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Valve creates new revenue sharing tiers to give big sellers a break

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Re: Valve creates new revenue sharing tiers to give big sellers a break

#151

Post by wdr1 »

PakG1 wrote: post #32

I actually am surprised that services like Steam, the Apple App Store, and Google Play are able to command as high a margin as they do for sales commission. I mean, it's obviously possible because it's reality, but it's nonintuitive. I wonder if it will continue to be that way. For iOS, you don't really have a way to install apps outside the app store without jailbreaking, but you do for macOS, and I've seen a number…

> I actually am surprised that services like Steam, the Apple App Store, and Google Play are able to command as high a margin as they do for sales commission. I mean, it's obviously possible because it's reality, but it's nonintuitive.

Why?

Re: Valve creates new revenue sharing tiers to give big sellers a break

#152

Post by MattRix »

AmVess wrote: post #150
PakG1 wrote: post #32

I actually am surprised that services like Steam, the Apple App Store, and Google Play are able to command as high a margin as they do for sales commission. I mean, it's obviously possible because it's reality, but it's nonintuitive. I wonder if it will continue to be that way. For iOS, you don't really have a way to install apps outside the app store without jailbreaking, but you do for macOS, and I've seen a number…

25% is a steal. They handle all the financial transactions and host and distribute the game files on the most popular client on the planet. They also handle the security. Handling your own billing is expensive and time consuming. Setting up your own distribution and hosting is also expensive and time consuming, and then there's the bandwidth cost. All this adds up rather quickly. Having someone else do the business e…

It's not a steal at all. Those things (especially stuff like hosting and bandwidth) cost a small fraction of the price. You can argue that it's worth it because of how popular Steam is, but it's getting harder and harder for smaller devs to even get seen by that large audience in the first place.

Re: Valve creates new revenue sharing tiers to give big sellers a break

#153

Post by MattRix »

user5994461 wrote: post #40
PakG1 wrote: post #32

I actually am surprised that services like Steam, the Apple App Store, and Google Play are able to command as high a margin as they do for sales commission. I mean, it's obviously possible because it's reality, but it's nonintuitive. I wonder if it will continue to be that way. For iOS, you don't really have a way to install apps outside the app store without jailbreaking, but you do for macOS, and I've seen a number…

>>> I actually am surprised that services like Steam, the Apple App Store, and Google Play are able to command as high a margin as they do for sales commission. What makes you think that they have high margin? It's not like each game creators could run a worldwide distribution and payment operation with just a few percent more of revenues.

uh, see Itch.io or Humble, which do the exact same thing for a fraction of the cost

Re: Valve creates new revenue sharing tiers to give big sellers a break

#154

Post by MattRix »

skinnyarms wrote: post #28
jsheard wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Its also a hedge to prevent every large game seller from setting up their own store. That ship has already sailed - EA has Origin, Ubisoft has Uplay, Activision/Blizzard has Battle.net, Microsoft has the Windows store, and Bethesda and Epic have their own launchers. Nearly every major publisher has already made the investment to develop their own store and digital distribution infrastructure, so they have little re…

Most stores keep their numbers private, but I'd wager that Steam has most (if not all of them) beat by a large margin. Presumably these companies believe that the higher margins and control they get from running their own stores are worth the customers they lose by not being in Steam. As the Steam Tax lightens however, the results of that equation could change.

Fortnite alone has more concurrent players than every game on Steam combined at around 8 million. Steam has between 10-20 million concurrent people with the client open, but not actually nearly that many playing games.

Re: Valve creates new revenue sharing tiers to give big sellers a break

#155

Post by dogma1138 »

georgeecollins wrote: post #110
e12e wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Brick and mortar stores pay about $45 for a $60 dollar game Really? I thought anything less than a 100% mark-up generally meant retail wasn't profitable? (ie 30 for a 60 dollar game)?

Most dedicated game retailers (GameStop) make their profit from selling used games. There is a higher markup for that.

Not sure why this is downvoted this is correct, you get store credit and they get another resell at likely a higher markup than the original.

This is why both publishers and console makers have constantly tried to get into this market, which have already been somewhat killed on the PC the moment CD keys were introduced.

Re: Valve creates new revenue sharing tiers to give big sellers a break

#156

Post by dogma1138 »

e12e wrote: post #107
dogma1138 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brick and mortar stores pay about $45 for a $60 dollar game, and have additional bonuses for sales targets. Some larger publishers operate on a different scheme similar to the large DIY and big box stores in which they “rent” shelf space, pay for promotional services and share a smaller percentage of each sale revenue. A lot of times there are other restrictions such as game stores need approval for things like unoff…

> Brick and mortar stores pay about $45 for a $60 dollar game Really? I thought anything less than a 100% mark-up generally meant retail wasn't profitable? (ie 30 for a 60 dollar game)?

Most retail doesn’t do 100% markup or anything close to that other than maybe parishables and low priced goods that aren’t bought on credit.

Also game stores hope that you’ll buy other items and also sell your older games back to them so they can resell them while giving you back arguable worthless store credit.

Re: Valve creates new revenue sharing tiers to give big sellers a break

#157

Post by c3534l »

PakG1 wrote: post #32

I actually am surprised that services like Steam, the Apple App Store, and Google Play are able to command as high a margin as they do for sales commission. I mean, it's obviously possible because it's reality, but it's nonintuitive. I wonder if it will continue to be that way. For iOS, you don't really have a way to install apps outside the app store without jailbreaking, but you do for macOS, and I've seen a number…

I tried to look up what Steam's profit margins are, but I can't find any good information on it, just a lot of confused people pretending as if they're an authority on Steam's finances, but who don't even know the difference between revenues, profits, and commissions. Does Steam have a high margin? I don't know. It could cost more than you think to run Steam. Or maybe it costs a lot less - I really don't know.

Re: Valve creates new revenue sharing tiers to give big sellers a break

#159

Post by ksec »

So what exactly is "Valve" now without Steam? They don't have new games any more ( And none of the the "newer" ones were anywhere as good as CS ). They don't improve or compete in Game Engine any more, which they did in the Golden Era between Unreal, DOOM, and Source.

What have they got left? Steam OS and Gaming Machine got no where. HTC Vive doesn't look like they can compete with Sony or Oculus.

Re: Valve creates new revenue sharing tiers to give big sellers a break

#160

Post by doyoulikeworms »

ksec wrote: post #159

So what exactly is "Valve" now without Steam? They don't have new games any more ( And none of the the "newer" ones were anywhere as good as CS ). They don't improve or compete in Game Engine any more, which they did in the Golden Era between Unreal, DOOM, and Source. What have they got left? Steam OS and Gaming Machine got no where. HTC Vive doesn't look like they can compete with Sony or Oculus.

Valve is still a quite an admirable game studio. Not only do their top games CS:GO and Dota 2 have large and healthy player bases, but they also have large and vibrant competitive scenes.

I don’t compare Valve to the likes of Nintendo or Bethesda anymore wrt game development, but instead to companies like Riot and Blizzard. These studios revolve around franchises-as-services and don’t release new IP often. Their core games are pillars of the competitive, casual, and streaming games scenes.

I do miss the days of more frequent releases, though. Hooray for Artifact!

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