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72% of devs believe Steam has a monopoly on PC games, according to study
(www.gamesindustry.biz)
this post was submitted on 04 Nov 2025
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Usually steam is mostly praised for being a decent company. But what are the devs saying about the 30% cut. Do they think it's reasonable or is there any discontent among the devs?
That was the main argument for the Epic Games store. They told devs that they can keep the first million dollars earned and then they will only take 12%. The problem was they kept paying devs to be “Epic Exclusive” causing a lot of resentment.
Also, blocked games from being released on GOG too.
https://medium.com/@unfoldgames/why-i-turned-down-exclusivity-deal-from-the-epic-store-developer-of-darq-7ee834ed0ac7
Also the fact that Valve will drop games from their store should the dev/publisher sell it somewhere else cheaper.
Is that really true? Saw others in this thread debunking that.
Guess not. I thought it applied to non-key games as well, but apparently not.
They "debunked" it by citing Steam terms of service regarding Steam Keys, which is about as relevant as citing Harry Potter.
That's only for steam keys.
That is wrong.
Recent example is ARC Raiders. https://isthereanydeal.com/game/arc-raiders/info/
Current best price is 15% off for $34.17 versus $39.99 on Steam. And all time low was $31.92.
Don't assume because a game is for example $39.99 on Steam that it is the lowest prices and paying more for the exact same game tied to the same launcher. Search before buying. Don't overpay.
What does that have to do with my comment?
Previous comment you replied to said
And based on your response assumed you meant Valve will drop games from their store if they sell steam keys for lower than on Valve. Which is why I gave a recent example of Steam key being sold lower than on Steam.
Unless you meant different.
So you're saying even in the case of steam keys valve is cool with it?
Must be since as a long time user of /r/gamedeals and isthereanydeals most of my games on steam are from steam keys sold from other storefronts because they have been cheaper and have sales much more frequently.
My approach to buying games is to check isthereanydeals or ggdeals to see if the price has been cheaper. Then buy from whatever storefront is cheaper for the launcher of my preference if its at a price I'm willing to bite on. I don't buy from keystores, so I disable those when checking ggdeals.
Weird. Does this mean the selling of cheaper steam keys just isn't true or is it just not enforced?
Not enforced and hasn't been for over a decade.
And I guess the language is flexible.
https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/keys
Comparable being used when it could have used same. Couldn't find language being explicit on lower prices not being allowed.
Only part I've really seen Steam enforce is that if steam keys are given away then game should have a giveaway on Steam too. So like in the past games would make you make an account on a site then give you a key for free, but now even if they do that, few days later you can redeem the game for free directly from steam without signing up for anything.
For those under the impression steam has the best discounts please use isthereanydeals before buying games so you don't pay more than you need to.
Recent example is ARC Raiders. https://isthereanydeal.com/game/arc-raiders/info/
Current best price is 15% off for $34.17 versus $39.99 on Steam. And all time low was $31.92.
Don't assume because a game is for example $39.99 on Steam that it is the lowest prices and paying more for the exact same game tied to the same launcher. Search before buying.
Too often I see people buying games at launch for like $60-$70 when there's sales for the same game for 10-20% off. Be an informed consumer. Isthereanydeals and ggdeals provides really good price tracking and graphs to see what the best discounts are and what the lowest prices have been.