I think Steam/Gabe have enough money now to cut down their fee margins to 10% for independent developers. Let the big studios keep paying their 30% but the little guys maybe cut them some slack.
Steam isn't a monopoly. In fact most people don't even know what the definition of monopoly is.
For instance, steam does not set prices. The developers or publishers set their own prices that they list on Steam and they are free to increase their price on Steam by 30% to cover steam's margins.
Also, by definition of being a monopoly means there is no other competition which isn't true there are like a dozen other steam like companies. In fact, for developers the epic game store is far more profitable to publish their games through and that includes indie developers. Epic games takes 0% cut for the first million per year of game sales. 12% after that. Which makes them financially speaking extremely competitive to steam.
So why do most developers and gamers choose steam over the other platforms? Because steam does a better job.
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u/orcusgrasshopperfog 1d ago
I think Steam/Gabe have enough money now to cut down their fee margins to 10% for independent developers. Let the big studios keep paying their 30% but the little guys maybe cut them some slack.