George BroussardJun 10, 2025
Some ppl say that you are free to compete with Steam if you want. You then ask developers about sales across platforms and everything is "1% of Steam/gas money", etc. Just because you technically can compete doesn't mean you can really compete. I love Steam, btw. #gamedev
Show threadWoke Leftist TrashJun 10, 2025

@georgebsocial doesn’t Valve kind of fox pricing by not allowing devs to sell on other platforms for less than what they sell for on Steam?

So even if you could offer a better experience than Steam and take a lower cut, devs couldn’t attract more customers by offering it at a lower price on competing platforms.

Show threadGeorge BroussardJun 10, 2025
@agentultra Yes, but Walmart and other retailers certainly did that to us in the 90s when we were selling games direct. It's all not great but these platforms want to enforce parity. It's sort of gray but if you get called out you have little recourse but to change price.
Show threadGibibit
@georgebsocial @agentultra incorrect. You can price however you want on itch, gog, anything. The deal is not to sell ->Steam keys<- for less than you do on Steam. This is a widespread misconception.
Jun 10, 2025 at 4:40amWeb
Show threadGeorge BroussardJun 10, 2025
@gibibit @agentultra I believe you are wrong and have many dev friends who've run into the issue. Depends how big you are and if you go unnoticed or not. I doubt Steam is gonna shake down some indie selling 50 games a month right?
Show threadGibibitJun 10, 2025
@georgebsocial @agentultra Are you sure they didn't bundle Steam keys alongside their game on other platforms? If not then I stand corrected, I really thought otherwise