices for the store,
"leveling" withing the platform and sale events,
achievements integrated almost into every little game (nowadays if a game has no steam achievements it's not even worth playing),
the huge catalog also made me an infinite wishlist which I will never get to buy everything,
family sharing (although very limited, you can't afk a game on a second computer with the same account, epic does better)
store thousands of screenshots per game and steam cloud,
also recently they've been making steam labs
Not every gamer needs a toxic fanboy-ish forum.
Not every gamer needs users micromanaging gamers thoughts.
Not every gamer cares about all mods or any.
Not every gamer cares to read a "book manual" to utilizes its full features.
Not every gamer minds getting random invites that leads to hijacking users accounts.
Not every gamer likes forced section 230 abuse.
So much more, so, the real question should be asked, what gamer you wants to be.