this post was submitted on 02 May 2025
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[–] FMT99@lemmy.world 27 points 2 months ago (56 children)

Man it's a shame the Epic store sucks so so bad. I'd love to give developers a bigger cut. Steam is amazing but taking a 30% cut is a bit insane.

Still, having to struggle with the Epic launcher.. oof. GOG's isn't great either but it beats the hell out of Epic still.

[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 43 points 2 months ago (48 children)

30% has been industry standard across any digital storefront until Epic found out they couldn't beat steam by just paying for exclusivity deals. Then they decided to go down this race to the bottom strategy.

Steam is good because of that 30%.

Firstly, data transfer and storage isn't free and is an ongoing cost for Steam even after purchase. How many times can you think that you installed a game, then deleted it and ultimately downloaded it again—Steam doesn't get any more money, but that costs them. They could have done all the limited number of downloads or transfer speed limiting shit that used to be more common.

The profit they make on top goes straight back into Valve. They are a private company without shareholders to please and pay dividends to. This has allowed them to keep reinvesting into Steam and making it the best experience for the consumer they can—they've been rewarded with a load of goodwill and market share following that. You can guarantee that we wouldn't have proton or the steam deck without the money valve made from steam sales.

Epic doing this is just another attempt to try and tempt developers to choose their store and not list on Steam. They have no interest in actually improving their offering, their only strategy is to try and find ways to put Steam users at a disadvantage and hope that people go "well I guess I'll go for it on epic if I have to". They don't have any problem getting companies to list their games on Epic, this is 100% about manipulating developers to not list on Steam.

GoG is the alternative to Steam, and offers something that benefits consumers to compete with Steam in DRM free games.

Friends don't let friends reward Epic for anti-consumer business practices.

[–] Grimy@lemmy.world -1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (4 children)

Steam makes a shit load of money. The server fees are basically a joke and they have 80 employees in the steam division.

The only things that is being invested in is Gabens fleet of mega yatchs, worth an estimated 1 billion, and costing between 75 and 100 million annually to maintain.

Valve has been fined in the EU for anti-consumer practices and received an F from the better business bureau. They are currently in the middle of another lawsuit.

30% is way too high and it's a joke to see actual consumers defend it.

[–] jatone@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

This is likely 100% misinformation. Only EU lawsuit i found was about geo blocking games. Which is a game developer/publisher decision not valves.

From there we can extrapolate the rest of their comment is nonsense.

[–] Grimy@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Geo blocking is anti-consumer.

BBB giving them an F (granted, this one is old) : https://kotaku.com/valve-is-not-psyched-they-got-an-f-in-customer-service-1691308332

Billion dollar yatch fleet and maintenance : https://luxurylaunches.com/transport/gabe-newell-luxury-yachts.php

80 employees (only came out because of an other lawsuit against them) : https://www.lavegagames.com/steam-is-run-by-fewer-than-80-staff-lawsuit-docs-reveal/

Gaben isn't your friend and probably mocks you during his high seas coke parties.

[–] jatone@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

oh no, a person at the head of a company that has created a great environment has profited from it! the horror.

Gabe's wealth isnt a problem. if you dislike his yach the problem is in the taxation system of the country not the individuals wealth.

BBB hasnt been relavant for decades its a dead ratings system that was bought out years ago by corpo interests. citing them is like citing donald trump on medical treatments for covid.

oh no! 80 employees? the horror. thats literally what software is about. its economics of scale are insane. you dont need more than a couple dozen people if they're competent.

finally: geoblocking is a feature developers enable. they don't have to. steam doesnt force them to. if you dont like it don't by those games. I promise you there are plenty of games you can buy that dont have it.

really if this is all you have as complaints thats pretty small time. compared to google/apple/microsoft/EA/nabisco mistreatment of their employees, funding of fascist politicians, etc. quite frankly I have bigger concerns than gabe being wealthy.

[–] Grimy@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Now do Musk and Bezos!!

All billionaire wealth is stolen wealth. All billionaires are bad. If you stopped bootlicking for a second, you would realize defending Gaben is defending the system. The fact that he can legally exploit it to steal from consumers and developers doesn't absolve him from doing it.

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