Their customers aren't willing to pay it, Valve prevents you from selling your game for less elsewhere. So it's Steam and Valve gets the 30% cut, or another store that charges the same but they only take 12%.
So some developers only sell on that other store, and then people boycott them for not being on Steam.
I have understood that price parity is only if you provide keys that Valve gives some number for free. If you do not provide them you can set price that isn't same as on Steam.
The pricing restriction is only for selling steam keys on external services. So if your game is priced at $15 on steam, you can’t sell steam keys on the Humble Bundle store for $12. You can match sales within 30 days, they don’t need to be concurrent - so if your game is on sale on Steam for $10, you can offer the same discount on the Humble Store any time within 30 days before/after the sale.
If you sell your game on other platforms and don’t use steam keys (e.g. distribute it DRM-free on GOG), you aren’t bound to the pricing clause. It only applies if you’re generating the keys on steam to sell elsewhere. You’re welcome to give your game away on GOG and still charge $50 on Steam, as long as you’re not giving away steam keys for your game on GOG.
He didn't take the deal and created EGS, and we have more and more Unreal Engine games launch exclusively there. Sweeney didn't sue Valve or anything, he just complained about it.
Comments
Their customers aren't willing to pay it, Valve prevents you from selling your game for less elsewhere. So it's Steam and Valve gets the 30% cut, or another store that charges the same but they only take 12%.
So some developers only sell on that other store, and then people boycott them for not being on Steam.
I have understood that price parity is only if you provide keys that Valve gives some number for free. If you do not provide them you can set price that isn't same as on Steam.
The pricing restriction is only for selling steam keys on external services. So if your game is priced at $15 on steam, you can’t sell steam keys on the Humble Bundle store for $12. You can match sales within 30 days, they don’t need to be concurrent - so if your game is on sale on Steam for $10, you can offer the same discount on the Humble Store any time within 30 days before/after the sale.
If you sell your game on other platforms and don’t use steam keys (e.g. distribute it DRM-free on GOG), you aren’t bound to the pricing clause. It only applies if you’re generating the keys on steam to sell elsewhere. You’re welcome to give your game away on GOG and still charge $50 on Steam, as long as you’re not giving away steam keys for your game on GOG.
That's called choice and the free market.
Don't like the deal, don't take the deal.
I'm sure everyone would love to pay their suppliers less. Doesn't mean that they should.
He didn't take the deal and created EGS, and we have more and more Unreal Engine games launch exclusively there. Sweeney didn't sue Valve or anything, he just complained about it.