LogIn72% of devs believe Steam has a monopoly on PC games.
Rokky, a PC game distribution platform, has published a new report that highlights just how unrelentingly dominant Steam is in the video game industry as a whole and in PC gaming in particular by putting into numbers how much developers rely on Valve's store and revealing what they actually think about said reliance.
According to the research, based on responses from 306 PC game developers in the UK and the US – mostly senior managers – for the vast majority of developers (88%), Steam accounts for over 75% of their revenue, with 37% reporting that Valve's storefront makes up over 90% of their revenue.
72.2% of those surveyed believe Steam has a monopoly on PC games, while only 8.2% disagreed, and the remaining 19.6% had no particular opinion.
Although studios do use alternative platforms to sell their games – such as the Epic Games Store (used at least once by 48% of respondents), the PC section of the Xbox Store (also 48%), GOG (10%), and Itch.io (8%) – the revenue split shows these platforms contribute relatively little, with 25% of respondents even considering all alternative marketplaces and e-stores part of the so-called gray market.
Naturally, most developers aren't that satisfied with this all-eggs-in-one-basket situation, with 53% of respondents saying they are concerned about their level of reliance on Steam.
At the same time, 80% expect alternative platforms to become a regular part of their distribution mix within five years, indicating they either anticipate a decline in Steam's dominance by 2030 or believe other storefronts will increasingly compete with Valve's shop.
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