Epic does somewhere around 12% and the end user still pays the same so if you think that extra 18% would come back your way rather then going to a devs pockets? Hoo boy.

Also, Steam charges the industry standard rate iirc, same as google, apple, etc. While we can complain about that rate (last paragraph in mind: To what end?) its not as though Valve is doing anything extra greedy.

It's absolutely worth the cut they take. Ask every developer and publisher.

It's hard getting recognized outside Steam.

Then you have the option to buy from epic who take a lower cut. I prefer Steam because of the convenience and features it offers. Until another storefront can supersede steams features then I don't see a reason to switch

30% is industry standard, everybody but Epic charges that and also Steam is not just a flat 30% many devs and pubs pay less.

I agree 30% is high for every storefront besides Steam and and arguably GoG. The sheer range of services and support for both players and devs is exponentially above literally everything else, you are not just paying for a storefront with steam like you are literally everywhere else.

As for GoG, I'll let them slide on 30% because of how much effort and resources they put into preservation as well as their "customer is the administrator of their purchases" attitude.

Might be unpopular, but I think it's a fair cut. They provide a Plattform to anyone, and indiegames regularly outperform AAA. You don't need huge publishers to succeed if your game is fun. I don't think that would be possible with epic at the top.

Nothing is stopping a dev from putting a game on Steam for the exposure, then putting it for sale DRM free somewhere else so they don't have to pay the 30% cut on those sales (I assume they'd have to at least charge the same as the Steam one, though). I bet the Steam version would make them far more money even with the cut.

When the competition (excluding any stores operating at a loss to build marketshare) is charging both developers and gamers more, they're less bothered about Steam taking 20-30%. Consoles charge 30%, have extra fees, take a cut of third party keys (or restrict them altogether) and require a mandatory subscription for online play/cloud saves, while disallowing third party stores on their hardware.

Is it worth the 30% cut they take? Absolutely not. Gamers don't realize the amount of money valve is making off them.

The same cut that is industry standard and they could ABSOLUTELY jack up by abusing their market position and choose not to? Especially given how much extra infrastructure they supply for that 30% vs literally anyone else?

Is there a better service to use? I'm not saying Steam is a Paragon of virtue, there's is no such thing as an ethical billionaire and there's no reason for someone to own multiple mega yachts, but as a consumer Steam is a much better service than most of the competition out there. Steam isn't a monopoly just because it's the only store not shooting itself in the face.