4 ms·
If its possible for Steam to kill your sales, its because you've put your main sales channel(s) in the hands of another company. This is unwise in any business.
by lbj 8y ago
If its possible for Steam to kill your sales, its because you've put your main sales channel(s) in the hands of another company. This is unwise in any business.
- cwyers 8y agoThe majority of businesses, even really big businesses, do this. Very few businesses control their own sales channel, and the ones that do are generally smaller than the ones that don't. Apple doesn't control their main sales channels: https://9to5mac.com/2017/10/19/apple-store-sales-cirp/ https://9to5mac.com/2017/10/19/apple-store-sales-cirp/ So it's unclear why you think anyone else should, either.
- lbj 8y agoMy point here is, that if you have a single sales channel only, you need to control/affect it. Apple has a myriad of sales channels all boosted heavily by Apple advertising.
- cwyers 8y agoAnd that is an _entirely unreasonable expectation_ even for large, established companies. Vlasic Pickles and Levi Jeans are both large brands that are parts of larger conglomerates, and they both got pushed around by Wal-Mart: https://www.fastcompany.com/47593/wal-mart-you-dont-know https://www.fastcompany.com/47593/wal-mart-you-dont-know Asking indie game developers to challenge the domination of Steam as the sales channel for PC games where EA/Ubisoft/Microsoft have all failed to do so is absurd.
- lbj 8y agoI dont know about reasonable, but its a practical necessity. Consider Google Ads. There are a maximum of 13 spots available on the frontpage - How do you chose the 13 out of the billions of possibilities? A mix of quality/relevance and advertising dollars.
- adamredwoods 8y agoI've followed Grey Alien Games for a few years, and he has utilized MANY channels. And while I think you bring up a good point, I remember a few years back when many developers claimed the Apple Store was the ONLY good channel to use, leaving few choices. I'm happy that eco-model has somewhat changed.
- mbesto 8y agoIf you don't control your sales and distribution and are beholden to one channel, then you presume a large risk. Apple does not do this. P&G does not do this. Exxon does not do this. On and on and on... I don't understand where you're getting the "majority of businesses", because most financial healthy businesses do not have channel concentration.
- cwyers 8y agoI mean, yes, being reliant on Steam is a large risk. But until you can convince your customers to diversify their purchasing, what are you going to do? Steam's dominance of the PC gaming market has been challenged by some big hitters in the industry. If you're selling many orders of magnitude less than CD Project Red, you probably have to either take on the risk or find another industry.
- jtms 8y agoUnwise maybe, but if you are a small indie dev you really don't have any other choice if you want to actually make a living.
- ehsankia 8y agoWhile drops like these suck, Steam still bring significantly more sale than any other source. As the article mentions: > Well I’ve been selling direct since 2006, but sadly my direct sales are about 1% of my total revenue.