Add a donation option

[Ukumari]

It would be very good for small studios if there is a donation option on the store page of the games.

[Gwarsbane]

Donate for what? What is small studies?

[Ukumari]

My mistake, I wanted say "studios", indie game developers

For example if I want to support the studio but I don't want to buy another copy of the game then I can make a little donation

[Evernow]

Support

[Gwarsbane]

No thats not a good idea, the vast majority of people would not be using it. And when I say vast majority I mean out of the 300 million accounts maybe 50 or 100 people "might" do this. Just buy another copy of a game and give it to a friend.

Or you want to donate to a studio wait for them to give something away on one of the bundle sites like humble bundle and if you have the option select donate to the developers and put in how much much you want.

Again they are not going to put in something virtually no one is going to use. After all you are getting a code for a game so if you donate 10 bucks to them and their game is 10 bucks, why not get a code for it and just give it to a friend, or some random person.

[cinedine]

And then people will complain that they didn't meant to donate and issue chargebacks and whatnot. Also the last think we need is those low-effort developers soliciting for donations.

[Gus the Crocodile]

It's always seemed like a good idea to me. Even just doing something like is already done with the Humble widget or itch.io or whatever, where you can add an extra amount of your choosing when you purchase, would be nice.

[Start_Running]

Sigh... If you wanbt to donate... send a payment to the devs paypal or just buy another copy of their game...

[Совесть]

How to buy another copy of the free games?

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by Совесть:

How to buy another copy of the free games?

If there are no in game purchases or such the the developer obviously does not seek monetary compensation. Or is getting their money from somewhere else.

[Erntehilfe]

OF CURSE

[Narcoleptic Marshmallow]

Most game developers, big or small, have a website outside of Steam, and within this website you can usually find donation options, if the developer decides they want/need more support than people actually buying their games.

There's no reason to add such a thing to Steam, especially since Valve wouldn't do it for free, and your favourite developer wouldn't get 100% of the money you meant to donate for them.

Also I don't understand this logic of wanting to give someone free money, but refusing to buy a second copy of the game and giving/trading it away, which has the exact same effect for them, can you explain?

[Start_Running]

Simple fact is, DOnations don't often help the developer as in some countries it requires either hiding the income (which can lead to very dire consequences when discovered).