Steam has, for the past five years, fostered a stance against games that force users to sit through ads. Now, it seems to be doubling down.
As reported by Gaming On Linux, a dedicated page for this policy has surfaced, noting that while product placement, cross-promotion, and off-platform paid advertising is just fine, models associated with mobile tactics isn’t. Stuff like sitting through an ad just to play or gating gameplay behind an ad is a huge no-no.
- 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.
- Developers should not charge other developers for access to Steam features. These include sale pages, bundles, store pages, franchise pages, etc.
Putting this at the forefront, whereas it was originally not a separate page, gives us a clue that perhaps there’s been one too many studios jumping into that very model that Steam has noticed.
