- Steam bans forced ads disrupting gameplay, ensuring seamless gaming
- Developers can’t rely on ads for game revenue on Steam
- Ads can still be used but without forcing players to engage
Steam players won’t have to pause the game to watch a disrupting ad, Valve, the company behind this platform has decided the major changes. It has shared a set of rules, ensuring that players can continue playing their favorite titles without any ads popping up in the middle of their gameplay.
No More Forced Ads: A Game-Changer for Steam
The appearance of ads is common in mobile games, where players have to wait for a few seconds, and they get back to playing when the ad ends. This is a bit annoying and frustrating at the same time, as it breaks the gaming momentum.
Now this move is going to stop Steam from turning into a platform full of games like the ones we see on mobile. On the other hand, the titles which rely on ads to generate money, unfortunately this won’t happen on Steam.
Valve has clearly stated in the updated terms of service that games that rely on forced advertisements will no longer be able to run on this platform. Here are the rules shared by the company first spotted by GamingonLinux:
Valve’s New Rules: Protecting Player Experience
- 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.
However, this approach doesn’t refrain developers from using ads completely, it simply means that they are just not allowed to make players watch them forcefully by making them part of game and offer them some reward in return.
Valve is stepping up to make sure that players can get the experience freely and enjoy the titles to their fullest.
