Valve to Restrict Steam Key Requests by Developers

Valve is clamping down on Steam Key requests by developers, according to a recent comment posting made by Sean Jenkin, a Valve engineer on the Steamworks developer platform.

“If we are denying keys for normal size batches it’s likely because your Steam sales don’t reflect a need for as many keys as you’re distributing.

You’re probably asking for more keys because you’re offering cheaper options off Steam and yet we are bearing the costs, so at some point we start deciding that the value you’re bringing Steam isn’t worth the cost to us.”

While many initially speculated that this move was to stamp out third-party platform sales of Steam games, a Valve representative later clarified his statement saying that the ongoing restriction of Steam Keys is to ensure that the keys are not being used for nefarious purposes.

"Over the last few years, new features and additions to Steam have changed the way Steam keys were being used... Most notably, this meant farming Steam Trading Cards.

We're not interested in ing trading card farming or bot networks at the expense of being able to provide value and service for players.

It's completely OK for partners to sell their games on other sites via Steam keys, and run discounts or bundles on other stores, and we'll continue granting free keys to help partners do those things. But it's not OK to negatively impact our customers by manipulating our store and features."

As the Steam catalogue grows exponentially every year, it has almost become an insurmountable task for Valve to regulate its platform from systematic abs. With the launch of Steam Direct, Valve had imposed stricter requirements in order to curb the influx of spam submissions, though it seems to have proven ineffective so far.

However, as Valve is cracking down on Steam Key requests and taking "a deeper look" at a company's games and actual sales costs before granting developers Steam Key batches, this may actively help reduce the number of potential abs on the platform.

More direct competitors to Steam have risen up in the past year or two, such as Razer's Cortex platform and the increasing presence of Microsoft's Windows Store. Valve's increased vigilance in managing its Steam platform is a step in the right direction for the publisher if it hopes to maintain a healthy and growing base for gamers and developers alike.