For several years, advertising has continued to invade the daily lives of pop culture aficionados. Will this phenomenon, which has become very widespread on video streaming platforms, end up being exported to video games? While EA and Xbox are seriously considering the issue, Valve has decided to veto it once and for all. Steam's parent company has just updated its publishing conditions for developers in order to leave no room for advertising pages in the platform's titles. As reported by specialist site SteamDB via its Bluesky profile, these rules have been in place for a few years but have been reformulated and highlighted via a dedicated tab titled “Advertising on Steam“.
Banning ads as a business model
On its new page regarding the integration of advertising In Steam games, Valve reiterates that developers are prohibited from using ad pages to make money:
“Developers must not use advertising as a business model in their game, such as requiring players to watch or interact with an ad in order to play, or restricting gameplay through ads. If your game relies on advertising as a business model on other platforms, you will need to remove all advertising to publish it on Steam. Here are some options you can consider: market your game as a one-time purchase (“paid app”), or make it free to play, but with microtransactions or additional content released as DLC.”
Steam is likely looking to prevent the proliferation of abusive economic practices that players have come to expect from mobile games. One such restriction is the distribution of rewards for viewing ads: “Developers must not use advertising as a means to provide players with value, by rewarding them for viewing or interacting with an ad. in their game for example“. This is excellent news for the future of PC gaming, where the very essence of video games will be preserved for as long as possible.
Product placements and collaborations remain relevant
This renewal of the rules concerning advertising will not affect other practices sometimes considered forms of advertising. Crossovers and other cross-brand partnerships in online games will continue to be allowed: “Developers can run a variety of cross-promotions on Steam, including bundles, promotional events, and more. Promotions can include other Steam products, or other products or brands sold outside of Steam. We encourage these types of promotions, and they are generally well-received by Steam customers.”
The same goes for product placements in games, which are allowed on the platform “at provided that these representations are contextual and do not interfere with gameplay.“
0 Comments