Re: "Not sure why you got downvoted for this."
Because you have no clue about the real cost for a company directly selling software as electronic downloads. You can't compare with physically packaged games sold in a store - where you have packaging cost, transport costs, store and shelf space costs, unsold items costs, etc. etc. - where the revenues are also shared across a large number of shops.
I have a very real clue about the cost of selling software both physically and electronically, which is why I wondered why the comment 30% is pretty cheap compared with a typical retail distribution channel. was down voted. Because as far as I can tell it's a pretty accurate assessment of how the real world works. (Which I then explained further with an example of how things used to be for games developers.)
The point I was originally making was that from the point of view of a game developer, a 70% cut was a huge step up from the peanuts they were being given before. The fact that Apple is still taking 30% today is because nobody can dictate any terms to them - you publish in their store, or you don't publish on iOS. At the end of the day, there's a reason Apple are making so much money from such a small market share.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
