FWIW, by coincidence an article was just posted on the
ars technica site, called: "
Game devs speak out on Valve, Steam and conflict of interest" in which JD was quoted:
"We were also unable to find any developers who would admit to feeling exploited by Valve. Quite the opposite actually. Jakub Dvorsky, from Machinarium developer Amanita Design, told Ars that Valve offers a comparable, and in many cases higher, revenue percentage when compared with other digital distribution outlets. And for a small independent developer, this makes all the difference.
'I think it's very good service,' Dvorsky explained. 'It works well and it encourages some people to favor digital copies to boxed versions, which is great for indie developers.'"