Posted in: Games, Video Games | Tagged: Steam, valve

Changes To Valve's Key System May Kill Off Steam Bundles

News came down this morning that Valve will be forcing companies to hold back on the amount of Steam keys they can generate for a single game. That spells bad news for a number of issues, such as giveaways, review copies, and re-issued keys for games that don't operate properly. But the biggest item that will probably take it on the chin and may go away because of this are cheap game bundles.

VG24/7 has an in-depth look at the situation, but the short version is that by not allowing developers and publishers to create however many keys they wish, a lot of those involved may not want to submit their titles to holiday sales or major game bundles that Steam is known to do from time to time.

The reasoning behind the change is linked to the idea that every free key that is given away or generated in general cheats Valve out of their 30% cut of the game. And if you don't think Valve as a company isn't tracking the number of free keys given out every month and tallying up how much revenue they could have earned from it, you're crazy. The article is a mighty fine read and speculates that over time if companies can't freely distribute their game as they see fit, the bundles themselves could dry up to the point of being killed off entirely.

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