• masterspace@lemmy.ca
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    3 days ago

    Whoosh.

    You seem to have completely missed the point that Valve does not deserve 1/3 of all gaming revenue for running an automated digital store.

    And, as a developer, I really don’t care how much companies pay to marketing vendors. Developer pay is generally negotiated when you’re hired. I haven’t worked in B2C but, as I understand it, they usually pay bonuses on sales volume rather than profits.

    Honestly what are you even trying to say here? That because you write B2B software on a salaried basis, that that means that an indie game dev doesn’t care whether or not Valve takes 30% of all of their revenue?

    Like no shit sherlock, thats a matter of you being a salaried employee. If you owned your own company you would very much care about a middle making taking 1/3 off the top.

    • nednobbins@lemmy.zip
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      3 days ago

      So you don’t care that Larian isn’t harmed, you don’t care that the dev’s aren’t harmed, you don’t care that the consumer isn’t harmed.

      You just feel bad for Epic?

      • masterspace@lemmy.ca
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        3 days ago

        What are you talking about? Larian loses 30% of every single dollar spent on their game.

        Of course that harms them.

        • nednobbins@lemmy.zip
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          3 days ago

          Do you think Larian’s management is also stupid?

          Any halfway decent GTM executive would have checked their distribution channel options and chosen the mix that makes them the most money, net of fees.

          Why would they pay for a service that harms them?

            • nednobbins@lemmy.zip
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              3 days ago

              That would be how monopolies work. You realize that Steam doesn’t require exclusivity, right? You can get BG3 all over the place. When customers have choice between vendors it’s not a monopoly, even if they tend to make the same choice.

              • masterspace@lemmy.ca
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                3 days ago

                If Larian didn’t list their game on Steam and subject themselves to Valve 30% mafia fee, they would get no sales because Valve has a monopoly.

                That is why they choose to keep paying Valve’s extortionate fee.

                Consumers keep using Steam because Steam’s terms of service prevent a developer from selling their.gsme cheaper on other stores, meaning that consumers never have incentive to buy it elsewhere.

                Valve is abusing their monopoly, which is why monopolies need regulation, the type of which Tim Sweeney is calling for.