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Valve not allowing Devs/Pubs to promote Non-Steam versions of the game Via the Steam Community anymore [up: Valve claims policy isn’t new, see TM]

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AshenOne

AshenOne

Member
Feb 21, 2018
6,106
Pakistan
From the Steam Partners F.A.Q:
Q: Can I use the Steam community to let customers know of non-Steam versions of my game?

A: In the game you ship via Steam, and in communications on Steam, you may only promote the Steam version and its availability via Steam, and not other distribution outlets. This applies both to full versions of your game and to content patches that change the existing version.
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Sometimes Devs or Publishers would use the Steam community forums to promote their non Steam version of the same game. This also Prevents Devs from linking to +18 patches of certain VN games on Steam and ofcourse due to this there will no console version or EGS version promotion allowed by Valve any further.

For your Info. Steam community is just not the forums, its actually a hub of links that are the following...
  • Discussions
  • Screenshots
  • Artwork
  • Broadcasting
  • Videos
  • Workshop
  • News
  • Guides
  • Reviews

Source: https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/community
 
purseowner

purseowner

From the mirror universe
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,444
UK
I was always amazed VN publishers could get away with linking to 18+ patches in the Steam forums, so this seems a long overdue change.
 
killerrin

killerrin

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,238
Toronto
QisTopTier said:
Makes sense tbh
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...No it doesn't. Not even retail stores forbid product manufacters from saying/advertising all the places you can get the product. Hell, sometimes the locations are written right on the box itself and you still dont see stores complaining.

All these digital stores need to get their heads out of their asses and Regulators need to get their shit together and clamp down on this stuff.
 
Robin64

Robin64

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,625
England
Yeah good in some cases (the VN stuff), but it never seemed that bad to me when a dev would post "By the way, we just released a Switch version of this."
 
Lant_War

Lant_War

Classic Anus Game
The Fallen
Jul 14, 2018
23,580
VN devs are just gonna plug their Twitter or something and advertise from there, this seems more aimed at specifically preventing against advertising EGS versions imo.
 

Deleted member 34714

User requested account closure
Banned
Nov 28, 2017
1,617
It was pretty absurd that games coming to Steam were suddenly moved over to EGS and they're able to have an AD somewhat on the steam page to get the game over at EGS.
 
QisTopTier

QisTopTier

Community Resettler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,717
killerrin said:
...No it doesn't. Not even retail stores forbid product manufacters from saying/advertising all the places you can get the product. Hell, sometimes the locations are written right on the box itself and you still dont see stores complaining.

All these digital stores need to get their heads out of their asses and Regulators need to get their shit together and clamp down on this stuff.
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True when target doesn't have a game they put a gamestop ad on the shelf for it... oh wait no they don't
 
Ruprit

Ruprit

Member
Oct 25, 2017
196
MA
Good change. I've gotten excited a couple of times now to see a Steam page for a game pop-up only to learn that I need to wait a year before I can actually purchase it.
 
spineduke

spineduke

Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
8,754
Waiting for the usual suspects to cry a storm over this, even though its been proven that VN makers abuse this loophole to promote nude patches, sometimes of underage characters.
 
Delusibeta

Delusibeta

Prophet of Truth
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
5,648
purseowner said:
I was always amazed VN publishers could get away with linking to 18+ patches in the Steam forums, so this seems a long overdue change.
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Yeah, from what I understand, this is the reason for the change, although it does have the side effect of also excluding discussing EGS versions and console versions. I wouldn't be too surprised if Valve edits this rule to permit the latter shortly.
 
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AshenOne

AshenOne

Member
Feb 21, 2018
6,106
Pakistan
killerrin said:
...No it doesn't. Not even retail stores forbid product manufacters from saying/advertising all the places you can get the product. Hell, sometimes the locations are written right on the box itself and you still dont see stores complaining.

All these digital stores need to get their heads out of their asses and Regulators need to get their shit together and clamp down on this stuff.
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Its all fair when the other outlet is doing all it can to delay or take away game launches from your platform. Why would you want the people, who sell stuff on your platform and do business with you, to promote a distribution outlet that specifically targets your platform and is your direct competitor?
 
Heynongman!

Heynongman!

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,933
Yeah I don't see a problem with this, it keeps the creepy VN shit from getting advertised and it also keeps publishers from pushing the EGS version of the game on Steam - which, whatever I don't care about that, but Valve certainly stands to lose money there so they have a right to prevent it.
 

Deleted member 1055

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
770
It's worth noting that Valve started telling developers to remove links to 18+ patches all the way back in 2017:
www.ibtimes.com

Steam Bans Uncensored Patch Links

Dharker Studio has revealed that Steam is no longer allowing any information or links to uncensored patches.
www.ibtimes.com www.ibtimes.com

It is not clear why they hadn't added text to that effect until now.
 
Pixieking

Pixieking

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,956
Sidebuster said:
I'd bet that's the only reason. That and maybe those NSFW patches mentioned. They never cared before games from EGS started using Steam features without selling their games there.
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I mean, it's wholly the NSFW patches, as EGS exclusive games have been using Steam Community features for over a year, with no problems. But borderline illegal NSFW patches linked to in forums is a real issue that's just been getting worse, with negative publicity.
 
flaxknuckles

flaxknuckles

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,312
Nabs said:
Valve isn't against the patches, they just don't want it on their store or backend in any capacity.
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I thought they changed it so the 18+ patches and even the whole entire uncensored game can be on Steam if the dev marks it as adult-only which will make it only show in the store if a user has enabled that option. At least that's how it was a few months ago when I looked at Steam.
 
Kurt Russell

Kurt Russell

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
1,504
Shard Shinjuku said:
I am going to blame EGS for this.
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And you would be wrong. The real trigger for this decision seems to have been games that introduce +18 content via off-Steam patches.

flaxknuckles said:
I thought they changed it so the 18+ patches and even the whole entire uncensored game can be on Steam if the dev marks it as adult-only which will make it only show in the store if a user has enabled that option. At least that's how it was a few months ago when I looked at Steam.
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+18 games are allowed on the store, but not the kind of stuff some pubs introduce in their +18 patches. Also, some pubs sell games as "all ages" and then add a +18 patch off-Steam. That's what Valve doesn't want to have to deal with, apparently.

Kalor said:
In the 18+ patch example, I feel like that never happened on the part of the developers. I've never dug around the different forums but I assumed that was mostly users linking to the patch (official or not) rather than the developers themselves doing it. Which this change doesn't address.
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I could be wrong, but I believe I've seen those patches being advertised by the publisher on Steam pages for some games. Maybe not linked, but definitely advertised.
 
bbq of doom

bbq of doom

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,606
No reason for Steam to be doing free advertising for other ecosystems, particularly if those ecosystems don't reciprocate.
 
Chairmanchuck (另一个我)

Chairmanchuck (另一个我)

Teyvat Traveler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,096
China
flaxknuckles said:
I thought they changed it so the 18+ patches and even the whole entire uncensored game can be on Steam if the dev marks it as adult-only which will make it only show in the store if a user has enabled that option. At least that's how it was a few months ago when I looked at Steam.
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There is the difference when a game has underaged characteers. Visual Novel publishers either make them all 18+ but most of the time just make an all-ages version and then offer an external patch.
 
Kalor

Kalor

Resettlement Advisor
Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,629
In the 18+ patch example, I feel like that never happened on the part of the developers. I've never dug around the different forums but I assumed that was mostly users linking to the patch (official or not) rather than the developers themselves doing it. Which this change doesn't address.
 
spineduke

spineduke

Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
8,754
flaxknuckles said:
I thought they changed it so the 18+ patches and even the whole entire uncensored game can be on Steam if the dev marks it as adult-only which will make it only show in the store if a user has enabled that option. At least that's how it was a few months ago when I looked at Steam.
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Yes, but if your game has loli characters....
 
Nabs

Nabs

Member
Oct 26, 2017
15,695
flaxknuckles said:
I thought they changed it so the 18+ patches and even the whole entire uncensored game can be on Steam if the dev marks it as adult-only which will make it only show in the store if a user has enabled that option. At least that's how it was a few months ago when I looked at Steam.
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There's a difference between 18+ and the creepy stuff Valve wants nothing to do with.
 
Sidebuster

Sidebuster

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,406
California
Pixieking said:
I mean, it's wholly the NSFW patches, as EGS exclusive games have been using Steam Community features for over a year, with no problems. But borderline illegal NSFW patches linked to in forums is a real issue that's just been getting worse, with negative publicity.
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Probably, but those games have been doing it for a while as well. So it could just be a "two birds with one stone" move.
 
eddiemunstr

eddiemunstr

Member
Jan 20, 2019
1,532
Would this also prevent devs from putting a spotlight on mods for their games they think are cool? If so thats a real shame because a bunch of indie devs really like giving mods a mention.
 
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AshenOne

AshenOne

Member
Feb 21, 2018
6,106
Pakistan
eddiemunstr said:
Doesnt this also prevent devs from putting a spotlight on mods for their games they think are cool? If so thats a real shame because a bunch of indie devs really like giving mods a mention.
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If those games are available on Steam, then I can't say i see a problem.

EDIT: Actually it does say 'other distribution outlets' so i guess if the mods are on nexusmods then i can see being an issue but idk, maybe Valve allows those devs if they ask about it?
 
ShivereZ

ShivereZ

Banned
Jun 10, 2020
176
Mauritius
I don't see anything wrong with this. Why would you allow someone to promote a product on a competitor's platform in the first place?
 
7thFloor

7thFloor

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,646
U.S.
I thought this was already the case for some reason, maybe that was the store page.
 
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VerySerious

VerySerious

Member
Oct 25, 2017
615
This makes a lot of sense; you'll never see Amazon promoting their rivals on their own site, why should online game stores be any different?
 
Vintage

Vintage

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,294
Europe
While censoring devs about other platforms sounds shitty, the reality is that all this does if prevent exploitation of the system, like porn patches or devs trying to get around Steam's cut.
 
eddiemunstr

eddiemunstr

Member
Jan 20, 2019
1,532
AshenOne said:
If those games are available on Steam, then I can't say i see a problem.

EDIT: Actually it does say 'other distribution outlets' so i guess if the mods are on nexusmods then i can see being an issue but idk, maybe Valve allows those devs if they ask about it?
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QisTopTier said:
A content patch from the dev/pub isn't a mod
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I didnt know if since it said "other distribution outlets" mods would be affected since there are plenty of games that get mods for them but dont have steam workshop support. Like if a indie dev sees a cool mod for their game and makes a post about it to share with the community, but the mod is on something like moddb,nexus mods, or any other place, would that be allowed still?
 
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