a way to donate directly to developers or publishers

[Taddy Mason]

video game makers are just content creators. could Steam give us a way to donate money directly to them like every other content creation platform seems to allow fans and creators to do? the only way to give them money currently is buy dlcs and more copies of the games they make. just let us donate $5 or more at a pop. then game devs have a means of getting funding without needing to make stupid soundtracks or cosmetic dlcs that some people on Steam will fly off the handle at the mere existence of.

even though Steam would obviously take a cut of our donations, wouldn't the amount they and the devs/publishers could get be better than the nothing they currently are getting? open up the floodgates and let the money pour in, Steam.

[Mad Scientist]

Well, such sites already exist & Developers are free to make their own donation button on their site through known providers. As for Steam like others noted, Supporter DLC seems to be the best option since Valve & the Developer is a business.

Also some do make it so you can "Donate" more than once, such as the Supporter 1 & Supporter 2 DLC for Deep Rock Galactic. I understand you don't want to pay taxes on a transaction, but a Dev in their Discord or own Website could list a patreon/paypal etc link for donations if they wanted to which looks more professional than being on the Steam Store page.

[Start_Running]

Mad Scientist님이 먼저 게시:

Well, such sites already exist & Developers are free to make their own donation button on their site through known providers. As for Steam like others noted, Supporter DLC seems to be the best option since Valve & the Developer is a business.

Also some do make it so you can "Donate" more than once, such as the Supporter 1 & Supporter 2 DLC for Deep Rock Galactic. I understand you don't want to pay taxes on a transaction, but a Dev in their Discord or own Website could list a patreon/paypal etc link for donations if they wanted to which looks more professional than being on the Steam Store page.

It's worth noting that the supporter button can tie to an ingame counter or something. In which case yyou can buy as many of it as you want.

[Gwarsbane]

From one of the last times this was brought up...

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/10/3488626756869767999/

Gwarsbane님이 먼저 게시:

sggaghghwaghwghwgh님이 먼저 게시:

I've seen many a good game die because they gained funds and then started losing money when the project was finalized and still was promised free updates; updates that take a lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of knowhow.
I was thinking for Steam we add something generous for developers. A donation system that accepts all types of global currency, from Norway's Krone, to Japans Yen, to Americas Dollar, to the Eastern Euro, to the british pound.
And that %100 of donations goes to the developer of a game you loved, not to Valve.

An Orange "Donate" button would help stabilize developers, and if developers were given information on who donated what and how much to which game, they'd be able to see which games gameplay is returning the most interest to develop new content for said game, or revamp gameplay while making it feel the same for future games.

Many say "But that's why DLC exists" - well then what happens when you've bought all the DLC? You can no longer put any money in, it maxes it out as a full purchase. Donations would honestly have no limit, and steam having such a system would probably draw a lot of inspiration and appreciation TO developers.

No for the many reasons already mentioned in a bunch of other threads about this topic which you could have read had you used the search feature.

Taking donations for developers really messes with taxes and complicates things big time. Its not something Valve should ever get involved in and I very much doubt they will.

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/search/?gidforum=882959061469928464&include_deleted=1&q=donate+button

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/10/3283699032281727257/
Quoting myself from one of them....

Gwarsbane님이 먼저 게시:

As mentioned they can already use DLC to do that if they want.

And no for all the reasons mentioned here and in all the other threads on this topic....

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/10/3092275748083420918/
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/10/4956744526902549052/
https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/discussions/1/1796278072848543124/
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/10/1745605598711109461/
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/10/412448158148304324/

a couple of these are for donate buttons for users, but its the same reasoning why its a big no.


Just buy their games, if they want more they can put up alternate ways to get more money or they can start making digital art packs that contain stuff they have around that costs them nothing to put together.

They can make a number of packs and just put up DLC that has nothing in it also.


Also don't feel bad that you bought their games on sale, at least you bought them and they are ok with you buying at a discounted price because they are the ones that set that price.



It also takes a lot more than you think it does for Valve to put something like this in. They can't just put a button in and then walk away. After that there is a whole lot of new and expensive banking & tax rules (from many different governments) that they would have to follow.

[Taddy Mason]

the point is so we can financially support a developer or publisher of content (aka a content creator) we like without having to buy something and thus pay sales taxes on it like any other regular sales transaction. you don't have to pay sales tax on donations-or at least you shouldn't.

i don't know how taking donations messes with their taxes any more than any other income source or how it complicates things big time. do you have something you're basing that on other than an assumption? all those other platforms have figured it out. hell, Steam apparently has a garbage workaround that still forces you to pay sales tax, so they could surely just go the extra step and just let us donate directly without having to make a purchase of something and therefore pay sales tax. that doesn't overcomplicate things? it seems like it does.

