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Last week we saw Randy Pitchford voice his opinions on Steam. Shortly following that, Jason Holtman of Valve, offered up a contrasting view point to a few of the points made by Pitchford.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun decided to interview a few independent developers who have released games through Steam to see what they have to say about doing business with Valve.
The full interview with John Gibson from TWI can be found at Gamasutra. Check the rest of that out while you also load up the rest of Rock, Paper, Shotgun's investigative piece on whether or not Steam is as bad as some people say it is.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun decided to interview a few independent developers who have released games through Steam to see what they have to say about doing business with Valve.
Ron Carmel of 2D Boy (World of Goo):
"I know a lot of small developers who distribute their games via Steam and the only complaint I’ve ever heard is that they’re not always very responsive over email. I certainly have not heard anyone saying they feel exploited. My experience has been nothing but positive. Valve’s digital distribution agreement is the simplest and most developer friendly agreement I’ve seen so far, and we’ve signed over a dozen of those. Also, no other digital distribution service I know of, PC or console, pays a higher cut of the revenues out to developers. I think they deserve every penny of the revenue they get. They’ve invested a lot of money and effort building and supporting their distribution platform and every game that gets on it benefits from that investment."
Dan Marshall of Zombie Cow (Ben There, Dan That!):
“Sorry, it’s not a very interesting story on my part. I’ve got nothing but positive things to say about Steam – the guys I dealt with were thoroughly charming and helpful, and I feel far from exploited.”
John Gibson of Tripwire Interactive (Red Orchestra, Killing Floor):
“So, is Valve exploiting independent developers? In short: absolutely not. Without pulling any punches, I can say with certainty that if it weren’t for Steam, there would be no Tripwire Interactive right now.”
“We were able to recoup our development costs for our first game within the first week of sales, and sales were straight profit from that point on.”
“Ask the Tripwire Interactive employees if they feel exploited, as they move into their new offices paid for by the money the company has made on Steam. Or me, as I drive away from the company that was built from the royalties we made on Steam, in my sports car paid for by the royalties we make on Steam, to the home that I pay for with the royalties we make on Steam. If that’s exploitation, I’ll take a little more.”
Garry Newman (Garry's Mod) (Link):
"I am more than happy with the cut I get from Steam. Yeah of course more would be nice – but the cut isn’t anywhere near that low that it would turn me off selling through Steam. Maybe I’m a special case because GMod has sold so well – but I know that Introversion nearly went under until they got on Steam."
"I know a lot of small developers who distribute their games via Steam and the only complaint I’ve ever heard is that they’re not always very responsive over email. I certainly have not heard anyone saying they feel exploited. My experience has been nothing but positive. Valve’s digital distribution agreement is the simplest and most developer friendly agreement I’ve seen so far, and we’ve signed over a dozen of those. Also, no other digital distribution service I know of, PC or console, pays a higher cut of the revenues out to developers. I think they deserve every penny of the revenue they get. They’ve invested a lot of money and effort building and supporting their distribution platform and every game that gets on it benefits from that investment."
Dan Marshall of Zombie Cow (Ben There, Dan That!):
“Sorry, it’s not a very interesting story on my part. I’ve got nothing but positive things to say about Steam – the guys I dealt with were thoroughly charming and helpful, and I feel far from exploited.”
John Gibson of Tripwire Interactive (Red Orchestra, Killing Floor):
“So, is Valve exploiting independent developers? In short: absolutely not. Without pulling any punches, I can say with certainty that if it weren’t for Steam, there would be no Tripwire Interactive right now.”
“We were able to recoup our development costs for our first game within the first week of sales, and sales were straight profit from that point on.”
“Ask the Tripwire Interactive employees if they feel exploited, as they move into their new offices paid for by the money the company has made on Steam. Or me, as I drive away from the company that was built from the royalties we made on Steam, in my sports car paid for by the royalties we make on Steam, to the home that I pay for with the royalties we make on Steam. If that’s exploitation, I’ll take a little more.”
Garry Newman (Garry's Mod) (Link):
"I am more than happy with the cut I get from Steam. Yeah of course more would be nice – but the cut isn’t anywhere near that low that it would turn me off selling through Steam. Maybe I’m a special case because GMod has sold so well – but I know that Introversion nearly went under until they got on Steam."
The full interview with John Gibson from TWI can be found at Gamasutra. Check the rest of that out while you also load up the rest of Rock, Paper, Shotgun's investigative piece on whether or not Steam is as bad as some people say it is.
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