I like steam. They are a good pro customer company.
As a developer steam isn’t as nice. They use their dominant market share which is close to a monopoly to take large cuts from developers. Even smaller ones.
They also disallow selling the game lower elsewhere.
But among large gaming companies they are still easily one of the best.
What they did for Linux is huge.
I hope when gave leaves we won’t all be fucked royally and be reminded why a monopoly is bad.
To my understanding you, as a game dev, cannot resale Steam CD keys cheaper on third party websites. However, if you sell your game on ex. Epic for 15% less, then it’s fine
If you sell your game through Steam, you cannot have it cheaper anywhere else. Even DRM free version on your website. Even temporary sales.
I don’t see anything about this in their docs. The closest is “You should use Steam Keys to sell your game on other stores in a similar way to how you sell your game on Steam. It is important that you don’t give Steam customers a worse deal than Steam Key purchasers.”
That seems reasonable. If you’re selling DRM-free, you don’t generate steam keys, and valve has no stake in it.
This is probably dumb to ask, but how does this relate to something like Humble Bundle? I know for things like Patreon for example, devs I supported needed to require a minimum total supported before giving keys.
I’m not entirely sure, but it does seem that steam gives exceptions for limited time sales off steam. From a quick search it also seems like humble bundle is an authorized seller of steam keys so they likely have some sort of agreement.
I like steam. They are a good pro customer company.
As a developer steam isn’t as nice. They use their dominant market share which is close to a monopoly to take large cuts from developers. Even smaller ones.
They also disallow selling the game lower elsewhere.
But among large gaming companies they are still easily one of the best.
What they did for Linux is huge.
I hope when gave leaves we won’t all be fucked royally and be reminded why a monopoly is bad.
So overall positive but conflicted.
if you use steam’s infrastructure (keys etc).
if you distribute it yourself or via epic or whatever else, you can price it however you want afaik
To my understanding you, as a game dev, cannot resale Steam CD keys cheaper on third party websites. However, if you sell your game on ex. Epic for 15% less, then it’s fine
As I saw in a youtube video (that I won’t be able to find again), no.
If you sell your game through Steam, you cannot have it cheaper anywhere else. Even DRM free version on your website. Even temporary sales.
I suppose there are some sort of exception for bundles since you technically do not sell the same psckage when bundled with someone else.
Otherwise games would be cheaper on GOG, Itch, … that take a smaller cut.
I don’t see anything about this in their docs. The closest is “You should use Steam Keys to sell your game on other stores in a similar way to how you sell your game on Steam. It is important that you don’t give Steam customers a worse deal than Steam Key purchasers.”
That seems reasonable. If you’re selling DRM-free, you don’t generate steam keys, and valve has no stake in it.
MCDM gave Me a coupon for half off the Draw Steel Codex. I used the coupon on their website and got a steam key.
We always get reminded why monopolies are bad. Enjoy it while they are good, that never lasts.
That said, the only monopoly abuse thing I know of is they disallowing lower prices elsewhere. That should be stopped, but it’s pretty mild nowadays.
You can sell your game for lower prices at other stores, but you can’t sell steam keys of your game on other stores for a lower price.
deleted by creator
This is probably dumb to ask, but how does this relate to something like Humble Bundle? I know for things like Patreon for example, devs I supported needed to require a minimum total supported before giving keys.
I’m not entirely sure, but it does seem that steam gives exceptions for limited time sales off steam. From a quick search it also seems like humble bundle is an authorized seller of steam keys so they likely have some sort of agreement.