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Steamworks, the APIs available to all games on Steam, is packed with tons of features and services that aren't a CDN + forum. Anyone making games for Steam shou

Steamworks, the APIs available to all games on Steam, is packed with tons of features and services that aren't a CDN + forum. Anyone making games for Steam should make use of those to get the most out of their 30% in fees. The following page lists some high level features but there's a lot more if you dig in: https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features Worth noting that Epic's store does not provide most of this. You get what you pay for.

chrishare 3y ago
Or, Steam should have a lower rate for developers that don't care about 80% of those features.
- happymellon 3y ago
  If they don't like it, they could use a different platform. The reason Steam gets my money is because the 10ft UX is by far better. It's not just a CDN, it's an experience to play games.
BoorishBears 3y ago
Wrong? > Worth noting that Epic's store does not provide most of this. You get what you pay for. Epic has EOS: https://dev.epicgames.com/docs/epic-online-services https://dev.epicgames.com/docs/epic-online-services And unlike Steam's solution, they're cross-platform aren't tied to being on EGS, meaning it's actually free, not costing you 30%. > Anyone making games for Steam should make use of those to get the most out of their 30% in fees. Not necessarily, because that will lock them into Steam. They should be using something like EGS or a 3rd party solution, because currently they end up needing to roll multiple versions of the game. - I'm very well aware of Steamworks, but Steamwork's time has passed except for integrating directly with Steam. The features it offered have been completely and utterly commoditized. You've got stuff like PlayFab, Rivet, Photon, Normcore, etc, all taking a hell of a lot less than 30% of your revenue, even at massive scale.
- Rohansi 3y ago
  There's nothing like Steam Input, Steam Networking, the inventory service, etc. Not to mention all of the additional functionality provided in the Steam website/client itself like proper reviews, remote play, trading/marketplace, etc. Yes, making games depend on Steam-specific APIs will obviously make it more difficult to publish on other stores. But many games only publish to one store anyway. Don't get me wrong, I don't think the 30% cut Steam takes is justified, but they take it because the competition isn't there yet.
  - BoorishBears 3y ago
    - Steam Input: Steam can already do XInput and DirectInput, so just support those. - A Steam Networking equivalent is part of EOS: https://dev.epicgames.com/docs/game-services/p-2-p https://dev.epicgames.com/docs/game-services/p-2-p - Epic offers a Steam Inventory equivalent: https://dev.epicgames.com/docs/epic-games-store/services/ecom/ecom-overview https://dev.epicgames.com/docs/epic-games-store/services/eco... > But many games only publish to one store anyway. Exactly the problem. Why exacerbate it? > Don't get me wrong, I don't think the 30% cut Steam takes is justified So then your original comment was just you being contrarian as you said "You get what you pay for." implying Steam is in fact offering what the game creators are paying for :/
    - Rohansi 3y ago
      Steam Input is an abstraction layer on top of controllers. It helps you support any type of controller in your game. It also provides remapping support from within the Steam UI. Players can browse for and share their controller configurations too. Steam Networking is not P2P. It's client-server. Steam also has P2P networking but using P2P networking is a big risk these days when it exposes your players' IP addresses to others. Steam Networking has a sub-feature called Steam Datagram Relay which deals with routing issues and hides player IP addresses. Steam's inventory service takes this to another level. It's not just microtransactions. Items can be traded with others, can be bought/sold on the marketplace for store credit, etc. The marketplace alone is a significant additional source of revenue for some Steam games because the game gets a cut out of each sale. I simply meant that you get more out of Steam with it's bigger cut.

chrishare 3y ago

Or, Steam should have a lower rate for developers that don't care about 80% of those features.

happymellon 3y ago
If they don't like it, they could use a different platform. The reason Steam gets my money is because the 10ft UX is by far better. It's not just a CDN, it's an experience to play games.

BoorishBears 3y ago

Wrong? > Worth noting that Epic's store does not provide most of this. You get what you pay for. Epic has EOS: https://dev.epicgames.com/docs/epic-online-services https://dev.epicgames.com/docs/epic-online-services And unlike Steam's solution, they're cross-platform aren't tied to being on EGS, meaning it's actually free, not costing you 30%. > Anyone making games for Steam should make use of those to get the most out of their 30% in fees. Not necessarily, because that will lock them into Steam. They should be using something like EGS or a 3rd party solution, because currently they end up needing to roll multiple versions of the game. - I'm very well aware of Steamworks, but Steamwork's time has passed except for integrating directly with Steam. The features it offered have been completely and utterly commoditized. You've got stuff like PlayFab, Rivet, Photon, Normcore, etc, all taking a hell of a lot less than 30% of your revenue, even at massive scale.

Rohansi 3y ago
There's nothing like Steam Input, Steam Networking, the inventory service, etc. Not to mention all of the additional functionality provided in the Steam website/client itself like proper reviews, remote play, trading/marketplace, etc. Yes, making games depend on Steam-specific APIs will obviously make it more difficult to publish on other stores. But many games only publish to one store anyway. Don't get me wrong, I don't think the 30% cut Steam takes is justified, but they take it because the competition isn't there yet.
- BoorishBears 3y ago
  - Steam Input: Steam can already do XInput and DirectInput, so just support those. - A Steam Networking equivalent is part of EOS: https://dev.epicgames.com/docs/game-services/p-2-p https://dev.epicgames.com/docs/game-services/p-2-p - Epic offers a Steam Inventory equivalent: https://dev.epicgames.com/docs/epic-games-store/services/ecom/ecom-overview https://dev.epicgames.com/docs/epic-games-store/services/eco... > But many games only publish to one store anyway. Exactly the problem. Why exacerbate it? > Don't get me wrong, I don't think the 30% cut Steam takes is justified So then your original comment was just you being contrarian as you said "You get what you pay for." implying Steam is in fact offering what the game creators are paying for :/
  - Rohansi 3y ago
    Steam Input is an abstraction layer on top of controllers. It helps you support any type of controller in your game. It also provides remapping support from within the Steam UI. Players can browse for and share their controller configurations too. Steam Networking is not P2P. It's client-server. Steam also has P2P networking but using P2P networking is a big risk these days when it exposes your players' IP addresses to others. Steam Networking has a sub-feature called Steam Datagram Relay which deals with routing issues and hides player IP addresses. Steam's inventory service takes this to another level. It's not just microtransactions. Items can be traded with others, can be bought/sold on the marketplace for store credit, etc. The marketplace alone is a significant additional source of revenue for some Steam games because the game gets a cut out of each sale. I simply meant that you get more out of Steam with it's bigger cut.