At Steam, developers are pushing a lot of money to Valve, namely 30%. However, one developer says it’s still the best that is possible.
Steam is considered an unavoidable platform in the minds of many gamers. Most games can be found here, the interface is easy to use, and everything is conveniently located in one place. However, at the same time, Steam, or rather Valve behind it, is seen as “greedy” because they keep a hefty 30% of the revenue from game sales. Some fans are concerned that developers would be left behind in this situation.
A developer now explains why this is not so bad – and that he actually prefers you to buy his game “Cosmoteer” on Steam, even if he has to give up 30% of it.
Which game is it about? It is about the developer of Cosmoteer. Cosmoteer is an early access game. You have to design your own spaceship – from scratch. You determine how many decks the ship has, where individual machines and weapon systems are placed, or what shape the ship should have. Every decision affects how well your crew manages on the ship and how long the ship can withstand in battles.
What did the developer say? In the Steam forum, “Walt Destler”, one of the developers of Cosmoteer, was asked if he ever considers selling keys outside of Steam. These could then be redeemed on Steam, and he wouldn’t have to give up 30% each time. Destler responded:
It takes significant effort to build a store of my own and to maintain the site. For some stores, I would even have to negotiate contracts that cost me time and money for lawyers. And even if I do all that, Steam would probably still surpass the sales on all other platforms by x100. Honestly, it’s just not worth the effort, except maybe for really big games.
Yes, Steam takes 30% of the revenue. But when someone comes to Steam and buys the game, Steam usually rewards the game with free advertising on Steam, which more than compensates for the 30%. So honestly, even if you could buy Cosmoteer keys elsewhere, I would still prefer if you bought it on Steam, because in the long run, I believe I make more money from that.
Why is Steam so lucrative? The advertising aspect is likely to hit here particularly hard. New games on Steam are not only prominently displayed on various pages, but also wishlists and even friends lists serve as marketing. After all, players are informed when their friends are playing a certain game – and just that generates indirect advertising and attention that one might not have on other platforms.
Although Steam seems quite expensive from the outside with its 30% and that was even an argument from Epic Games for why one should switch to their launcher and platform, many developers seem to be more than satisfied with Steam. In the past, some have stated that while the 30% looks like a lot on paper, due to the size of Steam, the reach, and the attention that the Steam store brings to a game, this “loss” is outweighed in most cases.