[Brian9824]

Taddy Mason님이 먼저 게시:

the point is so we can financially support a developer or publisher of content (aka a content creator) we like without having to buy something and thus pay sales taxes on it like any other regular sales transaction. you don't have to pay sales tax on donations-or at least you shouldn't.

i don't know how taking donations messes with their taxes any more than any other income source or how it complicates things big time. do you have something you're basing that on other than an assumption? all those other platforms have figured it out. hell, Steam apparently has a garbage workaround that still forces you to pay sales tax, so they could surely just go the extra step and just let us donate directly without having to make a purchase of something and therefore pay sales tax. that doesn't overcomplicate things? it seems like it does.

You don't pay taxes when donating to a charity.... Its trickier when your donating to a non licensed charity as taxes have to be paid on the money they receive. A business can't just take donations like a charity as a way to avoid paying taxes. Its quite complicated and varies based on where the business is.

Not to mention steam has to pay fee's for their transactions to clearinghouses, deal with refunds, etc.

Again all that legal work is a nightmare and subject to audits and other oversight, so don't expect Steam to do it when the developer can already set it up if they wish.

Content Creators aren't businesses, and not a single site you mentioned has you donating money to an actual business, but to individual streamers. In fact I believe for instance Twitch charges sales tax on subs and other stuff in many states/countries know do to local regulations

[Mad Scientist]

Taddy Mason님이 먼저 게시:

the point is so we can financially support a developer or publisher of content (aka a content creator) we like without having to buy something and thus pay sales taxes on it like any other regular sales transaction. you don't have to pay sales tax on donations-or at least you shouldn't.

i don't know how taking donations messes with their taxes any more than any other income source or how it complicates things big time. do you have something you're basing that on other than an assumption? all those other platforms have figured it out. hell, Steam apparently has a garbage workaround that still forces you to pay sales tax, so they could surely just go the extra step and just let us donate directly without having to make a purchase of something and therefore pay sales tax. that doesn't overcomplicate things? it seems like it does.

Well this is a store, and it's setup for financial transactions for buying products which are taxable. Since these businesses are for-profit, things function entirely different than non-profit abilities. That is why it's best if they wish to receive "donations" to set that up elsewhere, but it's still taxable as income for them. Another income-generator is in-game items/skins or perks such as subscriptions, due to the fact they're selling a game, in-game stuff, or a game as a subscription fee.

As others have said, they may however list it on their Store Page, but it may look unprofessional if they do. They can also put it in their own discord or website as well as a "tip" or "donation" to continue Development. Realistically, it's up to the Developers to utilize their own space Steam has given to them, however, when on a host site/service you should involve them, which is likely why people do Cosmetic Supporter DLC or items/skins; to respect the storefront they're on & share the income from a system easily setup for the customer base that represents Steam users.

Since this isn't a dedicated streaming site, I also don't see a point to monetarily give to content creators, that's what the streaming/"donation" sites are for.

[wuddih]

if a dev wants "donations", they will have a method somewhere.
most wont as a good chunk of it will go down the gov drain as this would be fully taxed.

[Nx Machina]

Developers, publishers are not content creators which is defined as online video content contained on YouTube, Twitch etc. You even chose to list some.

That content can range from Cook with Alphonso to Painting with Peter, to Let's Plays, Vlogs, Game critique etc.

Steam is a store as is Epic Game Store, GOG Galaxy, Blizzard app, EA App etc. None have a donations for devs, pubs button because they are all setup for financial transactions and everything that entails including paying tax, vat.

If you want to donate to devs, pubs use the Ubisoft model. Do not get the standard edition get the bronze, gold or ultimate edition.

[Denuvo Knoeibestendigheid]

I agree this should be an option.

Suggesting YouTube and Twitch streamers are “content creators” while the actual game developers are not, is disgusting, it’s exactly the other way around. Game developers create the actual content, Google and Amazon just recycle it. Google Stadia’s own Creative Director for games pointed this out and they shut down the studio partially because of it. So much disrespect and copyright infringement.

[HikariLight]

If you wish to support an indie dev beyond buying their game, look to see if they have a website or a Patreon.
Steam is a store not a donation center.
It is none of Steams business to help you donate to a dev beyond purchase of games and their associated content.