Valve announced more changes to adress "fake games"

[Chairmanchuck (另一个我)]

From SteamDBs Twitter:

TL;DR Those games wont show up in your profile or public games library, achievements wont too. A limit of 100 achievements is live.

This message will appear if a game is new on the store:

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

As I said in the PC thread, the only *seriously* damaging thing in this are the globals. Devs use that for data collection. It also sucks that the same metric is being used, which is linked to reviews rather than sales (or so the running theory goes, Valve doesn't really tell anyone anything).

 

[GrrImAFridge]

As I said in the PC thread, the only *seriously* damaging thing in this are the globals. Devs use that for data collection. It also sucks that the same metric is being used, which is linked to reviews rather than sales (or so the running theory goes, Valve doesn't really tell anyone anything).

Click to shrink...

I doubt that's accurate. Wars of Succession has just two and isn't restricted; conversely, EEP 14 has four and is restricted. I don't think it's a case of Slitherine being whitelisted, either, as Steam is still "learning" about Omnibion War even though it's published by a known quantity (1C).

 

[mclem]

Eligible for coupons seems an odd inclusion. Are they bombarding users, or something?

 

[eonden]

Eligible for coupons seems an odd inclusion. Are they bombarding users, or something?

Click to shrink...

Steam rised the minimum price that could be set to games (f2p not included) and what most of them did to get through that was creating those coupons to be able to sell at much lower price.

 

[prudis]

nice to see the removal/ignorance of those "achievement hunter" kind of "games" and similar

 

[RionaaM]

This is good. Hopefully this discourages those who want to make a cheap buck with zero effort.

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

I doubt that's accurate. Wars of Succession has just two and isn't restricted; conversely, EEP 14 has four and is restricted. I don't think it's a case of Slitherine being whitelisted, either, as Steam is still "learning" about Omnibion War even though it's published by a known quantity (1C).

Click to shrink...

That's odd, as people with unlocked acheevs don't have cards unlocked.

 

[Catshade]

If Valve wants to make these 'fake games' essentially invisible on Steam ecosystem, they should start by severely limiting their ability to generate free keys to be sold cheap in bulk to trash bundle sites.

 

[GhostTrick]

If Valve wants to make these 'fake games' essentially invisible on Steam ecosystem, they should start by severely limiting their ability to generate free keys to be sold cheap in bulk to trash bundle sites.

Click to shrink...

This would hurt stores like Humble Bundle and Greenmangaming.

 

[tmarg]

This would hurt stores like Humble Bundle and Greenmangaming.

Click to shrink...

OK?
If you are trying to combat asset flips, you are also going to end up hurting other store fronts that sell asset flips.
Of course, I don't think HB really do too much business with them. GMG does more often, usually as bonuses that are added to other purchases, but I doubt it's a huge portion of their bottom line.

Personally, I don't find the asset flips as worrying as the alt right bullshit, which Valve has already announced it has no interest in removing.

 

[OniluapL]

OK?
If you are trying to combat asset flips, you are also going to end up hurting other store fronts that sell asset flips.
Of course, I don't think HB really do too much business with them. GMG does more often, usually as bonuses that are added to other purchases, but I doubt it's a huge portion of their bottom line.

Personally, I don't find the asset flips as worrying as the alt right bullshit, which Valve has already announced it has no interest in removing.

Click to shrink...

Limited (and severely limited, at that) key generation wouldn't only affect asset flips, it would affect everyone. A lot of indie games have their own store, for instance, besides all the other stores that, you know, don't sell trash games. They running out of keys to sell that would give small devs more profit would be horrible.

 

[GrrImAFridge]

That's odd, as people with unlocked acheevs don't have cards unlocked.

Click to shrink...

Are you referring to games that have over 100 achievements but haven't satisfied the metric as per the store page? They would have been defined prior to the restrictions being implemented.

 

[Deleted member 5167]

OK?
If you are trying to combat asset flips, you are also going to end up hurting other store fronts that sell asset flips.

Click to shrink...

Psssst, let me introduce you to a secret.
nobody who regularly uses steam actually gives a fuck about so called "asset flips".

steams free key generation for developers is one of the greatest things it does, as it will always ensure there is price competition available.

 

[1upsuper]

OK?
If you are trying to combat asset flips, you are also going to end up hurting other store fronts that sell asset flips.
Of course, I don't think HB really do too much business with them. GMG does more often, usually as bonuses that are added to other purchases, but I doubt it's a huge portion of their bottom line.

Personally, I don't find the asset flips as worrying as the alt right bullshit, which Valve has already announced it has no interest in removing.

Click to shrink...

Free key generation also allows the common practice of letting you purchase games directly from creators, giving them a larger cut, and then they can give you a steam key along with a DRM free copy. It's a win win for everyone, because you get two copies, the devs get a larger cut, and you still end up using Steam's platform. I don't think reigning in key generation is a net plus.

 

[tmarg]

I agree that changing the way they handle keys probably isn't the best idea. But if you are going through all this nonsense about changing the way you achievements, cards, coupons, etc. are set up, but are still going to allow the games to be sold for 3 cents on external sites, you probably aren't going to change anything. I'm sure there are ways they could limit keys such that they didn't impact real devs too much. Or they could employ a real person (lol) to keep track of how keys are being used and step in if they feel that the system is being abused.

Like I said though, I don't think the asset flips are really a problem, I pretty much never even see them unless I dig into the storefront looking for them. It really seems like a made up problem designed to get Jim Sterling patreon subscribers. I'd much rather they spend their effort combating the toxic stuff they are letting on their platform, and frankly I'd prefer if they didn't even use the term "fake games", since it has long been an accusation leveled by a certain sort of gamer at anything they feel doesn't have enough guns in it.