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this post was submitted on 14 Mar 2024
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A whacking great cut of somebody else's money will do that.
If people dont like the cut they can use another shop front or make their own. PC gaming isnt locked down to any specific store front
That's not the reality for game devs
Once again, they profit by accepting Steams cut, proving that Steam earns and deserves it. There Itch.io, GoG, Epic, or they can go Minecrafts route and sell their game on their own site. Steam does nothing to hamper competition. Steams cut is entirely optional, a dev doesnt HAVE to put their game up on Steams marketplace. Steam is earning that cut by being a marketplace that brings devs more sales
No, they don't have to use the largest and most popular storefront at all. Good economic e sense right there. People didn't have to use Internet Explorer, but that was deemed a monopoly. The existence of alternatives doesn't make them automatically economically viable
Yes, and their cut for letting you use the largest storefront out there that THEY BUILT AND GOT THERE, is 30%. If you are earning more money paying that 30% and being on their storefront than you would by rejecting that cut and listing somewhere else, than that is full proof that Steam is earning that cut.
Also, internet explorer came bundled with Windows and THATS why it was deemed a monopoly. You have to specifically choose to download Steam, it gets no starter advantage over the competition.
Steam is the most popular storefront because its the BEST storefront, there is no ulterior motivation putting it at the top, its just that all of its competition barring Itch and GoG are garbage. Steam is still better than the non garbage competition though and why it can get away with its incredibly minor option for built in DRM and its 30% cut. They use their cut to make an amazing storefront, and the developers who choose to pay that cut benefit from the customers that having the worlds best PC marketplace brings.
That stream is good doesn't make it not a monopoly
What makes it not a monopoly is that it isnt. It has competitors, it does nothing to block competition. It is not responsible for its competition not being as good as it is.
The existence of competition doesn't make it not a monopoly. Nor anticompetittive behaviour
Steam let's devs sell games anywhere and provide steam keys. There are many alternate stores you can buy games and get a steam key. I'm guessing that is one reason they have a big cut.
But also, I remember indie devs having to give up 60℅ of revenue to go on the larger indie game publishing sites.
Brainless take. "I want all of the benefits of a huge storefront with free advertisement and countless features that attract customers, but I don't wanna pay for it!"
Brainless take. Valve is making money hand over fist. Most game devs are not making money. Valve aren't creating any of the games, valve aren't taking any of the risk
Do you think the payment processing, storage, content distribution, content delivery, social & communal aspects are free? Think for a second before writing your nonargument.
Strawman.
It is not.
It is. You ascribe an argument to me that I wasn't making. It's a strawman.
You're arguing against obtuseness. I think it's a close cousin of willful ignorance.
Point me to one service that provides as many benefits as Steam without taking a larger total cut than 30%. I'll wait.