As the games industry struggles to compete against other entertainment, as well as its own free-to-play sector, for people’s time and money, games marketing analyst Chris Zukowski posits that developers’ saving grace is Steam.
In a recent blog post (via GamesRadar), Zukowski argues that Valve has cracked the problem that other entertainment services like Netflix have where success is measured by the time consumers are engaging with content. That is because gamers aren’t just consumers, but collectors.
“The power of Steam as a platform is that it enables hoarding,” he writes, comparing gaming with other hobbies–whether that is Lego, Warhammer, or knitting–that is made up a diehard audience that are “very interested in a subject and doesn’t worry about how much money they are spending on it.”
Zukowski further digs into Valve’s 30% revenue cut from Steam sales, which has attracted criticism. He however claims that the reason developers are willing to hand over such a high cut to Valve is because they’re getting revenue whether or not their audience actually plays their game: “Knowing Steam players are hoarders explains why you give them that 30%: You get access to a bunch of drunken sailors who spend money irresponsibly.”
Developers may take comfort in this analysis when competing against older live-service games like Fortnite and GTA Online that continue to be the biggest games, even if that means their revenue is coming from games that may never be played.
“Don’t be discouraged by that! This is totally normal for Steam,” Zukowski continues. “If Steam shoppers were rational and only bought games they were going to play, we would sell a lot fewer games. Half this industry would be gone.”
He does have a caveat for this theory, in that it applies more to games with a “very clear genre.” “If players can look at your game in a glance and figure out the genre, they are more likely to impulse buy because they say, ‘Ah, I love open world survival-crafting games! I know this! I am definitely going to play this once I am finished with the other 20 OWSC games in my collection.’ If your genre is ambiguous, you won’t be picked up by hoarders.”
If that’s got you thinking of hoarding your collection, then the Steam Summer Sale is still currently on.
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