Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by chromas on Sunday December 16 2018, @02:17PM   Printer-friendly
from the Microsoft's-store-cries-quietly-in-the-corner dept.

Following an announcement by Fortnite developer Epic Games that it would create its own PC games store, giving 88% of revenue to developers, Discord has announced that it will give 90% of revenue to developers who sell games on its own store:

Discord is looking to make its fledgling game store the most developer-friendly option around. Today, the company announced that it will offer developers a 90 percent share of revenue when its PC game store opens up to all creators starting next year. The store first launched in October with a heavily curated selection of indie games, including Into the Breach and Dead Cells as well as a handful of timed exclusives. Currently, it operates under a fairly standard 70 / 30 revenue split.

"Turns out, it does not cost 30 percent to distribute games in 2018," Discord CEO Jason Citron explained in a blog post. "After doing some research, we discovered that we can build amazing developer tools, run them, and give developers the majority of the revenue share."

Last week, Fortnite developer Epic launched its own PC games store, which similarly offered a more developer-friendly revenue split, taking just a 12 percent cut of all game sales. Both Epic and Discord are looking to make their digital shops more appealing to developers by offering better terms than the current dominant platform Steam.

Also at TechCrunch, Polygon, and Wccftech.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 3, Informative) by stretch611 on Sunday December 16 2018, @10:04PM (3 children)

    by stretch611 (6199) on Sunday December 16 2018, @10:04PM (#775197)

    Steam does do a few things right. That being said, competition is healthy and I welcome it.

    I am on the GamingOnLinux site regularly... The Discord announcement specifically mentioned that they would include linux... the rumours about Epic are based on some older tweets and there is no official word or confirmation on linux support from them. I believe in Discord offering linux support... but Epic's non-statement makes me believe it when I see it and I doubt it will come to fruition. (If Epic was remotely serious, I would expect a non-committal statement like "we are evaluating the demand for linux and will add support in the future...")

    Steam does contribute to the linux community... both by supporting development of Proton/DXVK and also by using linux... Valves games (although few in number) actually run on linux and its hardware, the steam controller and (only recently defunct) steam link both work with linux as well. The steam link is being replaced by android and smart tv apps as well as a software package for raspberry pi devices.

    Steam does support DRM... but does not force it on developers. Titles that include heavy handed DRM crap like Denuvo exist on Steam. (and many times are review bombed because of it.) Steam also has its own mildly intrusive cloud DRM that requires you to be online for authentication, but will allow the games to be run a few times in offline mode for when the internet is unavailable. However, developers are not forced to use DRM at all... While it is easiest to run everything through the steam client, games that do not require DRM can be run out of their installation directories without forcing the steam client at all. (I have only noticed some indie games like this, but admittedly I have not bothered to test most games.)

    One nice feature that Steam does have that I have not seen the others mention support is their Steam Cloud. This allows save data to be backed up on their cloud. It is a nice feature, assuming developers take advantage of it and allows you to sync your save games across multiple computers. This is handy if you normally use a desktop at home and a laptop on the road; or if the inevitable hardware failure wipes out your local data.

    One of Steams biggest competitors is GOG. (which I have bought from all the way back when they started a little over 10 years ago.) They push their galaxy client but have not supported linux with a client yet. (Not that I really want another game store download/upload client.) They also have not supported linux with all their own software titles. (Witcher III). GOG also seems to be behind when it comes to getting the latest patches for the software they sell as they are inevitable behind Steam in this regard, also some of the titles that have linux versions, do not have the linux version on GOG. One big reason for this seems to be network play as Steam does have network APIs available for linux that GOG does not. But you can't argue that the DRM free aspect is GOG's greatest aspect.

    I welcome the competition. But I do not see Steam not being the go to place for games in the near future. It has too much critical mass which makes its reviews and forums enviable from all competitors.

    --
    Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Informative=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Informative' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   3  
  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Monday December 17 2018, @02:14AM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Monday December 17 2018, @02:14AM (#775262) Journal

    Epic's main product, the global sensation known as Fortnite, is not officially supported on Linux (it is on Android).

    That alone should tell you how much they care about Linux.

    All of Valve's major games as well as an upcoming one, In the Valley of Gods, support Linux. And they've contributed to Linux gaming in other ways.

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 17 2018, @02:24PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 17 2018, @02:24PM (#775391)

    You can't even download Steam game without their client. DRM'd or not. Sounds pretty DRMy to me.

    • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday December 20 2018, @06:29PM

      by Freeman (732) on Thursday December 20 2018, @06:29PM (#776893) Journal

      The same could be said for GOG, the main difference is that once you have the game from GOG, you can backup your installer on a drive / dvd / something. Then, from that point on you wouldn't need to authenticate with GOG or use their client. Even, if you nuked your game machine, so long as you still have the installer. Thus, you're much more free to use the software you purchased and won't need to continually be purchasing yet another copy of the game. Sure, that's not necessarily "good for business" from a publisher's point of view, but it certainly builds a loyal customer base. Which is good for the publisher and platform.

      --
      Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"