Quick! Let’s add about 800 useless Managers!
Who each will need a couple of consultants from McKinsey, PWC, you name it, to do their jobs!
700 should suffice for the first level, but then, you need more than one level.
Economists are praising it‘s efficiency but there are massive shortcomings when it comes to costumer support. A couple years ago I was told they have a whopping single person dedicated to matters in the german market for example. Anyone who has any idea about the german bureaucracy hellscape knows this is far from sufficient to deal with any issue whatsoever. And I suspect it‘s not running much smoother elsewhere.
costumer
I don’t think valve owes the cosplay community squat.
in a serious reply to your point though:
I appreciate their line of thought - why dedicate resources for roles that don’t add value to steam’s development just to engage with every country’s unique bureaucracy? until those countries fine valve for noncompliance it seems like an easy choice to make.
It has been years since I’ve contacted Steam customer support so maybe things have changed, or maybe my experience was not representative, but I found them to be pretty helpful and not-shit when I contacted customer support for something in the past.
Sounds like they’re using computers effectively. Not sure why this is news.
Gabe owns so many yachts.
At some point that 30% cut and not spending it on anything, you have to buy something
8500 million in revenue and 350 employees.
Gaben owns 6 yatchs and spends 70 to 100 million maintaining them.
There is absolutely nothing that differentiates valve from the other stores front to justify this. The whole store front industry should be tightly regulated. No billionaire should exist and if you find yourself defending one, it just means they have a good marketing team.
This is having a negative impact on the industry and the only ones benefiting are Gaben, Nintendo, Microsoft, Epic, etc. it’s clear collusion.
Can’t wait for all the downvotes and simps coming to defend him because “Gaben isn’t your average billionaire”.
There is absolutely nothing that differentiates valve from the other stores front to justify this.
The “justification” is that Steam is a good storefront and others kind of blows. There’s nothing stopping other companies from making good software…they just haven’t.
it’s clear collusion.
That’s not what collusion is… Steam doesn’t sell Nintendo games and is Epic/Microsoft’s rival.
Can’t wait for all the downvotes and simps coming to defend him
To be clear, I’m not defending billionaires. Your talking points are just kind of baseless.
I mean they have tried, but than they get in shit for doing something different to get their foot in the door(epics free games). Valves marketing and fan base is top notch and defends them voraciously with their rose coloured glasses.
They have buggy games, they don’t update them, they are currently over run with griefers making some unplayable to any fun degree.
What’s with the passes they keep getting? As you said they get “justification” lmfao, what a fucking joke. Its capitalists defending despite you claiming you aren’t what a joke. Does musk get a pass for his space ventures? No, so why does gaben? Please explain in detail, I would love a legit answer to this.
Nowhere did I say Gaben gets a pass, I’m saying Steam is a great service.
But is it? It’s maintained by its users and customers.
Gabe reaps all the benefits and who else gains your justification is what?
Nobody shit on epic for giving away free games. You can’t just make a completely false statement like that.
People don’t like epic because they bought games and made them exclusive to their store.
Nobody shit on epic for giving away free games
Uhh go check the internet maybe? Epics gets bashed for everything, including the free games dude lol.
Provide one example if it’s so ubiquitous. I have been following the EGS discourse for years and never seen anyone complain about the free games.
Maybe complaints about how the games aren’t worth it because you have to use EGS, sure. I’ve made that joke myself. That’s a different complaint though.
Ah so you’re just a troll. You understand the hate, participate, but claim it isn’t. Thats what racists and other type of people justify their hate.
Blocked.
Well, that sure took a turn I wasn’t expecting.
The product stays the same if we bring down their revenue to 1 billion, they aren’t close to bankruptcy. If they took 0.5 %, Gaben would still be able to afford a yatch or two, just not 6.
Having a competitors product on your platform doesn’t have anything to do with collusion. They are rivals but they don’t actually compete or strive to give their customers any kind of competitive prices.
And yes, you are defending a billionaire.
The product stays the same if we bring down their revenue to 1 billion, they aren’t close to bankruptcy. If they took 0.5 %
So? I don’t care if they’re forced to lower his salary. You said nothing differentiates Steam enough and I’m saying it does so by being good.
They are rivals but they don’t actually compete or strive to give their customers any kind of competitive prices.
The majority of customers on all storefronts are fine with the pricing as-is. Steam’s competitive advantage comes from being the best storefront with an amazing library and . That’s why it’s the top dog
And yes, you are defending a billionaire.
I’m clearly not. I’m defending the service itself
The majority of customers on all storefronts are fine with the pricing as-is. Steam’s competitive advantage comes from being the best storefront with an amazing library and . That’s why it’s the top dog
Pricing has nothing to do with Steam dude…. that’s publisher/developer controlled. And they have a quite a lot of stink to say about the cut they take for nothing. They need to curate and moderate all their own store page, Steam does what and takes 30%?
It’s no wonder some take epics deals, the cut they take is 12%, that’s significant. And if epic can operate by taking that much with their employee count, clearly valve could be doing a far better job of what they do, but they do what again…? Line Gabe’s pocket and what else?
If they took 0.5 %,
Took from what? Is this about the revenue share again? Stop listening to that idiot Timmy.
We know that many others take the same %% so I could say even if they took 50% they wouldn’t deliver a product as good as Steam.
To be clear, I’m not listening to anyone. I think the government should step in and force a maximum of 5% on all stores, or something similar.
The fact that they all take the same percentage is exactly the reason why I’m saying there’s collusion going on.
I’m sure you came up with that 5% number after careful research and didn’t just pull some low round number out of your ass.
/s
I did say something similar, it’s clearly just to give an idea.
