For a long time now, Steam has been the gold standard when it comes to buying and playing PC games online. Within the last year or so, the Epic Games Store has also popped up which gives gamers free games and gives a larger share of the profits to the game developers. There are others out there for sure, but those are the big two at the moment.
Between last night and this morning, I thought of ideas for an improved online digital distribution service for PC games. My ideas would be more fair for both gamers and developers alike. These are ideas that I'm honestly surprised haven't been introduced sooner or combined into a single platform. This took a lot of thought and it means a lot to me.
Let's get into it!
-Game Sharing-
One big advantage that physical games have over digital games is that you can share them with your friends and family. Why can't you do this with digital games though? My idea would be simple, but fair to both gamers and developers. The idea would be to implement a system to where you could lend a game to someone on your friends list. Here's how it would work.
Your library would be split into two parts. One of them would be games that you owned and the other would be for games that was shared with you. Anyone who owned a game would be able to lend it to someone on their friends list. You would be able to lend a game to a friend for (7) seven days. Doing so would uninstall the game from your computer and be placed into their library under the shared section for the next seven days. There would be no time limits for how long they could play it during that time, but after the seven days is up it would notify them in advance and uninstall it from their system and it would then be returned to your library. You would be allowed to share a game like this with up to (2) two friends but not at the same time.
This gives back the benefit that physical games provide but with the convenience that digital games provide. I'd set it to seven days and up to two friends to make it fair to consumers, but also to not abuse the system. If anything, if you shared a game with a friend for a week, they might just like it enough to want to buy it permanently which then in turn helps the developers and the platform earn more money.
-More Profits For Developers And Charities-
Steam is known for taking a brutal 30% of a game's revenue. The Epic Games Store is better by only taking 12% of a game's revenue. My idea would be to take a 15% share of a game's revenue, but with a catch. Of that, one third of that would go to charity meaning that the platform would only receive 10% of a game's revenue. Humble Bundle is well-known for giving to charities and putting that ability into the consumers' hands. With Steam and Epic Games, you can't do that. That 5% may not sound like much, but for every $60 game that's sold, that's $3 that goes to a good cause while the platform still makes a decent $6 from the sale.
This has another benefit as well. Since it would be the platform that would be paying that percentage, it would be a tax write-off for the company. It would be a win-win for everyone. I'd also encourage that developers match that 5% as well, but of course it would be optional for them to do so.
-A Better Refund Policy-
While GOG's newest refund policy is way too generous, I feel like Steam's isn't generous enough. Steam's current refund policy is that you can get a refund as long as the game hasn't been played for more than 2 hours or owned for more than 14 days. I would actually keep in the 14 day policy as I think that part is fair, but bump up the hours of playtime up to 4 from 2. Four hours isn't usually enough to beat a game, but I feel like it's enough time to see rather you like a game enough to want to keep it or refund it. A two hour refund policy is just a little bit too brutal in my opinion.
-More Game Demos-
When I was growing up, I thought demo discs were so cool because it let you try out games and see rather or not you'd want to go out and spend money on the full version. Getting to try out a game should lead to less refunds as the player will have actually had the chance to play the game before committing to buying it. This can also lead to increased sales, especially for indie developers, since it gives more exposure to their games. It's a great way of showcasing their latest titles to the world! Demos from developers wouldn't be required of course, but would be recommended, especially for newer developers, who are wanting more exposure for their game when they're a new and unknown developer.