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Knowing Steam players are hoarders explains why you give Valve that 30%

"More than likely the person buying your game is not going to play it."

Zukowski reckons that's just not the issue: "The reason Steam makes indies so much money compared to all the other platforms is that they have built up an audience that is full of super die-hard hobbyists… Basically, hobbyists buy stuff not because they actually want to consume it, but because they are collecting it." This is illustrated by the so-called "pile of shame" from various hobbies: great stacks of Lego sets waiting to be built; a room crammed with Warhammer model kits; the Everest-like mounds of yarn that knitters call their "stash." "Valve cracked the problem that Netflix was struggling with: how do you sell to people who have so much entertainment at their fingertips that they don’t have enough hours in the day to play and watch it all," says Zukowski.

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