56
Behold, "the whole story of Steam's economy in one picture": the top 1% of games earn 84.5% of estimated revenue, and most games barely make anything (www.gamesradar.com)
submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by to c/pcgaming@lemmy.ca
72 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

📑

🗃️

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[+] [S] -18 points 3 days ago (2 children)
[removed by mod]
  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 21 points 3 days ago* (1 child)

    First off, that comes off as racist. Selling camels invokes the orientalist caricature of the people of the middle east. At best you sound like an edgy Twitch streamer. At worst you sound like a bigot. Neither of those is a good look.

    Secondly, sure, I'll admit that it's not a great deal for people in poorer countries. Steam isn't a public utility, though. You can post to itch.io for free, and there is a MASSIVE userbase there. Get that $100 there and then bring it to Steam. That isn't a big ask. Is it another barrier to entry for someone from a poorer country? Yes, and that's unfortunate. However, it's not a high bar to clear. If you get popular on itch.io, Steam is a natural progression. And, again, that $100 is more like a deposit than a cost. It comes back after you make $1000 on the game. After that, it's free to host that game. And with it, you get discussion channels, social channels, the Steam Workshop integration, multiplayer hosting, and a ton of other benefits. Steam isn't the enemy you seem to want to make it out to be.

    However, all of this is predicated on something that we haven't talked about. Right now, the US has sanctions against Iran. So, no matter what, Steam is legally barred from servicing Iranian accounts. However, this itch.io to Steam pipeline still does work in other countries without sanctions. Places like Brazil, India, and the Philippines are able to do things like this without an issue. I'll reiterate, it's not great that there's an extra step. Still, the extra step isn't a huge one, and if anything, it can help by growing a base on itch.io for free and then bringing that passion over to Steam. There are plenty of games that have famously made that jump and come out better for it.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [+] [S] -17 points 3 days ago (2 children)

    That barrier to entry is absurdly low. If a game isn’t making sales, it’s not Steams fault, it’s advertising. ANYONE can list games, which means there is a lot of chaff on the market.

    I’ll admit that it’s not a great deal for people in poorer countries. Steam isn’t a public utility, though. You can post to itch.io for free, and there is a MASSIVE userbase there

    Glad you admitted your mistake.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 3 days ago (1 child)

    Yep. Conceding the weak part of your own argument so it can't be used against you is a basic rhetorical move. You reaching for one liners instead of a rebuttal tells me it worked. I learned that from 8 Mile.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [+] [S] -13 points 3 days ago (1 child)

    I asked a critical question. If you react this poorly to criticism, I am not the one reaching for “lines” on a billion dollar empire.

    Now, why don't you help those indies up, instead of salting your ego on threadiverse?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 5 points 3 days ago (1 child)

    You didn't ask a critical question, you gave me a snide remark. When you asked a critical question before, I gave you a very serious and honest answer.

    And as far as helping the indies up... do you want to see my Steam Library? I'm just shy of 1900 games at this point, and a large portion of which is made up of indie games. I'm actually working on starting a YouTube channel where I play those indie games and show them on a platform where they don't have a lot of representation, and they won't have to pay me to play them, nor will I accept free games. I buy, and then I play, so I have skin in the game, just like the average gamer. That's how I'm helping them up.

    What are you doing to help, instead of stroking your ego on the threadiverse?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] [S] -5 points 3 days ago (1 child)

    starting a YouTube channel

    Try Peertube channel instead. That way even libre projects get represented as well.

    What are you doing to help

    Doing the actual liberation.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 5 points 3 days ago

    Peertube has a much smaller base, but I can upload to both, so that's fine. And as far as compiling a list of open source games, it's not a bad thing. I think it's a great idea, actually. However, it's doing nothing to bring revenue to indie devs...

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 13 points 3 days ago (2 children)

    On the other hand, how many USD sales does it take to buy those camels back? The $100 isn't localized, but neither is revenue... If affording the $100 is really an issue, and you have a game that will sell, you could start a Kickstarter for $150 to cover the submission cost and likely have no trouble getting the funds, no?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •