Steam, Apple, PlayStation, Android, Xbox, and Switch digital storefronts will not survive the decade unless they make major changes.
Right now these stores are walled gardens with a hefty entrance fee. On ios it's practically a scam but on consoles it's a pretty good system. I don't know if it's a good thing that these walls are going down, but I think it's unavoidable. Cross buy lets game dlc get in without the fee, and streaming lets games without even a review. Apple just denied Xcloud game streaming because of this for example.
So I think the stores need to switch approaches but even still it might be hard. The Epic store has the right idea with the cut being a lot smaller, but is it small enough for Ubisoft to prefer them over uplay for example? Visibility is also a valid service that publishers want to pay for but how will that work if all the big games skip the store?
Right now these stores are walled gardens with a hefty entrance fee. On ios it's practically a scam but on consoles it's a pretty good system. I don't know if it's a good thing that these walls are going down, but I think it's unavoidable. Cross buy lets game dlc get in without the fee, and streaming lets games without even a review. Apple just denied Xcloud game streaming because of this for example.
So I think the stores need to switch approaches but even still it might be hard. The Epic store has the right idea with the cut being a lot smaller, but is it small enough for Ubisoft to prefer them over uplay for example? Visibility is also a valid service that publishers want to pay for but how will that work if all the big games skip the store?
