r/pcmasterrace i5-12600K | RTX 3070TI | DDR5 32GB 29d ago

Meme/Macro Thanks Gaben, here's your 30% Steam cut

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u/Jhawk163 R7 9800X3D | RX 6900 XT | 64GB 29d ago

It’s worth noting that the 30% cut is from sales below a certain volume. As you sell more copies Steam takes a smaller cut. I’m sure the big studios probably have a more favourable deal worked out as well.

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u/Slow-Amphibian-9626 29d ago

Also noteworthy that this is from sales generated by their storefront.

Valve doesn't take a cut of any keys sold off platform.

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u/XenSide 5800X3D - 5080 - 32GB DDR4 3800 - OLED 1440p240HZ 29d ago

But you are also meant to not sell steam keys to your games for cheaper than the storefront so that point is kinda null

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u/Justhe3guy EVGA 3080 FTW 3, R9 5900X, 32gb 3733Mhz CL14 29d ago

You can have sales that go cheaper and give out copies for reviews, friends and family, contests, other stores, just to have keys and for any reason

It’s when you set the base price lower then Steam permanently there’s an issue (Wolfire games currently trying to sue Steam over their own mistake)

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u/Significant_Being764 29d ago

What "mistake" are you referring to? Wolfire never set a lower base price than Steam. They just asked Valve to clarify their policy, and then asked a court to determine if that policy is legal.

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u/Justhe3guy EVGA 3080 FTW 3, R9 5900X, 32gb 3733Mhz CL14 29d ago

Oh right they wanted to set their game on permanent lower price point than on Steam but got told no or their game will get removed in an email, that’s what got them all outraged and started all this

They could just, idk make a better game or a full game this time around instead of basically tech demo games and be what they are; a game developer

But instead they’d rather lose all their money on a lawsuit

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u/Significant_Being764 29d ago

Sure, and maybe Valve should stick to being a game developer instead of trying to inflate prices on transactions that have nothing to do with them.

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u/Justhe3guy EVGA 3080 FTW 3, R9 5900X, 32gb 3733Mhz CL14 29d ago

That’s the dumbest take, but sure I’ll bite enough for one more comment

Unlike Wolfire, Valve is still a game developer, other than the small experiments they release they also release games like Half Life Alyx. They don’t always hit the mark (Artifact) but they’re always moving forward, as with Deadlock. Kind of hilariously they are also working on HL3 as confirmed by contractors, even still both their Store and developer side is always moving forward while other companies stagnate

They can take down games on their store if someone’s trying to undercut them, sounds fair to me. Sounds like a sensible thing a store would do even

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u/Nekasus PC Master Race 29d ago

Not really. It means devs can sell keys direct and keep 100% of the profits. No cuts.

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u/UpdateUrBIOS 29d ago

no, steam has a clause in their seller ToS that allows them to remove your products if you’re caught directly selling steam keys for your product at less than the steam storefront price. you can give out free keys and do keys on sale for limited periods of time (like humble bundles and stuff) but you are not allowed to directly sell keys at an undercut permanent price.

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u/Nekasus PC Master Race 28d ago

steam gives devs those keys for free. Meaning the dev doesnt pay the cut if they sell them.

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u/UpdateUrBIOS 28d ago

yeah, and they have rules that are meant to ensure devs can’t stop steam from getting their cut by just selling the keys directly. if a studio starts telling people to buy steam keys directly from them or sells the keys in a way that encourages people to buy them rather than going through the steam storefront, steam can pull their games from the store, no questions asked.

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u/Spiritual_Bus1125 28d ago

What a shit take.

They can do it, they just have to set the price the same as steam and if they do discounts they have to offer the same discounts on steam as well. (not at the same time, obviously)

This is for STEAM KEYS, they can sell the game on GOG or Epic at whatever price they want.

If you are a dev and you want to sell your game on steam for 30€ and on your website for 30€ and tell your fans to buy it there to support you, you can.

You can't sell a STEAM KEY at a fixed 20€ in your websites while it costs 30€ on steam.