As you know, especially when our lives were moved to homes and digital media due to the pandemic period, the number of active users of digital game showcases skyrocketed. During this period, many developers sell their games in third-party digital storefronts such as Steam, Epic Games Store, App Store, Google Play Store. Of course, there’s a price to pay. These digital showcases take a certain percentage of the developer’s earnings as the price of selling their games.
Steam’s 30% outage unfair to developers
As reported by the GDC, game developers are not particularly happy with steam’s interruption to games in its digital showcase. As you know, Steam for the PC platform is cutting the game’s revenue by as much as 30%. This means that with the country’s taxes added on top of it, a significant portion of the developer’s income goes to deductions. According to the GDC survey, only 3% of developers think the 30/70 income distribution in digital storefronts is fair. When the same question was asked in 2020, only 6% said the cut was fair. While most video game developers are dissatisfied with Steam’s outages, the platform has not made any adjustments.
The Epic Games Store said it would cut 12% when it first came out, leaving 88% to the developer. In fact, he stated that if the game was developed with Unreal Engine 4, the engine would not receive royalties. Although UE4 is a free engine to use, the game’s sales receive a small royalty payment when it exceeds a certain bar. Of course, while it’s clear that the platform’s library can’t yet rival Steam, especially when it comes to independent games, it may still be of interest to developers going forward.
At the same time, game developers are more willing to develop PC games this year than other platforms. Still, 44% of developers surveyed by GDC with the new generation said they wanted to develop games for ps5, followed by Nintendo Switch with 38% and Xbox Series X/S with 30%. Still, the overwhelming advantage is on the PC platform with 58%. So do you think steam’s 30% cut to developers is fair? Don’t forget to include your feedback in the comments section at the bottom.
