First reported by Gaming on Linux, Valve has added a brand new promoting web page to its Steamworks developer documentation. The web page outlines what sorts of promoting and promotion it would enable on Steam, whereas explicitly banning in-game advertisements as a income mannequin on the ever present PC gaming platform.
Product placement remains to be in, as long as “such portrayals will not be disruptive and are applicable inside the context of the sport.” Valve provides a racing recreation with actual life sponsors on the vehicles as one instance of what is okay, and it certain appears like my dream reboot of Pepsiman may nonetheless discover a residence on the shop, thank god. Cross-promotions are allowed too, however Valve states “certainly not is it okay to cost builders to take part in a bundle or promote entry to a retailer web page or different web page on Steam.” Final, paid promoting campaigns exterior Steam that result in a retailer web page are additionally honest recreation.
What’s been banned is any type of in-game promoting that gates entry to, or in any other case interferes with, gameplay. “Builders mustn’t use paid promoting as a enterprise mannequin of their recreation, resembling requiring gamers to observe or in any other case have interaction with promoting with a view to play,” Valve writes on the web page. Mainly, it appears like a blanket ban on any form of “watch this advert to play the sport” design, and it additionally extends to in-game advertisements being tied to rewards like energy ups or in-game foreign money.
I do not assume I’ve ever encountered or heard of a single recreation participating on this habits on Steam, however given its prevalence on different platforms, notably cell video games, it is smart for Valve to put this out as a extra preventative measure. Valve is legendarily mild contact on the subject of moderating Steam, however along with an “I am going to realize it after I see it” method to banning offensive content material, Valve has explicitly banned NFT and crypto-derived video games, and in addition requires video games counting on generative AI to reveal its use. The corporate clearly has a way of what it needs PC gaming to appear like so far as its influential platform goes.
