Storage and bandwidth definitely weren’t cheap in 2003. Additionally Steam provides features that a brick and mortar store could never even think of providing, including updates, DRM, instant access to global consumers, community features, in-depth data analytics, and the ability to adjust pricing in real time.

While a lot of the work Valve has put in Steam seems both obvious and ubiquitous today, these were features they pioneered for both developers and consumers.

I’d also like to point out that the only digital marketplace I’m aware of that charges less than 30% by default (Epic) is famous for losing billions of dollars in the endeavor.

Before steam, digital sales of games wasn’t really a thing outside of a few niche examples. The 30% cut was the same percentage that retail stores were taking.

Slipknot is not where I saw this thread going but I’m here for it.

Quantum computers are only good at a very narrow subset of tasks. None of those tasks are related to Neural Networks, AGI, or the emulation of neurons.

Apple uses bog standard LPDDR5-6400. LPDDR5 is a low power variant of DDR5. 32GB of DDR5-6400 is about $90 USD.

The only thing special about the Apple RAM configuration is the larger than normal bus on the CPU die.

They didn’t need to grow. Current Wallsteet calculation is margin % + growth % => 40%