Bomby569OP's post, the 1st post:
"The Key Price Parity Provision is a policy that prohibits game developers from pricing their games cheaper on competing storefronts such as the Epic Games Store even if they offer lower fees"

EGS DOESN'T SELL STEAM KEYS.

Defendant allegedly enforces this regime through a combination of written and unwritten rules. (Id. at 58–64.) According to the SAC, Defendant relies on provisions within Steamworks Documentation to impose conditions on how non-Steam-enabled games are sold and priced. (Id. at 8, 58–61.) Defendant also threatens game publishers with punitive action, including removal of their Steam-enabled games, if they sell non-Steam-enabled versions of those games at lower prices. For example, a Steam account manager informed Plaintiff Wolfire that “it would delist any games available for sale at a lower price elsewhere, whether or not using Steam keys.” (Id. at 64 (emphasis added).) And if the SAC is to be believed, this experience is not unique to Wolfire. (See id. at 63.)

Vayra86Any game distributed through Steam. Ergo, that humble deal needs to pop up somewhere in time on Steam Store too. That's rather strange though isn't it, when you're already forking a cut to Steam for distribution to begin with? When you consider humble bundle is a charity fund deal? Or any other myriad of reasons that would want you to promote your product somewhere.

Vayra86The relevance though as I tried to explain earlier, is questionable. Steam-key-enabled or not, this is about market access and the freedom to determine your own price as a product owner. The distributor has no say in this, its ridiculous, because it only serves to further their own market share at the expense of customers that are already paying for a service.

ShihabyoooThe OP is mistaken on this part. And you have the policy for yourself to check out. If you still insist of the existence of an other policy that state otherwise, I again repeat my sincere request for some directions to where one could read it.

"... For example, a Steam account manager informed Plaintiff Wolfire that “it would delist any games available for sale at a lower price elsewhere, whether or not using Steam keys..."

Bomby569what do you mean the OP is wrong?
there's two sources he posted for what he wrote, and that quotes the judge rulling (that i also quoted and you ignored, but it was an edit so i guess maybe after i wrote idk) saying exactly what you insist in denying

The judge noted that Valve "relies on provisions within Steamworks Documentation to impose conditions on how non-Steam-enabled games are sold and priced." and that "Valve also threatens game publishers with punitive action, including removal of their Steam-enabled games, if they sell non-Steam-enabled versions of those games at lower prices,"

the OP sources in case you missed them
news.bloomberglaw.com/class-action/valve-loses-bid-to-end-antitrust-case-over-steam-gaming-platform
casetext.com/case/wolfire-games-llc-v-valve-corp-7

ShihabyoooYes, I did miss the edit. Sorry. Slow writer and my ISP isn't helping. :|

Still, I did address the part regarding the judge's notice in the previous test. They are not facts, those are accusations recited from the complaint and are yet to be proven. The ruling doc you've linked seems to be the same I did. The second quote n my previous post comes directly from it, do check the parts I've bolded. This ruling neither proves nor admits truthfulness of any of these allegations, it merely does that Wolfire can put them to (on?) trial. Whether these claims are true or not is up to the jury later. Or you can use undeniable facts (e.g. the actual texts of the policies-in-question) and judge for yourself.

ShihabyoooThe OP is mistaken on this part. And you have the policy for yourself to check out. If you still insist of the existence of an other policy that state otherwise, I again repeat my sincere request for some directions to where one could read it.

And while we're at it, the quoted "note" from the judge is actually just citation of the plaintiff, not a proven fact. The entire paragraph reads:

Bolded emphasis are mine.
Just found thetext for the ruling and skimped through it.

cc. @Uskompuf . I think it's better to lead with the fact that those are accusations from the plaintiff to avoid misunderstanding.


Steam keys sold through humble bundle don't "fork a cut to Steam" by virtue of being issued at no cost. Only games sold through Steam do.


No one here contests that non-Steam hosted games should be priced at whatever its dev's wishes. Every post I've written thus far have been strictly about games that are Steam hosted or enabled or whatever, to which I say no, so long as devs don't pay explicitly for the costs of servicing and hosting of their games separately, for each key issued (a scenario that requires said decoupling of store and platform), Valve has every right to ensure it doesn't lost purchases to off-Steam keys, for which, again, it covers all the costs but gains zero revenue.