I’m basing it on the fact that it would still be insanely profitable with such a percentage, personally I would rather see it much lower.
An utterly meaningless challenge just to defend daddy Gaben. Why don’t you talk about my actual points instead of spitting out useless dribble. Stop defending billionaires.
Government of which country or countries? You wouldn’t think they would stay in the US if what you said will happen, would you?
We know that many others take the same %% so I could say even if they took 50% they wouldn’t deliver a product as good as Steam.
Epics 12% and they operate with how many more employees?
So what is valve doing with all this extra money than on Gabe?
Epics are posers at this point, or one could say a fake platform. Remove Fortnite from them and it will shut down immediately, especially at 12%.
You realize the others only charge that much since steam set the standard… yeah? All of them can charge less so what’s your point here? You clearly lied in your original comment, and are now making up points to defend it.
You realize the others only charge that much since steam set the standard… yeah?
I’ll wait for you to prove this.
Please cite a source for your claims
Did you read your own article?
In 2021, Microsoft estimated Valve’s annual revenue at $6.5 billion, roughly on the same scale as EA’s $7.5 billion in 2024 revenue. But Steam achieved those numbers with around 350 employees, compared to well over 13,000 people employed by EA.
The disparity highlights just how much money Valve brings in with a relatively small workforce. And a lot of that is thanks to the chunk of revenue Valve takes from every sale on Steam.
That’s the indie industry getting fucked right there, but sure, drink Gabbens sweat.
The actual revenue is difficult because it’s all estimation, they clearly don’t want us to know and hide it. One website says 13 billion lol, and they brought it an estimated 1 billion just from Counter-strike crates. I got 8.5 from the article that was posted two days ago. Whatever it is, it’s too fucking high, stop defending multi billionaires.
Go ask any indie developer if they think the 30% cut valve takes from sales through steam means they’re “getting fucked”. I can assure you, the vast majority do not.
Serving files, absorbing the costs of credit card payments and charge backs, and maintaining community forums is worth the 30% alone. Hell, just being able to list your product on the most popular store is worth it for some people.
In my industry, physical stores won’t even consider stocking your product for less than 40pts of margin and the big guys expect you to absorb the freight costs as well.
30% on storefront sales and you can sell your own keys for 100% profit on your own site is more than fair.
The indie industry is seriously struggling. I’m pretty sure they would rather survive than donate to Gabens coke and prostitute fund.
There’s also a huge difference between a physical store and a digital soft monopoly.
Stop defending billionaires.
I can’t read the link but if we just gauge the health of the indie game portion of the industry by how many games are released, I think the only conclusion you can make is that it’s quite healthy. In no small part due to steam which provides discoverability for smaller titles and handles a lot of the technical stuff (downloads, multi-player, even drm) so indie devs don’t have to.
You just seem to have a chip on your shoulder in this department and it’s not clear why other than “billionaires are bad”.
I’m gauging the health of the industry by the amount of studios that are struggling and closing their doors. The amount of games is meaningless since a lot of those games are that studios last one as well as the amount including all the shovel ware garbage. Anyone can make a game these days with AI, the amount is not a good metric.
Someone being a billionaire is a valid reason for saying they shouldn’t be a billionaire. Yes, all billionaires are bad and leeching off society. Though I do have a chip on my shoulder and that’s because of seeing people actually defend Gaben as if he was any different than all the other ones. Stop defending billionaires, they actively hate you and probably giggle seeing what they consider peasants coming to their defense.
You can go in incognito mode to avoid the paywall. In any case, here’s a gpt summary:
The article discusses the significant challenges faced by indie video game developers amidst widespread industry layoffs and financial troubles. Indie studios, often small and dependent on project-to-project funding, are increasingly forced to shut down due to a lack of financial support. This trend is emphasized by the closure of multiple indie developers and the ominous “survive till ’25” outlook, which captures the desperation and dwindling hope within the indie game development community.
As these smaller studios struggle to secure funding and continue operations, the impact on the gaming landscape is profound. Indie developers are known for their creativity and innovation, often exploring unique, experimental game ideas that larger companies might avoid. The decline of such studios not only reduces the variety and innovation in games available to players but also signifies a potential loss of talent and originality in the industry. This not only diminishes the richness of the gaming world but also impacts the professional growth and development of game creators who lose opportunities to experiment and hone their craft. The broader consequence is a gaming industry less vibrant and diverse, potentially stifling the evolution of video games as a form of artistic and interactive media.
I mean about the yachts.
https://luxurylaunches.com/transport/gabe-newell-luxury-yachts.php
Here you go. Sorry if I’m being a dick, my hate for billionaires spills out whenever I approach the subject.
That’s why steam looks outdated
I’m reading, Steam takes 30% cut, offer practically nothing but a download system, store front and crappy forum instances per game. Largely unchanged since 2012 Basically, they’re just taking the money and running, almost pure rent.
Thor from Pirate Software has a great video breaking down how Steam works and the lawsuit that claims they are ripping off consumers. It’s very educational.
Of course, there is no requirement to use Steam. Game makes can publish their game themselves without a platform at all, which very few do. If you say they actually need a platform, there is the value they are getting for that 30%. If they weren’t getting anything of value, then they could do it themselves and benefit instead, which most do not.
Wanted to link this video, but you did it first.
Also, as mentioned in video, gamers prefer steam because developers there can’t disable or remove comments or not refund on basis of “sucks to be you” like EA and Ubisoft do.
Thor simping for a company like he thinks they’ll pay him, absolute cringe.
Thor
You certainly did call him out exactly as he is. An obvious industry shill “we can’t make non-live service games anymore because licensing boohoo”
