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You cannot charge less on other stores than what the game costs on Steam or Steam will kick the game out. So consumers lose out. > The second class action accu

You cannot charge less on other stores than what the game costs on Steam or Steam will kick the game out. So consumers lose out. > The second class action accuses Valve, Inc. of using MFN clauses in its contracts with game developers—both big (Ubisoft) and small (Rust)—to maintain its monopoly in personal computer video game sales through its online marketplace Steam as well as stifle competition more generally. The complaint alleges that the MFN clauses cause game prices across online marketplaces to be the same even though stores like the Epic Games Store take a smaller commission than Valve. Rather than pass those savings on to the consumer, the developers must maintain higher prices to remain profitable on Steam. https://www.americanbar.org/groups/business_law/resources/business-law-today/2021-march/most-favored-or-too-favored/#:~:text=The%20complaint%20alleges%20that%20the,to%20remain%20profitable%20on%20Steam https://www.americanbar.org/groups/business_law/resources/bu... This is not well known because Valve is somehow untouchable and worshipped so much in the online community like on Reddit and HN that any criticism invites personal attacks, downvotes and flags etc. and is buried, even if valid. Imagine the uproar if another company that was a monopoly did this. Look at all the comments on here right now and none of those mention it.

foxyv 1y ago
Valve only requires that when you are selling Steam Keys outside of Steam. If you are selling the game as a standalone separately there is no MFN clause.
- slavik81 1y ago
  To expand on that, what's happening is that Valve allows developers to give a Steam copy of the game to anyone who bought the game on a different marketplace. Neither the user nor the developer pay Valve anything for that copy of the game. Valve will only provide that free Steam copy if the price the user paid is equal to or greater than the price on Steam. This ensures that you can't effectively just sell Steam copies of the game at a lower price than on Steam itself. That seems more than fair to me. Valve is providing a free promotional item and it has a straightforward limitation designed to prevent abuse.
solardev 1y ago
If this is true, how is there an entire marketplace of Steam keys for sale elsewhere, like Humble Bundle and Green Man Gaming and Fanatical and all of isthereanydeal.com? They've existed for years and sell many many Steam keys for many games at a discount.
- foxyv 1y ago
  These sales may be breaking the Steam TOS. Although it is pretty common to mark down the games on Steam before offering a discount on sales like this. In addition I think Steam may have contracts with these distributors explicitly allowing discounts below Steam store prices.

foxyv 1y ago

Valve only requires that when you are selling Steam Keys outside of Steam. If you are selling the game as a standalone separately there is no MFN clause.

slavik81 1y ago
To expand on that, what's happening is that Valve allows developers to give a Steam copy of the game to anyone who bought the game on a different marketplace. Neither the user nor the developer pay Valve anything for that copy of the game. Valve will only provide that free Steam copy if the price the user paid is equal to or greater than the price on Steam. This ensures that you can't effectively just sell Steam copies of the game at a lower price than on Steam itself. That seems more than fair to me. Valve is providing a free promotional item and it has a straightforward limitation designed to prevent abuse.

solardev 1y ago

If this is true, how is there an entire marketplace of Steam keys for sale elsewhere, like Humble Bundle and Green Man Gaming and Fanatical and all of isthereanydeal.com? They've existed for years and sell many many Steam keys for many games at a discount.

foxyv 1y ago
These sales may be breaking the Steam TOS. Although it is pretty common to mark down the games on Steam before offering a discount on sales like this. In addition I think Steam may have contracts with these distributors explicitly allowing discounts below Steam store prices.