Why Steam Should Be Sweating over the Epic Games Store
The Revenue Split
Valve recently made some significant changes to their Steam Distribution Agreement. Up until this last Friday, Valve took 30 percent of all sales made on Steam. The new revenue split still has Valve taking 30 percent, but only until the game reaches $10 million in revenue on Steam; from there, Valve cuts their take to 25 percent. Then, once the game reaches $50 million in revenue on Steam, Valve cuts their take to 20 percent.
That all sounds like great news until you get a look at what the revenue split will be on the Epic Games store. The base split for all revenue that a game makes on their platform is that 88 percent goes to developers, and 12 percent goes to Epic. As if that weren’t enough, developers that are using the Unreal Engine for their game don’t have to pay the 5 percent engine royalty on any sales they make on the Epic Games store.
The chart above displays the disparity between the revenue on potential sales on Steam versus potential sales on the Epic Games store. Without a doubt, Epic is providing the more profitable service for developers; that’s especially the case for developers who are using the Unreal Engine for their game.
