If Larian didn’t list their game on Steam and subject themselves to Valve’s 30% mafia fee, they would get no sales because Valve has a monopoly of customers.
That is why devs choose to keep listing on Steam and paying Valve’s extortionate fee.
Consumers keep using Steam because Steam’s terms of service prevent a developer from selling their game cheaper on other stores, meaning that consumers never have an incentive to buy it elsewhere.
And developers have to agree to that condition, because Steam has all the users.
If Larian didn’t list their game on Steam and subject themselves to Valve’s 30% mafia fee, they would get no sales because Valve has a monopoly of customers.
That is why devs choose to keep listing on Steam and paying Valve’s extortionate fee.
Consumers keep using Steam because Steam’s terms of service prevent a developer from selling their game cheaper on other stores, meaning that consumers never have an incentive to buy it elsewhere.
And developers have to agree to that condition, because Steam has all the users.
See the circular trap that monopolies create?
This is why Tim Sweeney is calling them out.