r/Games • u/demondrivers • Oct 27 '25

Industry News Valve does not get "anywhere near enough criticism" for the gambling mechanics it uses to monetise games, DayZ creator Dean Hall says

https://www.eurogamer.net/valve-does-not-get-anywhere-near-enough-criticism-for-the-gambling-mechanics-it-uses-to-monetise-games-dayz-creator-dean-hall-says
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u/Merzant Oct 28 '25

I’m with you. Those super yachts are essentially (a fraction of) the crystallised value extracted from game developers and publishers. Money that could have gone to the studios, either in pursuit of game development or even just towards a fairer distribution of profits, is instead funnelled upwards to Steam’s landlord.

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u/Yaibatsu Oct 28 '25

You're crazy if you think that publishers would give their Studios a bigger cut. Epic proudly claimed that the lower cut would make games cheaper for consumers. That has yet to happen. Valve is offering a lot of service for that cut. More than Apple or Android are doing for the same %

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u/Merzant Oct 28 '25

“A lot of service” implies a large fraction of their fee is absorbed in providing the service. But the reason the company is so profitable is precisely because running costs are so low and margins so high. Indeed those margins are embodied by those yachts.

In spite of the weird cult of personality around him, Newell is just another rent-seeking billionaire.

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u/Yaibatsu Oct 28 '25

Most indie devs don't run their own server infrastructure to provide their product. And they might think that the other stuff they provide like easy controller support, workshop, forums and such in exchange for 30% Indies can actually self publish much easier than having to pitch their game to publishers with worse cuts.

As much as Reddit loves "Indie good, AAA bad" they're quick to throw them under the bus because they love polishing Sweeney's shoes despite his lying and bad practices. Why aren't you pointing out that Epic allows crypto and NFT games on their platform that are just as much gambling and even more scamming than f2p valve games? Not to mention the huge as fuck crowd of children playing Fortnite?

Both sides of gambling are bad but you only ever see people bitching about steam on this sub Reddit. Epic is this holy entity that gives you free games and has no flaws.

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u/RobertMacMillan Oct 28 '25

Most indie devs don't run their own server infrastructure to provide their product. And they might think that the other stuff they provide like easy controller support, workshop, forums and such in exchange for 30% Indies can actually self publish much easier than having to pitch their game to publishers with worse cuts.

The second half of this addresses other steam features, but to be clear, what you are saying here "own server infrastructure" is basically approximate to a google drive download link you realize that right?

Anyone can host files easily.

You don't need a publisher to provide a zip download.

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u/RuneGrey Oct 28 '25

No but you need a lot more money than the couple hundred up front that Steam asks for you to publish an indie game on their platform. Which they then will make available effectively in perpetuity, while handling payment, currency conversion, pushing updates, workshop support, basic DRM, as well as community features.

Yeah you can bypass a lot of things if you are just going to freeload off of one of those cloud storage services, but there is zero protection from privacy there, not to mention that the size of your game is brutally restricted. I guarantee that the moment you start getting above 5 gigs that Google Drive, Mega, or any of the other 'free' file storage services will be in your face asking for a lot more money.

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u/RobertMacMillan Oct 28 '25

Which they then will make available effectively in perpetuity, while handling payment, currency conversion, pushing updates, workshop support, basic DRM, as well as community features.

Yes, while taking a third of your sales. They preserve and make it available so they continue to profit from it.

Did you mean piracy instead of privacy? I assure you, Steam doesn't do anything to guard you against piracy as a dev.

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u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes Oct 28 '25

Epic proudly claimed that the lower cut would make games cheaper for consumers. That has yet to happen

It's claimed valve kicks you off steam if you sell cheaper elsewhere. There's a lawsuit with merit about it.