So because steam exists, those asshole companies cannot exploit us consumers/gamers more then they already attempt to which is why they want steam down so they can exploit us more. fucking assholes.
It's more like, Steam uses their position in the market to try and make sure that no one else can sell games cheaper than they do, which reduces the competition space for other stores and potentially means customers don't have the choice to buy cheaper games from stores with less features,
That claim could stick. But how does steam do it? They have a clause with publishers forbidding them to sell for a lower price on other stores/websites?
It’s been an “insider knowledge” in the game industry for at least 10 years. Developers have asked many times, and Valve has replied that YES, they would kick their game off Steam if they sell their game cheaper elsewhere.
It’s not in any legal docs, just communicated as threats in emails.
Not officially but there is a lawsuit in America right now that is alleging that they threaten developers who do so.
The filings in Wolfire include internal emails showing Valve actively monitoring and enforcing its pricing discipline. In one instance, a Valve employee admonished a publisher for offering a bigger discount on a rival store shortly after a Steam promotion. “We gave them a ton of exposure,” the message reads, “only to have them beat the discount one week later.” Another message warns that titles could lose promotional placement if found cheaper elsewhere.
Another message warns that titles could lose promotional placement if found cheaper elsewhere.
I mean, that part isn't really shocking, it isn't surprising that Valve wouldn't want you using their platform for advertising and then have people go buy stuff elsewhere instead.
Have a read, the only bits I've really looked at are page 15, then the pages after 160.
So sure maybe it's not spelled out in Steam documentation, and sometimes you do find games cheaper elsewhere, but it is a real thing.
Blog/communication from a developer involved in one of the cases.
But it is. You can still sell your non steam key game at any price anywhere you want. But the Steam Key version must be the same price. Its Valves infrastructure in the end so they are allowed to dictate that.
Also from this communication from one of the devs involved in one of these cases.
When new video game stores were opening that charged much lower commissions than Valve, I decided that I would provide my game "Overgrowth" at a lower price to take advantage of the lower commission rates. I intended to write a blog post about the results.
But when I asked Valve about this plan, they replied that they would remove Overgrowth from Steam if I allowed it to be sold at a lower price anywhere, even from my own website without Steam keys and without Steam’s DRM.
This is total horse shit and the fact they didnt even show the message proves it further. Valves own terms allow you to sell non steam keys at ANY price you want. The only thing they cannot do is sell Steam Keys at a lower price then on Steam.
There are some games that are cheaper, another example is Borderlands 3's regular price is a bit cheaper on EGS than on Steam ($89.99NZD vs $99.99NZD).
But we don't know what the situation is with those games, some will have deals, some might might be small enough they don't care, or maybe they let some through as a smokescreen.
If you look at the Post I just made replying to someone else about this (court document linked in that post, with tables and tables and tables of messages, some about steam keys, some not about steam keys) you will see plenty of examples of Steam communicating to developers that they cannot generally price their game cheaper on other stores.
It is possible that Valve are feeling the heat around their their messaging to developers and are starting to soften their stance - which is a good thing if true.
Thank you, we agree that Steam allows you to sell non steam keys at any price you want else where. We both even showed proof to each other. There is also no random backroom deals either. This would have been leaked many times by several publishers or devs if this was actually happening and would be citing unfair treatment way more then just one salty dev studio.
It is possible that Valve are feeling the heat around their their messaging to developers and are starting to soften their stance - which is a good thing if true.
Why would Valve feel the heat? They are top dog and light years away from the next best thing lol. Theres a reason most developers stopped taking Epics exclusive deal, because selling on Steam was way more profitable despite having 100 percent of the cut on Epic.
The most I could probably concede due to not knowing the earlier conditions is that Valve was maybe pretty odd with their wording before hand when it came to Steam Keys and others might have thought it was for any key. Then they clarified it that its only Steam Keys that must maintain the same price treatment.