I apologise if I've parroted myself too much on this thread, but I have to repeat: It's very well to talk about separating Steam the store from Steam the platform and giving (and defending) the developers the ability of choosing one not the other, but as things stand, developers demanding the right to price freely issued Steam keys at their whim is just idiotic entitlement.

Vayra86Sure, can agree on that, I think the overarching point though here is restoring the overall power balance between developers and distributors. That is essentially the battle here, whether it is called freebie, steam key or fruit shaped lunch boxes isnt that important.

Heck that power balance is the whole reason EGS could thrive as it did, and publishers signed not for those bags of money but for long term strategy. Breaking up this distribution market is a vital next step in the evolution of gaming.

Vayra86In the EU, legislation is underway to create more equal opportunity on the digital markets, and it will happen, and it will find itself copied by other Western countries and likely a few more.

PapaTaipeiThis is directed by Epic. They went full on aggressive and tried to attack Valve with massive amounts of free games to try and destroy it, all the while making massive deficits, thanks to banksters who gave negative % loans to them.

DeathtoGnomesThat is not the intent at all. EGS's free games are, well, mostly crap. You wont see a AAA game, not a current one atleast, Far CRY 3 is the closest it came to a AAA game, and its quite a few years old. EGS is not trying to destroy Steam, it cant do it alone. GOG has a better chance at competing with Steam than EGS does

ilyonAgreed with everything else but this.

Private joke, don't you ?

I'm still trying to remember a digital "thing" created by EU that was not a pain in the ass for european tech and nothing but a small annoyance for big US tech (I don't speak of chinese tech, US did the job to stop them and EU followed).

Bomby569Even if EGS wins a place at the table is still a virtual duopoly (GOG is but a small player incapable of disrupting anything). We need a real market functioning in our benefit not this. But i guess people can't look past "the Steam store as all my games and friends".

Vayra86If EGS wins, companies will realize that there is room for another competitor besides Steam. You have to find a niche or you have to attack the market at large but one thing is clear: you need a wealth of content preferably presented in a good way (curation, store UI, etc.). Its not necessarily a problem to have two or maybe three giants at the table, all you need is good checks and balances to keep the power balance intact between stakeholders - consumers, distributors, publishers, studios.

Fatalfuryr u serious??EGS is byfar the most generous in giving good quality free Games by any storefront whatsoever.
GTA V premium Edition, Just Cause 4,Batman Series,Rise of Tomb Raider Series, Borderlands 2,GodFall,Control etc

FatalfurySteam rarely gives free games and if at all, its some 10+ yr old game
The least Steam could do is give a SUBSCRIPTION services like $9.9 or $14.99 a month for its hidden,unknown or maybe just 1/10th of its library and players would be loving it but no...There are just the way there were on day 1.. like 90% of Steam players only play like 10% of the most popular games(CSGO,DOTA,GTA V, & other AAA etc).

DeathtoGnomesNone of those titles are current (less than a year old), they were several years old when they were offered. Thats like arguing a 980 Ti is currently the best card to play Crysis 5.0 or Just Cause 8 on max settings.

Bomby569That's a lie, plain and simple lie. They game Total War Troy at launch day

Fatalfurylooks like Steam has gone the way of other Greedy Corporates in the last few years.
a Monopoly for too long , Good thing that EPIC has step in to atleast put some competition.

30% cut from developers(not good for smaller devs & they get hidden in the deepest pit of game dumps), and gone are the Golden Days of STEAM SALES.

Bomby569That's a lie, plain and simple lie. They game Total War Troy at launch day, a AAA game. Besides that there were many other less renowed games given away that were less then a year old.

The lenghts people go to shill for a company

DeathtoGnomesIll admit I was unaware of that launch, but you should have brought that up instead of making generalized claims.

BTW its spelled Lengths not lenghts, and I dont shill so you can KMA on that. If you cant have a discussion without calling people names you are not worth my time.

DeathtoGnomesThat is not the intent at all. EGS's free games are, well, mostly crap. You wont see a AAA game, not a current one atleast, Far CRY 3 is the closest it came to a AAA game, and its quite a few years old. EGS is not trying to destroy Steam, it cant do it alone. GOG has a better chance at competing with Steam than EGS does.

Bomby569A good rule of thumb is not talk about things you don't know. Anyway like i said that was not the only game offered that was less then a year old

R-T-BI was about to say this.

DeathtoGnomesTo be more accurate on my original statement, and, since the word most or mostly didnt register for you

DeathtoGnomesYou wont see a AAA game, not a current one atleast