this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2023
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Genuinely curious but how are they screwing over the publishers?
I’m especially curious how that can be true along with the seemingly contradictory conclusion you came to in your last sentence.
Steam gets something to the tune of 30 % as their fee.
30% is industry standard from Apple, Microsoft, Google, Sony, etc.
Steam taking 30% is nothing out of the norm
It's just a pretty ridiculous cut for steam. Steam gets 30% of every transaction.
But I was saying that I suppose the extreme cut of 30% must be worth it since so many developers keep coming back to steam. But that also could just be because they have such a monopoly that users don't want to switch DRMs.
You people need to watch the GDC Talk by the spiderweb software indie dev from like half a decade ago. He said, loud and clear, that the 30 cut is great and worth it for what he gets. Sure, lower cut is always nice, but let's not be stupid and say that the devs don't get their money's worth.
Let's not be stupid, and recommend an hour long video without a link (it's here) as an answer to why 30% is a good deal. He says it loud and clear, but also it's hidden somewhere in the hour long talk. Like I said, 30% must be worth it if so many developers are willing to take the cut for the services. But if a big part of what you're getting is the number of users that use your platform, then you're in a bit of a loop. The 30% is worth it because so many people will see your game, and users don't leave steam because it's where all their games are. The users have incentive to stay, because it's nice to keep all your games in one spot. I have over 1,500 games on steam, so for me to leave steam would mean leaving behind thousands of dollars worth of content I paid for already. So how can another service enter the arena and have any viability? 30% might be fair, but it might also be too high. What if it doesn't matter if it's too high because they get more sales on Steam? It's a complicated topic, but I'm just saying that 30% of each and every sale is a pretty big cut, even if it has become standard (a standard set by steam).
Apple also takes 30% (or did it change to 15%? Definitely used to, tho). So does Google, Amazon app store, Samsung Galaxy store (just to name some in the mobile industry). And guess ehat, even GOG takes 30%.
I would argue that, compared to other services that also take 30%, and taking them as a baseline for what they offer on top of "buy download play" model, Steam is still very generous as it offers cloud saves, achievements, workshop, community forum, chat, streaming, offline mode, and tons of little stuff that make your life easier.
The 30% were introduced by Nintendo for cartridges iirc. So I would not say valve set that standard.