In recent months we've seen a segmentation of PC gaming platforms, EPIC, for example, created their own platform much like Steam offers. Many have been wondering as to why this was needed. People all like their games in one library. Some more details now have surfaced, interesting ones.
Face it I don't like it either, when I start up my graphics card platform IO load up Steam, Origin, Uplay, EPIC, GoG and so on. It's irritating as f***, really. However, it did surprise me to see that the recent launch of the EPIC service went so fast and got so much industry support. Ubisoft quickly followed and placing games on EPIC Store for a commission rate of just 10% and removing them from Steam.
You need to wonder what really is going on. Much like anything in the world, it's about cool cold cash and apparently so, lots of it. An Ex Valve developer by the name of Richard Geldreich (love the surname btw it's the German equivalent wording for moneyrich) has posted a series tweets in which he gave some answers, and literally, his words are that Valve earns 30% per sale and then advances with words that Valve was "killing PC gaming".
Now I expected that the Steam premium would be steam steep, but not 30% steep, still it's better than retail who eat a 50% cut, but surely such number does not fit in this day and era of digital distribution. And that's the sole reason why you can see companies move and create new game platforms. I for one am happy to make a move towards the EPIC game store, but do like the convenience of all my games at one easy to use platform.
Have a peek at some of his tweets:
Ex Valve Developer Lashes out about Steam "Steam Killing PC Gaming"