Kuattro
Augur
Matrix is the publisher, not only a storefront :
They take their cut anyway (for marketing, maybe giving him some money in advance, and other publisher stuff...) , whether it is sold on Steam or on their store.
So the difference is that on steam, the dev would get:
70% * X % (100%-matrix share) * Price
On Matrix, he would get: (100%-matrix share) * Price
Unless Matrix also takes a share for transactions that happen on their store, but I doubt so (they don't sell games from other publishers AFAIK).
Does the dev receive more money in this store? It's the only reason I would buy from Matrix.
Edit: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1154840/discussions/0/2248929785821437625/
Hi guys,
Shadow Empire will be released on June 4th on Matrix Games store while Steam release will follow.
It's a procedure we apply for the majority of our "wargames" and complex strategy games.
As always it will be possible to redeem the Steam key of the game once it will be out on Steam, for which you won't have to wait until 2021.
Hope this helps in clarifying better the situation.
Best
As far as I understand it, Steam gives you the option of asking for keys and selling them on your own store for 100% of the profit. If that's true, the only explanation I find for this is that Matrix fears releasing simultaneously on Steam would siphon some of their sales and reduce their profits. It really doesn't make a lot of sense, it's not as if the game is about to sell a million copies, and Matrix doesn't have the problem indie developers face of not having a store to sell Steam keys directly, since they already have their own store and they could sell Steam keys immediately.
Weird.