Valve isn't my friend, no corporation is. They are largely benevolent despite some missteps. I can forgive that, mistakes are made. Steam has been a great boon to my hobby and I would dearly miss it if it were gone.
You wouldn't lose much by rewriting the definition of "malevolent" on the dictionary with those words above.
Anyway, Steam users are also paying to consume the game, even if they don't own it. And I really doubt the 2% of their users read even the first paragraph of the EULA contract (where they do specify the above, yep I read it.)