Discord: Anything you can do, I can do better. I can do anything better than you.<\/b>
\nDiscord: Anything you can do, I can do better. I can do anything better than you.
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Discord: Anything you can do, I can do better. I can do anything better than you.
Life comes at you fast, so we\u2019ll run through the salient points quickly.
First, Valve \u2013 seemingly spooked by something \u2013 improves the revenue share on the Steam store (but only for the biggest earners, over $10m). The base Steam revenue split is the same old 70:30, while the $10m club getting a 75:25 split, and anyone who earns over $50m taking home 80% of their takings.
Then, we get a look at what unnerved Valve: Epic is launching its own digital storefront. There\u2019s a soft launch of sorts \u2013 we think it might have jumped the gun on the announcement \u2013 followed by a proper introduction. Epic is offering an 88:12 revenue split and will waive any Unreal Engine licence fees. This effectively makes it 23% better than releasing an Unreal Engine game on Steam (if you don\u2019t qualify for one of Valve\u2019s tax breaks for the rich and famous).
Developers are, for the most part, pleased by this turn of events, inspired by both the increased revenue share and a reduction in faith in Valve\u2019s offering. But it\u2019s not developers that Epic needs to convince. There\u2019s a scary amount of tribalism and loyalty to corporations in the gaming world, and Epic will be hoping that their pre-existing Fortnite user base will bring customers to buy other games.
Epic isn\u2019t the only store in town. There are, of course, other stores like Itch.io, the Humble Store, and various others to choose from. One of the more unusual offerings seemed to be from Discord, the communication and chat service that added the option to buy games, and now Discord is getting into the price war with a 90:10 developer split.
\u201cSo, we asked ourselves a few more questions. Why does it cost 30% to distribute games? Is this the only reason developers are building their own stores and launchers to distribute games? Turns out, it does not cost 30% to distribute games in 2018. After doing some research, we discovered that we can build amazing developer tools, run them, and give developers the majority of the revenue share.\u201d \u2013 Discord
The benefit that Discord brings to the table, in addition to that 90% revenue for developers, is that it has a PC subscriber base of over 200m users. That\u2019s already a huge number of people who use the platform, and might go some way to offset the convenience argument that Steam\u2019s loyal users cling to.
Games sold via Discord have, thus far, been limited. The plan now is to open up the Discord store, and it\u2019s 90% revenue share, to any developer who wants in, starting in 2019.
So the latest bid for developer attention is 90%. Do we have any advance on 90%?
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Tom is an itinerant freelance technology writer who found a home as an Editor with Thumbsticks. Powered by coffee, RPGs, and local co-op.
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«Don’t be too eager to grow up. It ain’t as much fun as it looks» \u00a9 2018 Thumbsticks| Video game news, features, reviews| PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, 3DS, and PC.<\/p>\n