this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2026
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I meant market in the real sense not the American polemical form.
A real market-driven price/cut is determined by supply and demand, the 30% figure was chosen by some American oligarchs that Valve decided to copy.
Have you ever wondered why it's not 29.1% or 34.5% and the 30% figure never changes (other than than for well connected insiders?). How can market driven price never change, especially in a highly dynamic globalized market like gaming?
The market has spoken, no one has been able to provide a better service for less, so 30 stays. Technically they could even have increased the cut because of that if you follow market rules.
But even then, you can get a lower cut on Steam if you are a very big publisher, so the 30% figure is not set in stone.
And again, the market is not gaming as a whole but gaming platforms, of which there are very few players, and none have tried to really compete with steam as a platform. Most publishers platforms were entirely driven by maximizing their profit, not competing. Most of them are basic digital storefronts, and not platforms.
Totally! The market has spoken!
It just so happens that all major service providers have the same 30% figure irrespective of their specific vertical focus, the geographic component of their industry or even the developments in their vertical over the past 20-25 years?
That's how a market works! Right?
P.S. You can also set it to 100% (you physical can if you want), that's not what we are discussing though.
You're free to build your own platform to undercut Valve and others if you think the market is wrong. Epic has been trying (barely I know) but haven't succeeded afaik
have you ever wondered why no one can provide the services Valve does for cheaper than Valve does? Is it because of their famously anticompetitive practices, their notorious lobbying and threats to politicians, their strong-arm manipulation of vendors against each other? Perhaps they have some other method of defeating market forces?
First mover advantage is the biggest reason.
But they've been able to maintain it just by not being shitty.