New Steam Agreement gets rid of forced arbitration and waivers for class action lawsuits - eviltoast

Noticed this update got pushed just now.

Edit: Seems they’re doing this to prevent costs from arbitration. Read comment below.

  • FlowVoid@lemmy.worldEnglish
    521·
    3 months ago

    Why is that reasonable? Storefronts don’t get free keys from Steam, they have to buy them. After they pay Steam, they should be allowed to sell them at any price they want.

    Imagine if Ford said you couldn’t sell your car for less than what Ford dealers charge for used cars.

    • zod000@lemmy.ml
      42·
      3 months ago

      I am almost certain that steam keys are actually free to developers, which is the whole reason for the policy.

      • Grenfur@lemmy.one
        14·
        3 months ago

        Exactly! Pirate Software talked about this a while back. Steam doesn’t want you cutting them out, and then them still being responsible for the bandwidth to download and host your game.

      • woelkchen@lemmy.world
        1·
        3 months ago

        I am almost certain that steam keys are actually free to developers, which is the whole reason for the policy.

        Yes, they are. That’s what many of the Kinguin etc. keys are. People/bots pretend to be game reviewers/streamers and ask for free keys. I have a “Game Press” license for a game because back then I didn’t know of that method. I was under the impression those were keys sold by the developer in foreign markets for adjusted prices. Now I know better.