"Why Steam? why not GoG or GamersGate? Because steam makes you money, the other ones dont. simple and clear."


Interesting tweet from a developer. Kinda fail to see why only stay in one store, but...

What do you think?

Oh, and here's the evidence:

https://twitter.com/PanicArts/status/465092667299602432

I guess it is true, simply because Steam has way more potential customers.
Maybe a developer does not want to release his game on multiple platforms or in multiple stores, because it means a hell lot of work, or Steam actually ask him to not release his game anywhere else and grants a few extras in exchange, I do not know.

Oh boy, the one who made Hero Siege. It's so nice adding fuel to the fire again.

Oh right, that guy:
http://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/developer-sells-game-on-indiegamestand-drm-free-then-removes-drm-free-version.3143/

^ I remember reading about that and making a mental note to never buy any of his/their games. It's one thing to make the business choice of going Steam-only, but to first release and sell a DRM-free version and then suddenly ditch it? Eh. Hero Siege looks pretty bland anyway.

Can't say I give a damn about him or his opinion.

It's a good reason to focus on Steam. It's a bad reason to stick to only one store of course.

That said, if you're on Steam all you have to do to sell on *most* other retailers is hand out a batch of Steam keys to them.

it is simple maths also (and I used made up numbers....)

Assume you make a game which 0.5% of the population is interested in.

Releasing the game on for example gOg, with about 200.000 users means a potential 1000 sales

Releasing the game on Steam witt 7.000.000 users means a potential of 35000 sales.

You may then ask if it is worth for you the hassle to chase down the extra 1000 sales (both in terms of monies and time)

He forgot to say that Gog also only allows a) good b) old c) games on the site. Probably why he didn't get on. GamersGate and Greenman Gaming are fine, but mostly just Steam key resellers. You go to Gog for old games that actually work on modern systems; you go to either of the GGs if you want to save $20-$30 on a title.

define "good"...

But, this seems to assume that visibility on Steam and other platforms is more or less equal... with hundreds of indie titles being greenlit every month adding to the thousands already there, I don't see how that can be the case. A new release on GOG might get the - at least momentary - attention of the full active userbase; the chances of a release on Steam doing the same appear minimal IMHO, unless it's a title with e.g. lots of pre-release hype going for it. Umm, GOG stopped focusing on just "old" games a couple of years ago... note how the current promo is all games from the last few years.

Old certainly isn't a requirement.

Nor is good.
Game still is, probably.

Unless the 0.5% are strong supporters of GOG and DRM-free games. ;)

Your calculation is not very consistent in any case, because % of the population does not equal % of Steam or GOG users and neither would % of gamers. If there was a fixed % of people interested in the game, it would not change depending on the store, you'd try to reach all of them by advertising and selling the game in as many places as possible.

indeed, the calculation only works as a quick potential overview, and there are many problems with it - for example that many gOg users are also Steam users. It is only meant to show the disproportion of potential sales.

Strange. Choosing only Steam will get you to only a segment of the market. Not everybody have an account or prefers Steam/other DRM. Well, is his loss... (:P)