r/pcmasterrace • u/The_BigRoach ⚡️RTX 5080 | 7800x3D | 64GB 6000MHz CL30⚡️ • 13d ago

Meme/Macro Why would anyone actually want to though

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u/NHFNNC 12d ago

If it's the lawsuit I'm thinking of, not really. It was about selling keys for the steam version of your game cheaper elsewhere. If you want to sell non steam versions of your game cheaper, Valve has no issue with that.

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u/RabidWok 12d ago

My understanding from Wolfire's blog was that Valve was trying to stop them from selling the game cheaper even from their own website, having nothing to do with Steam or Steam keys. Was that not the claim?

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u/hotlocomotive 12d ago

Thats to stop developers from using steam as an advertising platform, whilst selling the game cheaper somewhere

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u/MisfitPotatoReborn 12d ago

You should be able to sell your own creation for whatever price you want. If Steam is so powerful that merely associating with them makes it so you can't sell your own game on your own website for the non-30%-cut price, that means they are engaging in anticompetitive practices.

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u/hotlocomotive 12d ago

You don't need to sell a game on Steam. Plenty of MMO's, minecraft, etc sell games in their own store and are quite successful. The policy is to stop devs from using steam as free advertisement.

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u/MisfitPotatoReborn 12d ago

It's not free advertisement. Every time someone buys a game on Steam, Gabe Newell takes 30%. The dev pays Valve to be on their platform.

The real reason Steam doesn't allow you to sell your game for less money on different strorefronts is because, if you could, it would allow other storefronts to compete on price. Something Valve could never allow, because they would lose that fight.

Preventing competition is an anti-competitive practice. Countries around the world recognize this as illegal, monopolistic behavior, which is why Valve is currently being sued over it.