Question about Free Game Giveaways

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tyrel_771 20 Οκτ 2020, 20:03

Long ago I was given the impression (though, who can say from where at this point?) that any game (available on Steam) which is offered for free on a different platform (such as GOG) must, on at least one day within 12 months of being offered for free on that other platform, also be offered for free on Steam. It seems now to not be the case, as EpicGames is intending to get a firmer grip on the market by aggressively offering free game giveaways at unprecedented rates. What I'd like to ask, though, is whether Steam does, or ever did, oblige game publishers to allow their games to be given away for free on Steam if they were given away for free on any competing platform. Was this ever a standard, and what are the realistic prospects of incentivizing developers and/or publishers to agree to offer their games for free on Steam if they are offered for free elsewhere?

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rawWwRrr 20 Οκτ 2020, 20:15

There's been no price-matching requirement that I'm aware of. Devs/Pubs are free to price their games how they see fit where ever they are for sale.

What they are not allowed to do within the Steam version of their game or game listing is advertise those non-Steam versions including price drops, sales, etc.

What you see on Epic, though, is not dev/pubs giving away games for free, though. That is Epic paying dev/pubs for the games in order for Epic to give them away for free.

MalikQayum 20 Οκτ 2020, 20:19

so you touch on the point that if it is on steam it would make sense but it is not always as simpel as that. they can give non steam versions for free as much as they want.

you are right that the documentation makes it specifically clear that one has to not "screw" over the steam consumers.

so when epic does giveaways, those giveaways are for the epic games client and not for steam, you are not given a steam key or access to the steam features (achievements etc.)

turning back on the "screwing" over part, it really just means if a steam version of a game is sold for 1 dollar on a third party service, then eventually steam consumers using the steam storefront should also eventually get that same offer.

(is that honored by the majority of developers/publishers? not really, does valve try to enforce it? not really. it stems from valve not being able to monitor that many publishers/developers and what they do with their steam keys.)

i can't really recall the details but i am not so sure about a date is mentioned or not but it does imply that it should happen within a reasonable timeframe.

Τελευταία επεξεργασία από MalikQayum; 20 Οκτ 2020, 20:21

Black Blade 20 Οκτ 2020, 20:21

I don't think there is any requirement like that

Most times when developers give games out for free its for one of a few options
1. Positive Advertising of the company
2. Trying to grow the player base (then you don't care from where someone gets it)
3. Trying to push a platform (Valve giving L4D2, Portal and the like, Epic paying developers to give out games)
4. Advertising for the next game in the series (was seen a few times I think)

So some times developers seem to give the game somewhere (Ubisoft on UPlay did that once) then later also do it on Steam, I don't think they have to do it, I think they choose to do it

Kargor 20 Οκτ 2020, 23:44

Yeah, there's no requirements regarding prices on Steam (that I'm aware of), and certainly no requirement to give away games for free if you've done so elsewhere.

There have been some cases of games being given away on Humblebundle, followed by the same giveaway on Steam. But that's something the publisher has decided; it's not required by anyone.

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από rawWwRrr:
What you see on Epic, though, is not dev/pubs giving away games for free, though. That is Epic paying dev/pubs for the games in order for Epic to give them away for free.

We probably don't see everything; I can imagine Epic offering a lower price for a large number of licenses, making it an attractive enough deal because you don't have to get all those sales one-by-one.

Τελευταία επεξεργασία από Kargor; 20 Οκτ 2020, 23:49

rawWwRrr 21 Οκτ 2020, 11:14

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Kargor:

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από rawWwRrr:
What you see on Epic, though, is not dev/pubs giving away games for free, though. That is Epic paying dev/pubs for the games in order for Epic to give them away for free.

We probably don't see everything; I can imagine Epic offering a lower price for a large number of licenses, making it an attractive enough deal because you don't have to get all those sales one-by-one.

Still an Epic decision though. And I'd imagine the dev/pubs would have to agree with it. Could be different for video games but there are a lot of examples of retailers required to price something at a give amount regardless of how much the retailers would like to undercut a competitor to obtain more sales.

Start_Running 21 Οκτ 2020, 11:40

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από tyrel_771:
Long ago I was given the impression (though, who can say from where at this point?) that any game (available on Steam) which is offered for free on a different platform (such as GOG) must, on at least one day within 12 months of being offered for free on that other platform, also be offered for free on Steam.

TThat has NEVER been a thing. So you are quite msitaken. Whether you are misinformed or misremembering is another debate but the fact is that has never been the case.

The closest thing to that is that if a game is released on another platform it must maintain the same Base Price as Steam. That's actually a common clause between any producer and retailer.

It seems now to not be the case, as EpicGames is intending to get a firmer grip on the market by aggressively offering free game giveaways at unprecedented rates.

Yes. They keep giving games away and no one will need to actually buy games from them

What I'd like to ask, though, is whether Steam does, or ever did, oblige game publishers to allow their games to be given away for free on Steam if they were given away for free on any competing platform.

This wasnever a thing.

Was this ever a standard, and what are the realistic prospects of incentivizing developers and/or publishers to agree to offer their games for free on Steam if they are offered for free elsewhere?

Very little.

Might surprisie you to know that Epic is paying the publishers for those free games they give away. . Valve, does that on occasion as opart of a special event but generally if a game is free on steam its because the publisher chose to set it as free (susually as part of some special promo) and not because Valve is paying them.