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Dutch consumer foundation sues Sony for overpricing digital PlayStation games (www.gamedeveloper.com)

submitted 2 days ago by misk@sopuli.xyz to c/games@sh.itjust.works

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[–] misk@sopuli.xyz -3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Valve sets their cut at 30%. Would it be this high if Valve had competition? Would games cost the same if the cut was 10%? Why is it so high in the first place? What’s being offered in return?

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

They do have competition, and apparently publishers are willing to pay that fee. Also, it's more like 20-25% for larger games (IIRC 25% for sales >$10M, 20% for sales >$50M).

I think GOG is still 30%, and they seem to be losing money even with that cut, and EGS apparently still isn't profitable, so I really don't think 12% is sustainable. Valve might be able to do it, but that's because they have massive market share.

Why is it so high in the first place? What’s being offered in return?

marketing
Steam platform features for users (e.g. Steam Input), Steamworks for developers (e.g. DRM, multiplayer, achievements, etc), and things like SteamVR
platform support (e.g. Proton for Linux, Linux driver development, etc) - devs don't need to do anything to support Steam Deck
regional pricing - so publishers don't need to think about it

If publishers felt they were being ripped off, they could go elsewhere. We've actually seen some big names go off and make their own platform to keep more of the revenue, but then they came back. It turns out Steam offers a fantastic service for users, publishers, and developers.

Other platforms like EGS and GOG don't offer anything close to what Steam offers, which is probably why Steam still retains a massive marketshare without doing anything anti-competitive like paying for exclusives or bribing users w/ free games. They literally just offer a premium service and charge market rates for it.

[–] misk@sopuli.xyz -1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Valve building their own Android for games is not beneficial to Linux. I don’t know how many times do you guys need to be surprised.

If publishers felt they were being ripped off, they could go elsewhere

They must be perfectly happy with those 30% then! It’s not that gamers sit out any non-Steam exclusive.

I’m not going to argue any further because it’s pointless. I wanted you to learn on somebody else’s mistakes but you’re very set on repeating them yourself before that.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago

Valve building their own Android for games is not beneficial to Linux. I don’t know how many times do you guys need to be surprised.

? When did I suggest they did anything of the sort?

SteamOS is just Linux running Steam in Big Picture mode in a separate virtual desktop from desktop mode, with the root fs in read-only mode to prevent users from bricking it by tinkering. That's it, you can get pretty much the same thing with Bazzite. I use Linux on my desktop (openSUSE Tumbleweed), and games run the same as on my Steam Deck, but I could also get the same setup as SteamOS if I used something like openSUSE Kalpa (KDE) or Aeon (GNOME), which also has a read-only filesystem.

I’m not going to argue any further because it’s pointless

Well yeah, because every point you've brought up is either wrong or completely overblown.

I really don't understand what "mistakes" you're talking about. Steam offers a great service, better than everyone else. If that stops being true, I'll buy my games on another service. I was just fine w/o Steam for years when I first switched to Linux, and I'll be just fine w/o Steam if they ever screw the pooch. For now, they have an excellent service for users, publishers, and developers, and their competition is subpar for all three.

I have hundreds of free games from EGS and hundreds of games on GOG, so I won't be hurting for something to play if Steam ever decides to go evil. But for now, I'm getting really good value for the money I spend, because gaming on my OS of choice is way better thanks to Valve's investment, and I have no problem rewarding that.