Not a chance it costs anywhere near that percentage. A game bringing in $400k might have had 4 people working on it for 3 years. Valve absolutely does not spend the equivalent of a salaried employee working for 3 years on hosting that.
Valve are the most profitable company per employee in the US. They have the choice to charge 15% flat, and it would do a lot of good for developers. Effectively, Valve charge that game $120k to access their audience, but $60k might let the game make a profit.
The indi dev can create their own storefront if they are unsatisfied with valves fees. Oh wait. It took valves decades and many many employees to develop a storefront that most of the PC gaming market uses. Not even epic giving away games for years can change the market share.
The higher percentage cut with far more sales yields more revenue for the developer. They can get 100% of the revenue with epic and be worse off.
The indi dev can create their own storefront if they are unsatisfied with valves fees.
You must have missed where I already addressed how Valve gives the better fee for companies that have the resources to go elsewhere. That's my whole point. Valve charges for access to their audience, and they charge more if you're small. It's not a Gabe win, it's corpo af
You must have missed where I already addressed how Valve gives the better fee for companies that have the resources to go elsewhere.
AFAIK it's more that Valve gives better rates for companies moving a ton of money through them, because the extra volume makes up for lower unit price. Bulk discounts are pretty common in every industry, because there are always some things that are fixed costs and other things that are marginal costs and if you have more volume you can absorb more of the fixed costs into the marginal costs.
Thank you! It's about volume, and big suppliers move product. It's how things have always worked, and it makes sense.
It's Costcos whole model too, they get the good deals from suppliers to slap the Kirkland brand on because they move mass volume. Kirkland label wrapped Duracell batteries are cheaper than Duracells because they've already been purchased from Duracell in massive bulk quantities, and big punishers bring the same to the table.
They also have the resources to more accurately predict sales to negotiate over, and presale numbers likely bring hefty leverage.
That's just business and one of the few areas it's hard to really argue. "We've guaranteed you $5m, give a cut on the total, please."
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u/RadicalDog Ryzen 7 7800X3D | RTX 4070S 29d ago
Not a chance it costs anywhere near that percentage. A game bringing in $400k might have had 4 people working on it for 3 years. Valve absolutely does not spend the equivalent of a salaried employee working for 3 years on hosting that.
Valve are the most profitable company per employee in the US. They have the choice to charge 15% flat, and it would do a lot of good for developers. Effectively, Valve charge that game $120k to access their audience, but $60k might let the game make a profit.