this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2025
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Steam is a ticking time bomb. (www.spacebar.news)
submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by Gem@lemmynsfw.com to c/games@lemmy.world
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The decline of the Steam games platform is inevitable, and there are already warning signs.

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[–] Cris16228@lemmy.today 21 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (5 children)

Steam's 30% cut on each purchase has been criticized over the years, especially with Steam's market share being too large for many developers to ignore.

With all what they offer, 30% IMO is fair. It gets lower when you reach a certain amount too

Steam's position in the market is a functional monopoly, but there have been challengers. The greatest example is the Epic Games Store, which started as just the launcher for Fortnite, then became a full-blown store in 2019 for third-party games. The Epic Games Store was light on features at first, and still doesn't have many of the community-centric features in Steam, but it has a Steamworks-like multiplayer framework and other core functionality. Epic also doesn't take as much money from game developers as Steam's 30% cut.

Epic a challenger? LMAO "The greatest example is the Epic Games Store" yeah sure, they have nothing, quite literally.

[–] woelkchen@lemmy.world 22 points 4 days ago (2 children)

With all what they offer, 30% IMO is fair.

It's not like the games are cheaper on other stores with lower cuts. Why would customers care if the lower cut just results in publishers pocketing higher profits.

[–] Cris16228@lemmy.today 4 points 4 days ago

True. Not praising steam as the god digital store on PC because it has its own problems but it saved me from 🏴‍☠️ and now I do it for devs that deserve it (Looking at you Sony and PSN requirement) or as demo damn I wish more games had a demo

[–] thermal_shock@lemmy.world 15 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Maybe I'm not seeing the whole picture, doesn't steam host the game data? Push updates? Promote? Host Workshops if applicable? Use their bandwidth? Sync saves when applicable? Provide a community forum for the game? Allow players to connect easier?

Sounds like that 30% goes a long way.

Is that cut too much to cover all those things?

[–] Cris16228@lemmy.today 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I don't get if it's a negative comment or not (apologies) but for what you listed, I think 30% is fair

[–] thermal_shock@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I think 30% is fair too, thats what I was asking. I don't know the industry, but steam takes on a lot of responsibility hosting a game and handling what I listed.

[–] Cris16228@lemmy.today 10 points 4 days ago

Ooh okay! I thought was something bad, sorry.

Yeah, it has:

  • Proton
  • Steam input that's plug and play most of the times
  • Forums
  • Workshop
  • Community
  • Cloud sync & backup
  • The whole social-ish part (useful or not up to people)
  • more

30% is a fair cut but not all get that

[–] MrNesser@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Little known fact Steam refunds the money you paid to get the game on the platform if you pass a certain % in sales

[–] Cris16228@lemmy.today 5 points 4 days ago

True! Like the 30% is lower after a certain % is passed

[–] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Epic is the latest example that's trying. EA gave up that fight years ago, and probably had better shot than Epic ever will.

[–] Cris16228@lemmy.today 11 points 4 days ago (1 children)

The problem is: Epic is shit and does nothing. What does it has more than steam? Free games? Eh can get them for free anyway without a launcher sooo without the games, what does it has?

[–] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

The problem is a second launcher or library is a pain in the ass for a user. I already avoid GoG unless it's massively cheaper, and there's the no drm benefits there. I'm not even interested in free games on epic.

[–] Cris16228@lemmy.today 3 points 4 days ago

GoG is not bad (for me) but I used steam for years so I buy games there. Did you know their launcher is, according to some people, made with unreal engine? ¯_(ツ)_/¯

[–] SolidShake@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Dang I have more games in my epic library than I do my steam library.

[–] Cris16228@lemmy.today 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

OK? I wonder how many of them you played and how many are there ¯_(ツ)_/¯ eh don't care

[–] SolidShake@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (3 children)

I've played every game I own. Who gets a game and doesn't play it?

[–] Cris16228@lemmy.today 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Yeah sure bud. 99.8% of epic users

[–] Elevator7009sAlt@ani.social 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

I was like that until Epic released free games that I decided to claim just in case my tastes changed or I was with a friend who enjoyed that game, but that I myself was very uninterested in playing. And then I got busier, and bought games I have high confidence I'd like but did not have the time to play just then past maybe a demo or a short while to check if I did actually like it—I'd get to it sometime later when I had more free time. My tastes tend to expand to include more things, but not to reject more things as well, so I thought the risk of tastes changing was an okay risk to take in order to capitalize on the sale of a game I am interested in now, even if I would play it much later. So far I have proven pretty good at guessing future me's tastes.

[–] SolidShake@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

Yeah I don't get the ones I know I won't like.

[–] LunarLoony@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Hi there

[–] SolidShake@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Oh dang what games are you sleeping on?

[–] LunarLoony@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 days ago

Think the oldest game I own that I haven't yet played is Tomb Raider. Got it with my original PlayStation.