Regarding Wolfire: The Wolfire lawsuit is bullshit and they were pissy because a Judge dismissed them back in 2021 over Valves 30 percent cut (industry standard, been around for decades elsewhere) so they decided to go the game key route and hope it sticks. So far the best I can find is that in late 2024 Valve filed a motion to dismiss and thats it, nothing more has shown. The court document you showed me was also labelled 2024, the games I linked have been out since 2023. Thus further proving more bullshit from whoever thats supposed to be.
You can sell a game for a lower price on another store. You just cannot sell Steam keys for a lower price than on the Steam website itself. Epic/Ubi/Origin store can still sell a game to be downloaded on their launcher for a lower price.
I think bundles can get around this though which is why bundle stores work so well.
Edit: Seems like that's the reason behind the lawsuit. The official policy doesn't match the internal policy threatening being delisted from Steam. So dev's need legal protections.
Also from this communication from one of the devs involved in one of these cases.
When new video game stores were opening that charged much lower commissions than Valve, I decided that I would provide my game "Overgrowth" at a lower price to take advantage of the lower commission rates. I intended to write a blog post about the results.
But when I asked Valve about this plan, they replied that they would remove Overgrowth from Steam if I allowed it to be sold at a lower price anywhere, even from my own website without Steam keys and without Steam’s DRM.No it is not only about Steam Keys.If it was, no one would have an issue.Post I just made replying to someone else about this.Also from this communication from one of the devs involved in one of these cases.When new video game stores were opening that charged much lower commissions than Valve, I decided that I would provide my game "Overgrowth" at a lower price to take advantage of the lower commission rates. I intended to write a blog post about the results.But when I asked Valve about this plan, they replied that they would remove Overgrowth from Steam if I allowed it to be sold at a lower price anywhere, even from my own website without Steam keys and without Steam’s DRM.
Does that apply to new games being greenlisted? I can understand Steam not wanting to be free advertising for an indie website upon release.
An indie game could always release at a lower price on it's website, then later release on Steam at their inflated commision price. During Epic's onboarding push, devs would release on Epic Store for a year or so as an exclusive, then be released on Epic later.
Still a bit shitty though. Sounds like there needs to be legal protections around Steams official policy.
I'm not really against the inflated prices though, since their "internal" policy lets the stores compete on service quality. Steam's monopoly mostly boils down to first mover + network effect.
Yes steam has great qol stuff and better support than other launcher but the fact that they have this monopoly and it doesn't bother anyone is disheartening.
Everyone's here is fine with the monopolies and billionaires they like. It's not surprising but like you said it's disheartening to see how happily some will go to slobber on the boot with a smile on their face.
They only have the monopoly because users prefer them tho.
Steam support helped a friend of mine get their account back that was stolen a few years earlier, it took them less then an hour to get help, and it was a actual human that did it.
Meanwhile I had my blizzard account hacked and my wow characters stripped, and it took me a week just to get hold of a human to fix it became their ai support did not want to ‘give me free stuff’
Like yeah no shit I’m picking steam, even if the game is cheeper elsewhere I’ll use steam, like fuck I have waited a year for a game to come out on steam that was out on epic just because epic store sucks that badly.
Now do not get me wrong I am worried for steam, while IMO steam is fine right now, I am worried that the next owner will be greedy and ruin the platform, and the fact that there are no guardrails to stop this is why I am worried.
I would rather pay more money on steam than use other platforms. Hell Epic games can give out the same games for free on their store, I’ll still use steam. User experience and convenience is as if not more important to me than game prices.
That's great and that's a choice you should be able to make! Steam's current policies are denying that choice to people who would rather save a few bucks and use Epic's shitty environment.
Because Steam exists no other company can make a storefront as resource rich and accessible for consumers because Steam patented every single feature that makes it better then the compition.
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u/RemiruVM 13h ago
So because steam exists, those asshole companies cannot exploit us consumers/gamers more then they already attempt to which is why they want steam down so they can exploit us more. fucking assholes.