Taking a different and hopefully more productive stance than the other guy, I just want to explore people’s thoughts.
People already have built these alternatives. Itch.io, EGS, Humble Store, Microsoft Store, GOG. These platforms exist, but they struggle to achieve the full market dominance that Steam has as the “default” platform, meaning Devs are borderline forced to accept the 30% cut if they have any hope of making sales.
As shown by Steam’s huge profits, they certainly take a higher cut than they have to, and they can definitely stomach a smaller cut
firadin@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Me: “Rent seeking is an illegitimate practice, landlords steal money from laborers by extorting them for a necessary good!”
You: “Oh yeah? Why don’t you just buy your own land and build your own apartment building?”
You’re a dumbass.
BigSadDad@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Lmao, thanks for demonstrating my point for me better than I ever could.
firadin@lemmy.world 4 months ago
What point? That you’re a corporate bootlicker?
BigSadDad@lemmy.world 4 months ago
That you’re like, 12 years old? Or at least have the fundamental world view of a 12 year old.
Fukkin lmao “steam is a necessity they owe me to make it cheaper”
Get the fuck back to reddit child. Enjoy your block.
BaroqueInMind@lemmy.one 4 months ago
How is Valve supposed to make money without charging devs for using their enormous platform? I’m genuinely curious what ideas you have. Disregard everyone’s non-sequiturs here, please.
firadin@lemmy.world 4 months ago
By charging 3% instead of 30%? Do you really think their servers cost $8.5b? Does the work to distribute a game and process payment equal 30% of the labor required to make a game?
Xenny@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Unity was changing the rules after they were already set in place. Valve has never done such a move.
Imagine though if steam suddenly went to a flat fee per install instead of charging the 30% of the sale on their platform.
They would rightly be raked over the coals. But they won’t make such a dumb fucking move because it’s a dumb fucking move.
I’m not one for Corpos but as far as attacking them goes valve is certainly near the bottom of the list.
Charzard4261@programming.dev 4 months ago
Side note: Valve isn’t doing the thing Unity tried to do. Unity tried to charge you every time someone installs the game. And you’re not even hosting the game’s data on Unity’s servers.
Steam takes money when you purchase, then will let you download it for free, anytime, anywhere, and on any device. Completely different.
Back on topic: It would be really interesting to see the actual server and bandwidth costs for hosting and distributing all those games. There’s no way it’s super low, or any of the competition surely would have caught up by now.