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[jshackles]

Newly clarified rules went live:

Advertising on Steam (Steamworks Documentation)

partner.steamgames.com

Steam does not contain any paid advertising, nor are advertising models supported in games distributed on Steam. There are varying interpretations for what constitutes ‘advertising’ in a game, so the examples below are meant to help guide developers as to what is and is not supported on Steam.

Not Supported​

• Developers should not utilize paid advertising as a business model in their game, such as requiring players to watch or otherwise engage with advertising in order to play, or gating gameplay behind advertising. If your game's business model relies on advertising on other platforms, you will need to remove those elements before shipping on Steam. Some options you could consider include switching to a single purchase "paid app," or making your game free to play with optional upgrades sold via Microtransactions or Downloadable Content (DLC).
• Developers should not use advertising as a way to provide value to players, such as giving players a reward for watching or engaging with advertising in their game.

It was previously mentioned on their pricing page, but now it has its own clarification that these games are forbidden.

 

[Magic Carpet]

If you watch an add on your cellphone to play a game, you need help.
Looking at you MOM, Stop combining crystals on your phone farm and watching ads.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

 

[violence]

Good. That shit would be death.

 

[analog_future]

 

[pudel]

Hope not too many "projects" are cancelled right now.

 

[envyzeal]

 

[HogIsland]

Great move from Valve, who always lead the way on customer-respecting rules of the road.

I wonder if cloud streaming services like Gamepass or Geforce Now will ever try to make you watch commercials. Seems inevitable.

 

[laynelane]

It's great to see Valve keeping on top of things like this.

Edited to add: Plus, we've all heard of companies toying with the idea of adding ads to their games. No one has done it yet (besides mobile), but this helps send the message that it's not acceptable.

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

That's absolutely GREAT, mobile "games" are ALL garbage with extremely few exceptions.

Take this DEVS doing that.

 

[adamsapple]

The rule is not new, they just made it more visible.

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

 

[jshackles]

The rule is not new, they just made it more visible.

I mentioned that in the OP, this isn't new it's just additional clarification on Valve's part.

This is what was previously written on the Pricing page

Q: Does Steam pricing support games with paid ads?
A: No. Steam does not support paid ads or referral/affiliate revenue from showing ads for other games and/or products or services. If your game's revenue relies on advertising on other platforms, you will need to find a new monetization model in order to release on Steam. Some options you could consider: Switch your game be a single purchase or make it free to play with microtransactions or additional content as DLC.

Obviously this was being skirted, so I'm happy they've provided additional clarification on what is allowed and what isn't.

 

[Puscifer]

That's absolutely GREAT, mobile "games" are ALL garbage with extremely few exceptions.

Take this DEVS doing that.

Dungeon Keeper making a return in the way it did pissed me off so bad

 

[kikkis]

Cant take 30% cut on ads so easily.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

... let us compete and let us put aids in our games.... it's an ooooption!!!

 

[Mokus]