Two Steam games made $560K but the co-creator took home $15K/year(www.tomshardware.com)

6 pointsby sbulaev4 hours ago2 comments

benoau3 hours ago
$15K/year is almost misleading, the developers took home $172,000 of $426,000 revenue after refunds.
$560,000 in gross sales
$426,000 after $134,000 in refunds (22% rate, which they describe as "way above" normal 10-15%)
$297,000 after $127,000 contribution to Gabe's next super yacht
$282,000 after $ 14,850 in tax to US
$172,000 after $115,000 to the publisher, which is described as the controversial amount
I think Steam's cut is far more controversial TBH, the publishers at least did something for them and the article suggests successfully. There was no particular service provided by Steam unless you want to count the initial review (it costs $100 to submit anyway).
- _aavaa_an hour ago
  They don’t have to publish on steam. They could have published on their own website and sell exes there. Or epic store. Or gog. Or humble bundle. Or itch.io .
  If people don’t want to pay steam their cut they are free to not publish there. This isn’t iOS or a game console.
- greuceanu420692 hours ago
  the indie industry is brutal. i read his original reddit posts (he posted on several subs). that low cost of living is what's helpful and keeping him hoping for a 2nd attempt, plus he was saying he'll be going solo. but as a career choice, with the current costs of doing business and targeting markets with a high return rate, it's totally unsustainable. the sadder part is that there's really no other serious choice for publishing. Steam is 75% of the market share. as an indie, you want to cast a wide net, maximize exposure to maximize chances of sales, so Steam is the only realistic chance at success.
yolp5an hour ago
Ugh, just what I needed to discourage me away from game development again. No point in pouring all that effort if this is what an average profitable indie looks like.
Somehow every few years I get the delusion that it'd be fun to try and release a game.