Yea, until devs started leaking the dates way in advance for some attention. I prefer official communication over the dev of “Washcloth Simulator” spoiling the surprise.

Valve is not the one setting the prices. The publishers/developers are. One could argue that they are increasing their prices becauses of Valve’s cut, but they aren’t. A Ubisoft game for example costs the same on Steam as it does on the Ubisoft store, which is obviously not taking any cuts for its own games.

Also, 30% is the industry standard. Here is a nice overview IGN made in 2019. https://oyster.ignimgs.com/wordpress/stg.ign.com/2019/09/GameRetailerCuts_infographic-1.png

Edit for the price parity argument: If the parity would have increased game prices to include Valve’s cut, AAA games would have gotten 30% more expensive many years ago. But they didn’t.

Perfect Dark

Never played the original one.

I finished the second half of Hrot, a boomer shooter. It plays like a mix of Dusk and Quake 1, set in Czechoslovakia in the 80s.

Really good atmosphere, nice enemy variety, good level design with lots of secrets, great music, average gunplay.

I had a lot of fun and reading up about all the references to real life Czechoslovakia and Chech culture was quite interesting and educational.

I started playing Dave the Diver. It has a lot of charm, but it feels like two mobile games stiched together. I kinda like it, but I wish there was more to it.

A “tremendous turn off” he says?