The practice I’ve found the most concerning is the alleged “most-favored nation” clause/provision in the Steam Distribution Agreement. I haven’t been able to actually find the actual Steam Distribution Agreement anywhere, which itself is concerning. I just see it mentioned alongside an NDA that must be signed.
The MFN basically requires that Valve never be undercut in any way, whether or not the game is distributed elsewhere using a Steam Key or not.
No discount. No bonus content. No perks. Steam key or direct download from your own website without any involvement of Valve whatsoever - it doesn’t matter.
I have never seen and nobody has ever provided that Steam requires price parity for electronic game keys or physical copies that are not steam keys.
As far as I understand it, Steam only requires that you sell your game for the same price on other marketplaces if you’re selling Steam keys. If you’re selling a non-Steam license then you don’t have to match prices at all and can sell for cheaper on Epic, Itch, GoG, etc.
I also want to point out that I believe if you sell steam keys anywhere else except the steam platform you get to keep 100% of those sales. Steam only takes a 30% cut from steam key sales sold on their own store front.
The practice I’ve found the most concerning is the alleged “most-favored nation” clause/provision in the Steam Distribution Agreement. I haven’t been able to actually find the actual Steam Distribution Agreement anywhere, which itself is concerning. I just see it mentioned alongside an NDA that must be signed.
The MFN basically requires that Valve never be undercut in any way, whether or not the game is distributed elsewhere using a Steam Key or not.
No discount. No bonus content. No perks. Steam key or direct download from your own website without any involvement of Valve whatsoever - it doesn’t matter.
Where did you get this information?
I have never seen and nobody has ever provided that Steam requires price parity for electronic game keys or physical copies that are not steam keys.
As far as I understand it, Steam only requires that you sell your game for the same price on other marketplaces if you’re selling Steam keys. If you’re selling a non-Steam license then you don’t have to match prices at all and can sell for cheaper on Epic, Itch, GoG, etc.
https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/keys#3
I also want to point out that I believe if you sell steam keys anywhere else except the steam platform you get to keep 100% of those sales. Steam only takes a 30% cut from steam key sales sold on their own store front.