this post was submitted on 01 Feb 2026
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Seems like buying games to remove them from your competitor is a scummier thing to do.

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[–] eli@lemmy.world 27 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 51 minutes ago) (5 children)

They are being accused of price fixing with the whole "can't sell games for cheaper on other store fronts compared to the steam listing" thing

warm@kbin.earth explains it better below:

It only applies to Steam product keys though, so developers cannot sell cheap Steam keys on other platforms while still taking advantage of Steam’s services.

[–] GuerillaGorillas@lemmy.world 4 points 1 hour ago

Which isn’t accurate and is more nuanced involving Steam keys like another user said. For instance, Prey is on sale for $6 on the PlayStation store but still $30 on Steam.

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (3 children)

Oh well that's totally fair, honestly.

It locks out real competitive pricing.

[–] Nibodhika@lemmy.world 1 points 33 minutes ago

How does it do that?

[–] mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

It only applies to steam keys though. Like if you want to sell on other storefronts (like Epic) for cheaper, it’s perfectly fine. You simply can’t sell steam keys on other storefronts for cheaper. It’s not really “price fixing” as much as it is “Steam ensuring their servers aren’t used to download the game unless the dev has properly paid them for the key”…

Like imagine a company wants to sell more copies of their game. So they set up their own site to sell directly to consumers, and it’s cheaper than buying on Steam. This is totally fine. Consumers can still choose to add the standalone version as a non-Steam game to be able to launch it via Steam.

It’s only a breach of contract if they start offering steam keys for that same (cheaper) price, which allows the game to be downloaded via Steam, includes achievement integrations, includes Steam’s friend list “join game” multiplayer, includes Steam Deck/Steam Machine optimizations, etc… If they want all of those nice Steam integrations, they need an official Steam key. And that Steam key can’t be sold cheaper than on Steam’s official store.

[–] warm@kbin.earth 34 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

It only applies to Steam product keys though, so developers cannot sell cheap Steam keys on other platforms while still taking advantage of Steam's services.

[–] eli@lemmy.world 2 points 52 minutes ago

Yes this is a more apt description, sorry, this whole thing has been stupid tbh.

[–] Cavemanfreak@programming.dev 2 points 37 minutes ago

I believe the problem is that it isn't just Steam keys. There's apparently emails from Valve employees that state that it's all versions of the game, and that seems to be the real crux here. And if that's true it's pretty shitty, and they might actually lose this.

[–] nogooduser@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

I’m pretty sure that Amazon also says that you can’t sell things on Amazon for more than you sell the same item elsewhere.

I’ve certainly seen a video claiming that.

[–] unknown1234_5@kbin.earth 2 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

ah yes, they are price fixing by saying devs can't set the price on steam (which the devs control) higher than the price on other platforms (which the devs also control)

[–] Nibodhika@lemmy.world 2 points 29 minutes ago

That's not true, it only applies if you're selling a steam key. Devs are free to set the price on any platform they want, want proof? Check out the currently free game on epic which has never been free on Steam.

Steam provides developers with infinite steam keys that they can sell outside of steam for 100% profit, however those keys cannot be sold at a lesser price than what it's sold on steam. Which honestly sounds like common sense.

[–] bookmeat@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 4 hours ago

I think this lawsuit is actually about allowing people to buy dlc from other stores for games that you bought through steam?