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
10 hours ago by γ«γ«γ² to c/pcgaming
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.
That barrier to entry is absurdly low. If a game isnβt making sales, itβs not Steams fault, itβs advertising. ANYONE can list games, which means there is a lot of chaff on the market.
Iβll admit that itβs not a great deal for people in poorer countries. Steam isnβt a public utility, though. You can post to itch.io for free, and there is a MASSIVE userbase there
Glad you admitted your mistake.
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.
I asked a critical question. If you react this poorly to criticism, I am not the one reaching for βlinesβ on a billion dollar empire.
Now, why don't you help those indies up, instead of salting your ego on threadiverse?
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?
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.
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...
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@lemmy.ca
For PC gaming news and discussion. PCGamingWiki
Rules:
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- No Spam or Porn.
- No Advertising.
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- No Tech Support.
- No questions about buying/building computers.
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- No Let's Plays, streams, highlight reels/montages, random videos or shorts.
- No off-topic posts/comments, within reason.
- Use the original source, no clickbait titles, no duplicates. (Submissions should be from the original source if possible, unless from paywalled or non-english sources. If the title is clickbait or lacks context you may lightly edit the title.)
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It only costs $100 to list your own game on Steam, and that money is refunded if you make $1000. That's all there is. The rest is up to the dev or the publisher. 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. What do you want them to do? Increase the listing price so that trash games don't get listed as often? Then you cut out the good indie dev, too. Game dev is only half the battle. You still have to reach your market once you post your game.
Steam allows you to buy from whomever. Want to support an indie dev on their first title? Go for it. Steam won't stop you. You can be the change you want to see in the world.
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