Steams cut off that, at just the $3 million mark, is $450 million. This is $900,000 per game.
People wonder why other companies wanted to make their own launchers. They leave millions on the table by having steam 'handle' things.
This is also why Valve isn't that inclined to pump out tons of new games.
A game like Palworld, which as of 3 weeks ago, has sold 12 million copies would end up making Valve somewhere in the neighbourhood of $72 million as of the end of January.
There's nothing stopping game companies from selling through multiple storefronts, or even direct to customer with Steam's cut removed.
The fact is, players are happy to pay a premium so that the games live in their steam library, are downloaded via Steam's delivery network, and integrate with steam features.
Gaming on the PC around the 90s-2000s was pretty rough. I remember installing a game from a CD, typing the key on the back of the CD, and installation failed because I needed different sound drivers or something. I remember most games on my janky PC would be a gamble if it worked or not, even if it met minimum specs.
I remember still facing that issue in around 2010s even with Steam, and then seeing how slick installing apps were on the iPhone and it just "worked", and wishing PC games were as simple.
PC gaming is great now. It's been a long time coming.
The fact is, players are happy to pay a premium so that the games live in their steam library
i don't think you can make a statement like that, that is so untested. If capcom were to start selling games at $70 on steam, and $50 on capcom.com things might be different, we can't really say.
If you sell steam keys through your site you can't charge less than the steam price. In order to sell it cheaper on their site, it would have to be a non-steam version and they'd have to serve up the files themselves. If it's a multiplayer game it wouldn't be compatible, they'd need to switch to EOS or something else. realistically speak, developers could probably charge a bit less by providing that their own. it doesn't cost 30% to serve up the files and process some payments.
Steam offers many services to users and developers more than just being a simple storefront. They didn't become top dog by virtue of being early, there are plenty of competing launchers that do not offer even a tenth of what steam offers.
I feel like a lot of people, myself included, forget that there's all kinds of software and such available on steam. Their main thing is games, but they have stuff like Blender (which is free), Vegas Movie Studio or whatever it's called, and a bunch of others. Don't they also have movies, or am I wrong on that one?