Turns Out Past Paradox CEO Was Not a Fan of Steam
Fredrik Wester the past CEO of Paradox Interactive, has recently stated publicly that the 70/30 split that Steam offers to developers is outrageous. Steam’s business model works out so that Steam will get 30% of said game’s revenue while the actual developers receives 70%. Wester was speaking at a Gamelab pannel last week when he made the comment. He also said that “platform holders are taking too much money.” He clearly feels ripped off by Steam.
Wester claims that the 70/30 idea actually stems from the days of Blockbuster and Rogers Video Stores. A company like Blockbuster would retain most of the money generated by movie and game rentals while the original minds behind the product would get what was left.
Wester then went on to praise the Epic Game Store for having a much more generous splitting of profits. “It cost a lot of money. This doesn’t cost anything. So Epic has done a great job for the whole industry because you get 88%. Fantastic move. Thank you very much.” Wester also added,  “They {Epic Games Store} have lower margins, to get into the market. But I think it’s also a matter of decency. I mean, how much does it actually cost to deliver a game?”
Paradox is still very much active on Steam. The developers current CEOÂ Â Ebba Ljungerud has made no negative comments about Steam. At least in public. Leaving Steam for someplace like the Epic Game Store would send quite the message. Large companies such as Ubisoft has already started to make the move to the Epic Games Store. Earlier this year they stated that a bunch of their upcoming titles would be exclusively available on the Epic Games Store. If Paradox leaves as well, others could follow suit.