30% seems rather high

but… when they handle payments, refunds, advertising (within their application) and game download costs (server infrastructure?), etc etc etc. it doesnt seem that crazy.

at least, for a lot of indie developers, not having to worry about those things, might easily be worth those 30%

For it to “even out” they’d only have to increase your reach ~50%.

They do way more than that. And they give you an inherent legitimacy that putting it on your own site doesn’t. It’s not just handling refunds; it’s the certainty as an end user that you’ll get one hassle free.

Without Steam (or another retailer with similar traits), selling an indie game would be closer to a pipe dream than really hard.

All of this is true but the ugly truth people don’t want to unpack is this is largely because over 90% of PC game purchases occur on Steam, meaning it’s not that they give you an advantage much as you’re nearly dead in the water if you aren’t on Steam unless you’re a AAA game made by a major dev.

Valve didn’t do something nefarious to get there. But saying “they’re so helpful and expand your reach” is like saying “google search helped me so much” when the reality is if you can’t be found on google you practically don’t exist.