I upvote to get this discussed even if I think the article .. lacking

* the 30% the 'stores' charge needs to be given a lot more scrutiny

* you can go do other ways e.g. PayPal, Moneybookers (credit cards etc). And the big fish Minecraft went that root when it started small

Ludum Dare October challenge is:

Finish a game — Take it to market — Earn $1

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2012/09/27/announcing-october...

You're right about the 30%, luckily first commenter on the blog mentioned that.

About selling direct - that's exactly my point w.r.t. the new stuff on mac (gatekeeper) & win 8. If you give the user an "uncertified" exe a popup appears telling them it's dangerous & you can't even easily dismiss it - the only buttons on win 8 are "close" and "delete". To get to "run anyway" you need to drill into "more options"!

what about steam?

They take an undisclosed amount rumored to be %30-40. I never managed to get my games on steam so I don't know exactly.