Steam is obviously okay with their keys being sold. The keys COME from Steam and go to companies who are selling those keys. Steam is likely making a cut (I'm not sure on that, but it seems pretty obvious).

It's just a dick move, plain and simple. Valve can do whatever the hell they want and they will still crap $1000 bills. It honestly doesn't matter what they do.

Originally Posted by Idiotekque Steam is obviously okay with their keys being sold. The keys COME from Steam and go to companies who are selling those keys. Steam is likely making a cut (I'm not sure on that, but it seems pretty obvious). It's just a dick move, plain and simple. Valve can do whatever the hell they want and they will still crap $1000 bills. It honestly doesn't matter what they do.

I've seen mention from several developers that Valve issues an unlimited number of game keys to them as a perk for having their game on the Steam platform. The "cut" that Valve gets is that they're able to sell and market those games on Steam (on their page, in the client, etc) and that they get a percentage of those sales, but not sales of the keys.

So yes, it's a dick move.

Originally Posted by jshackles I've seen mention from several developers that Valve issues an unlimited number of game keys to them as a perk for having their game on the Steam platform. The "cut" that Valve gets is that they're able to sell and market those games on Steam (on their page, in the client, etc) and that they get a percentage of those sales, but not sales of the keys. So yes, it's a dick move.

Alright, so does it say in the publisher contract that they can't sell their game keys elsewhere? Clearly not, since they give them the keys to sell elsewhere. That's the point. So they put the hammer down on their customers for taking part in a system that Valve CREATED themselves?

Never heard of anything this asinine in a long time. There needs to be some serious backlash for Steam because of this. Is there anything going on on the Steam forums about this?

I predict that, within the next year, you'll see Valve charging a retail key activation fee to the publisher.

Funny thing is that a lot of people are convinced that this already happens and will gloat that Valve is "winning" whenever you buy a game off Amazon, et al and activate it on Steam. They don't take kindly to being informed about the truth.

Valve is letting the power get to their heads. The steam drm is often praised as a good thing, valve must have thought nothing could change that and then this happened. No matter how you put it, steam is drm. A drm that (for the most part) has more pros than cons but the tables are turning.

We really cant be angry about them closing deal groups really.

Look at it like this. You have people using your software to promote purchasing games from your competitors instead of you.

Can you really say anyone else would have acted differently?

Originally Posted by KaOTiK We really cant be angry about them closing deal groups really. Look at it like this. You have people using your software to promote purchasing games from your competitors instead of you. Can you really say anyone else would have acted differently?

Yes.

Do you think Origin would shut down people talking about buying Origin keys on Amazon? Tell me when it happens.

Originally Posted by KaOTiK We really cant be angry about them closing deal groups really. Look at it like this. You have people using your software to promote purchasing games from your competitors instead of you. Can you really say anyone else would have acted differently?

I get what you are saying but it would have been nice if valve had said "Stop all talk about deals at any place other than the Steam store or your group will be deleted."

Originally Posted by Idiotekque Is there anything going on on the Steam forums about this?

Are you kidding? Post about this on SPUF and you'll get a thousand howling Corporate Paladins bitching at you about how dare you use Steam to talk about another company and if you don't like Steam's sales you should shove your mouth full of shame and shut up

Also, at some point you'll be called "entitled".

Originally Posted by KaOTiK We really cant be angry about them closing deal groups really. Look at it like this. You have people using your software to promote purchasing games from your competitors instead of you.

Alternately, you are using their software to promote sales of other games using the Steam DRM platform.

It's all about perspective. The muddling comes from Valve wanting "Steam" to be both store and universal platform.

Originally Posted by Idiotekque Yes. Do you think Origin would shut down people talking about buying Origin keys on Amazon? Tell me when it happens.

If Origin had a community feature in their client and people were promoting buying games that activate on Origin from its competitors you can be damn sure they would shut that down, EA of all is not one to want to share. Their actions have proven that over and over.

Originally Posted by aShufflinZombie I get what you are saying but it would have been nice if valve had said "Stop all talk about deals at any place other than the Steam store or your group will be deleted."

I totally agree, they should have given a warning telling people to stop it otherwise the groups would be shutdown. They did handle it poorly and I wont argue that.

It's not software though. Steam pushes itself as a game playing client, not a store. It lets you add outside games, chat with friends, etc. It's supposed to hold itself neutral in that respect, but that's obviously not the truth. They want you to use their client no matter what game or even software you use, but now they don't want you talking about buying games outside of their client, etc. So things are changing and it is a dick move.

Originally Posted by KaOTiK If Origin had a community feature in their client and people were promoting buying games that activate on Origin from its competitors you can be damn sure they would shut that down, EA of all is not one to want to share. Their actions have proven that over and over.

The point is that Steam and Origin keys being available in places other than Origin and Steam are EA and Valve created systems. THEY instituted this system, and now they are punishing their customers for talking about it.

You honestly think that's hunky dory? Alright man.

One of the admins of Trader's Guild posted this: "We've already talked with Valve support and they said that advertising sales from authorized resellers, listing the ones you mentioned (Amazon etc.), was not an issue. The problem is likely that the ones that are disabling our groups have not communicated with the ones who said that it's fine and are doing so out of precedence/procedure. We'll see what they have to say about it."

So it's likely some misfire, or something else is off about it.

Originally Posted by Idiotekque The point is that Steam and Origin keys being available in places other than Origin and Steam are EA and Valve created systems. THEY instituted this system, and now they are punishing their customers for talking about it. You honestly think that's hunky dory? Alright man.

You know, the way you come off in your posts, I can see why so many people dislike/have/had issues with you.

Originally Posted by Corpekata One of the admins of Trader's Guild posted this: "We've already talked with Valve support and they said that advertising sales from authorized resellers, listing the ones you mentioned (Amazon etc.), was not an issue. The problem is likely that the ones that are disabling our groups have not communicated with the ones who said that it's fine and are doing so out of precedence/procedure. We'll see what they have to say about it." So it's likely some misfire, or something else is off about it.

Interesting. With how Steam support is, we'll see who actually is doing the "right" thing.

Originally Posted by KaOTiK You know, the way you come off in your posts, I can see why so many people dislike/have/had issues with you.

I'm mad at Steam, not you.

Well, my suspicion was they were cracking down on "trading" because they are going to make all trades go through their marketplace or whatever, but if that's the case groups like CAG are clearly not trading groups.

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Steam's a business, first and formost. You guys are forgetting the one key business lesson that we all should've learnt by now:



Now, out of genuine interest, can people tell me the last time they got something useful from the Steam CAG group? Really, I'm genuinely curious. Did you hook up a trade? Did you spot a deal? What?

I'll start:







Nope. Nada. Nish.

Originally Posted by Flowette Steam's a business, first and formost. You guys are forgetting the one key business lesson that we all should've learnt by now:

I assume you're just posting to use the picture since one of the foremost lessons of business is keeping a happy and placated customer base

Recette is such a capitalism ho.