Gearbox: "[Steam] is exploiting a lot of small guys"

Valve's Steam is certainly the most popular digital distribution outfit for PC games at the moment, and while loved by many customers, it's not so good for developers, at least the smaller ones.

The word comes from Gearbox's (Borderlands) Randy Pitchford, who was just speaking to the press yesterday about how Achievements can boost a game's sales by up to 40K units. According to him, Valve is isn't playing nice with its business:

"I love Valve games, and I do business with the company. But, I’m just saying, Steam isn’t the answer. Steam helps us as customers, but it’s also a money grab, and Valve is exploiting a lot of people in a way that’s not totally fair. Valve is taking a larger share than it should for the service its providing. It’s exploiting a lot of small guys. For us big guys, we’re going to sell the units and it will be fine."

This problem has been an issue in the rest of the entertainment industry, too; musicians in particular have received significant attention for taking in next to nothing for album sales, digital (where there are huge savings) or otherwise. And from 2007-2008, television writers promoted the same cause with the WGA strike. In short, the people which fund and/or supply the content have a strong tendency to abuse their position, resulting in a lot less money for creators and a lot more for themselves.

One solution which is becoming an increasing trend as of late, is for developers and/or publishers to sell the games themselves, getting the money directly (retailers are also notorious for taking a huge cut).

Pitchford also notes the outlet and publisher being one in the same is a huge conflict of interest which provokes a lot of distrust in other developers and publishers; his suggestion is for Steam to become a separate entity. Of course then the same would have to be said for Impulse and all the rest (excepting GamersGate, which has seperated church and state).