Leaked payroll data show how much Valve pays staff and how few people it employs
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Re: Leaked payroll data show how much Valve pays staff and how few people it employs
#2Where does all the money go if it isn't being reinvested into the business? Are the massive profits immediately syphoned out by the execs and owners?
It's interesting there isn't a well-known real competitor to Steam (the Blizzard and Ubisoft stores, etc, don't count, because so few external parties publish there).
My gut says the lack of reinvestment could be someone else's opportunity, especially considering many of the longstanding VAC and other quality issues which have persisted on Steam's platform for more than 15 years. However, because of all the necessary catch-up, such an enterprise would be tricky to bootstrap and get to critical mass. Even then, where is the moat?
Re: Leaked payroll data show how much Valve pays staff and how few people it employs
#3Where does all the money go if it isn't being reinvested into the business? Are the massive profits immediately syphoned out by the execs and owners? It's interesting there isn't a well-known real competitor to Steam (the Blizzard and Ubisoft stores, etc, don't count, because so few external parties publish there). My gut says the lack of reinvestment could be someone else's opportunity, especially considering many o…
At $1.3 million per employee in payroll expenses, it seems like much of the profits are being distributed to the employees that work there.
Re: Leaked payroll data show how much Valve pays staff and how few people it employs
#4Where does all the money go if it isn't being reinvested into the business? Are the massive profits immediately syphoned out by the execs and owners? It's interesting there isn't a well-known real competitor to Steam (the Blizzard and Ubisoft stores, etc, don't count, because so few external parties publish there). My gut says the lack of reinvestment could be someone else's opportunity, especially considering many o…
At $1.3 million per employee in payroll expenses, it seems like much of the profits are being distributed to the employees that work there.
Agreed, that's generous. TFA also states Valve still makes $15m/employee
p.s. thanks so much for hnreplies.com, Dan! It dramatically increased the utility of HN for me. Your creation is fantastic.
Re: Leaked payroll data show how much Valve pays staff and how few people it employs
#5Where does all the money go if it isn't being reinvested into the business? Are the massive profits immediately syphoned out by the execs and owners? It's interesting there isn't a well-known real competitor to Steam (the Blizzard and Ubisoft stores, etc, don't count, because so few external parties publish there). My gut says the lack of reinvestment could be someone else's opportunity, especially considering many o…
There is Epic and Itch.
The problem is that Steam for all its faults is DRM, anti-cheat, and a well functioning store rolled all in one. Most of the alternate stores are bad in one way or another; Epic launched without a cart, and it still doesn’t have user text reviews. Itch had to redo its whole UI after that one bundle they did that had thousands of games in it.
Notably Valve doesn’t really use its position to make competing games. This is an unknown for most publishers, and Epic pretty blatantly pivoted Fortnite to eat PUBG’s lunch after working with them.
If anything the leading platform for competition as an indie store is the Nintendo eShop. Which is probably why the Steam Deck exists.
Re: Leaked payroll data show how much Valve pays staff and how few people it employs
#6Where does all the money go if it isn't being reinvested into the business? Are the massive profits immediately syphoned out by the execs and owners? It's interesting there isn't a well-known real competitor to Steam (the Blizzard and Ubisoft stores, etc, don't count, because so few external parties publish there). My gut says the lack of reinvestment could be someone else's opportunity, especially considering many o…
There is Epic and Itch. The problem is that Steam for all its faults is DRM, anti-cheat, and a well functioning store rolled all in one. Most of the alternate stores are bad in one way or another; Epic launched without a cart, and it still doesn’t have user text reviews. Itch had to redo its whole UI after that one bundle they did that had thousands of games in it. Notably Valve doesn’t really use its position to mak…
> There is epic.
How is Epic a serious competitor or alternative, then?
Re: Leaked payroll data show how much Valve pays staff and how few people it employs
#7The real scandal is that it is 2024 and people still don't understand how redaction works.
Re: Leaked payroll data show how much Valve pays staff and how few people it employs
#8The real scandal is that it is 2024 and people still don't understand how redaction works.
The real scandal is that PDF Software is still stupid enough to not notice that a user is trying to do a redaction and offer to do it correctly.
This is the programmer’s fault, not the user’s.
It’s not a huge bar either. If the user has set a background color to solid black, and is filling black text with it, the intent is pretty obvious.
Re: Leaked payroll data show how much Valve pays staff and how few people it employs
#9Where does all the money go if it isn't being reinvested into the business? Are the massive profits immediately syphoned out by the execs and owners? It's interesting there isn't a well-known real competitor to Steam (the Blizzard and Ubisoft stores, etc, don't count, because so few external parties publish there). My gut says the lack of reinvestment could be someone else's opportunity, especially considering many o…
There are plenty of competing stores, all of which pales in comparison. I don't know what their secret sauce is, but for me personally what makes a difference and why I keep preferring them is their dedication to Linux as a platform and a general feeling that they are not just driving me towards rent seeking. I know that last bit is slightly absurd, and I can't quite explain, but I think the fact that they are private means their priorities don't just exists as quarterly goals.
Re: Leaked payroll data show how much Valve pays staff and how few people it employs
#10Where does all the money go if it isn't being reinvested into the business? Are the massive profits immediately syphoned out by the execs and owners? It's interesting there isn't a well-known real competitor to Steam (the Blizzard and Ubisoft stores, etc, don't count, because so few external parties publish there). My gut says the lack of reinvestment could be someone else's opportunity, especially considering many o…
GOG is a compelling option for a lot of content. DRM free and a huge library available