Some game developers are pulling their upcoming releases from the Steam page entirely, or choosing to make their titles a timed exclusive with the Epic Games Store.
This comes after Valve announced last month that they’re changing up the revenue share rates on the Steam storefront, with the new system introducing a 25 percent (as opposed to the common 30 percent) cut on any revenues a game generates beyond $10 million.
It will be pretty interesting to see if other developers follow suit, considering how the Epic Store only takes a 12 percent cut from game sales.
As reported by PC Gamer, Coffee Stain Studios, the developer behind first-person factory builder Satisfactory, announced in a video their decision to remove the game from Steam, saying it will only be available for purchase from the Epic Store.
Additionally, publisher Team17 updated the Steam page for Genesis Alpha One, confirming that the game will no longer be launching on the platform. “We can confirm that Genesis Alpha One will not be launching on Steam on January 29th 2019,” the post reads.
In a similar vein, developer Double Damage announced that its game Rebel Galaxy Outlaw will be published exclusively on the Epic Store, to see a release “elsewhere” after 12 months.
The developer explained the decision was made in part by a desire to reduce the cut that digital storefronts take from games sales.
“We hope this is the start of establishing a new standard,” the blog post reads. “Before Valve and the 70/30 split it was pretty darn rough to be an indie, both in terms of royalty share and in terms of the ability to sell things without a publisher.”
“Epic is using their leverage to push that even farther, to 88/12. That’s another whole strata of developers who can survive. The only way this gets any traction is with some exclusive content and we’re willing to be one of the canaries in the mineshaft.”