this post was submitted on 14 Mar 2024
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Steam is just perfect at keeping the gamers behind them as they are only assholes behind doors to the Devs on their platform.
30% is an absurd cut for a store that has such a monopoly that if you don't release there your game is pretty much cancelled even if you release at your own store without DRM and with additional goodies (Looking at GOG and The Witcher - they released the Gwent standalone like a year later on steam because it didn't sell at all on GOG and then it apparently outsold the GOG version without a week)
People are just too lazy and Steam is keeping them happy enough to not bother looking another way.
Epic isn't a good guy in any case but the exclusive deals on AAA Games they do is probably the only way to get someone to buy the game there instead of Steam
30% is the cut only if the sale happens on Steam itself. Devs can sell keys through other means and Valve gets 0%.
An offer made generously because they know it won't matter. They're basically a monopoly.
It definitely does matter. Some games effectively pay Valve about 15%, which basically nullifies Sweeneys whining since it's roughly the same they'd pay on the Epic store.
You're right about Steam being the dominant game store, but the narrative around it is all wrong. Steam offers far more functionality for their cut than any other competitor could even come close to.
Only for companies as big as Epic.
For the overwhelming majority of developers: it's 30%. Keys sell, but who's buying?
Steam's primary functionality is its market share. They could do a lot less and nothing would change. They stay big because they are big.