The game store cold war is heating up

Until the Epic Games Store announced in late 2018 that it would take a 12% cut of game revenue, the industry seemed locked-in to a store cut of 30% for PC, mobile, and console. It was a largely non-negotiable fee paid to list our apps and games. They didn’t pull this figure out of thin air — it’s a throwback to the era of the discs — CDs, DVDs and game discs — when 30% was the going rate of physical retailers. In those days, publishers would also have to shoulder the cost of printing and shipping masses of physical copies of their album, movie, or game.

These additional costs aren’t typically present in digital distribution. So paying 30% to access vast payment infrastructures, content distribution networks, digital rights management, and anti-fraud processes seems fair, right? Not according to game developers, only 6% of whom feel the 30% cut is fair. Developers wanting to keep a greater share of the profits from their work is no surprise, but this figure is stark nevertheless. And as competition for content hots up due to the emergence of new regions, audiences, platforms, and technologies, creators of content hold greater sway.