Between Internet costs and data backups and the mass amounts of network security required 30% is nothing. If a developer went to do this on their own their AWS fees alone would probably come close to that let alone the staff needed to maintain and secure the services you are providing.30% is nothing when Publishers used to take it all, often including ownership of the IP, and maybe give the devs crumbs if they made their sales numbers inside a certain time frame. And once your game was off the shelf for the next new thing, it was pretty much gone forever unless it was actually popular. Steam changed that.
EGS does not take 30% because they are not in a position to take 30%. It's not because they don't want to. It's because their service is not worth that 30%. Most devs seem to believe Steam is, unless EGS actually pays them to think otherwise.
"So, you are saying you are going to give us X millions to give you a timed exclusive, regardless of actual sales, and then you get 15% of sales once we reach sales goals. And next year we can launch on GOG, Steam, Origin, Etc. as well?"
"Where do I sign?"
I don't blame anyone involved, EGS wants to be king, and the devs want a sure payday, but I don't trust EGS and Tencent with my library or my CC info.
I’m not against what Epic is saying they want, my only issue is I don’t trust that their words match their intentions. And unless some master body gets formed that maintains some huge database of logins and hosts the files that all the developers and publishers chip into maintaining I just don’t see how it would work.
Take a riff on the Kronos group, maybe call it the Hades Group because maintaining this single library system sounds like literal hell to me.