caffeinade said:
vivster said:
I think scaling the prices up is completely beside the point. What it should do is scaling down. While there are publishers who put out a huge amount of games at once, most of them are just one timers who are looking for a quick buck. So the very first game should be the highest fee. My proposition is 1000$.
If you're serious about making games and want to earn a living with them, then 1000$ is tiny. Not to mention, Steam will refund this sum if your game sells a certain threshold. If you make a good game and it still fails to sell, there was probably another issue with it and you can either try again or hang up your dream or try to use other outlets. For example creating a free game and publicize it on itch.io to gain some fame beforehand. Making games is a business and it's absolutely fine to undergo huge risks when trying to create a business. Everyone else does that too and it weeds out people who shouldn't run a business in the first place.
I don't even think you would need a fee for more games if your first game was a verifiable success. But if your first game bombs it seems fair to demand the same amount of capital for the second.
I do not believe any developer who is passionate and serious about starting a business will be deterred by a small entry fee. And those that are not deterred are the ones that will in the end make the good games.
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This seems much better than scaling upwards.
I do think 1000 may be a bit too intimidating.
250, 500 or 750 USD seem a lot smaller, much easier for a small dev to swallow.
If a developer cannot afford the gate fee, they could just contact Valve directly.
Show a prototype off to a Valve employee, and be let in without a fee.
I am not sure removing the fee for successful developers really changes anything.
Assuming your games have done well in the past, 1000 USD should not be an issue at all.
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If Valve had actual oversight we wouldn't need a fee at all. That fee bullshit is only there BECAUSE they let every bullshit on there in the first place. Good games sell. Valve would make more than enough money with part of the revenue. Charging a fee on top of taking some of the revenue is like $60 games that you have to pay $5 a month to play online and are also full of micro transactions. Only an asshole would create a product like that.
And again, $1000 is absolutely nothing compared to how much it costs to create a good game. That's what loans are for. Making a business is always a gamble and it should be, so that whoever wants it has a plan and the right intentions. No developer is small enough to not be able to afford a $1000 loan from somewhere. Patreon and Kickstarter are also good starting points. They don't charge up front and you can generate money you may need to put it on store fronts.
The number needs to be big to keep out most of the cash grabbers. And if Valve won't do quality control, a high barrier of entry will have to do it for them.
