Valve bans all Steam games that force players to watch advertisements [edit: Not a new policy, see comments]
Late edit:
per sopuli.xyz/comment/14584874 & bsky.app/profile/steamdb.info/… this is not a new policy.
Valve bans all Steam games that force players to watch advertisements
Valve has implemented new rules around advertising, explicitly prohibiting games that force players to watch in-game ad…Vikki Blake (Eurogamer.net)
Steamdb mentioned it's not a recent ban :Valve has created a dedicated page describing that in-game ads or ad-based revenue models are not allowed in Steam games.This has been reported as a new policy, but this has been the case for at least 5 years as seen on the pricing page, there just wasn't a separate page.
bsky.app/profile/steamdb.info/…
This entry was edited (1 month ago)
like this
Jake Farm
in reply to misk • • •Yeather
in reply to Jake Farm • • •knatschus
in reply to Jake Farm • • •Meldrik
in reply to misk • • •They should do the same on the Play and App Store.
There’s even games where you can pay to remove ads, but it will still ask you if you wanna watch an ad to get a bonus or some shit. Fuck that.
like this
Shawdow194 and ShadowRam like this.
Otter
in reply to Meldrik • • •95% of "games" removed
like this
RandomStickman likes this.
Meldrik
in reply to Otter • • •At least 95% of them are shit anyway 😂
I really enjoy Apple Arcade. Quality games for the kids with no ads or micro transactions.
SendMePhotos
in reply to Meldrik • • •Meldrik
in reply to SendMePhotos • • •vxx
in reply to SendMePhotos • • •sigmaklimgrindset
in reply to SendMePhotos • • •Sjmarf
in reply to SendMePhotos • • •Yes. It’s $6.99/mo for access to a load of games with no ads or IAPs. Half of the games on there are only available on Apple Arcade, the others are editions of regular App Store games but with no ads and all the IAPs already unlocked.
It kinda sucks that Apple gatekeeps certain games behind the subscription though… I wanted to play Mini Motorways on mobile, but it’s only available through Apple Arcade. For comparison Mini Metro is a OTP of $5 iirc.
pyre
in reply to Otter • • •VeryFrugal
in reply to Otter • • •Tilgare
in reply to Otter • • •ShadowRam
in reply to Meldrik • • •This is exactly why I don't play games on mobile.
I absolutely don't have the time to wade through that shit.
about a year ago, I was like, "It'd be nice to have a few mindless games on my phone"... tried like four... just ADS ADS ADS...
Even the ones where I liked the game, and wanted to just remove the ad bullshit for a price... nothing...
andrew_bidlaw
in reply to ShadowRam • • •GooglePlay search favors popular trash, but there and on F-Droid you can still find some fun ones without ads. Searching from outside, like on a regular web search engine or lemmy\reddit subs for free games may help. I don't mind piracy but I was glad to obtain Antimine and Mindustry. Also, there are ways to block internet or patch apps, but they usually imply you have root and may break things if not careful.
Idk about iPhone apps, but I'm sure the first solution would work too and the second means jailbreaking thus cutting off most of their praised ecosystem.
Kecessa
in reply to ShadowRam • • •Loop hero
Vampire Survivors base game is free and has the option of watching and ad for a free revive (which you don't get at all on other platforms)
Slay the spire
Balatro
Plenty of great games without ads
lobut
in reply to Kecessa • • •Yeah I don't play very many mobile games due to ads. I'm just picky AF.
I have all those games and Stardew Valley on my phone and tablet on my devices.
Anivia
in reply to ShadowRam • • •danc4498
in reply to ShadowRam • • •sugar_in_your_tea
in reply to ShadowRam • • •On my phone, I have two games:
The first is available on F-Droid, not sure about other stores, and the second is probably available everywhere (I got it on Google Play).
I, too, got tired of sifting through ad-riddled BS and just didn't play games on my phone for years.
Zagorath
in reply to sugar_in_your_tea • • •sugar_in_your_tea
in reply to Zagorath • • •GTac
in reply to ShadowRam • • •Yeah it's really hard to find the few normal ones.
I don't like promoting Netflix but I was surprised how many good phone games you can get with your subscription, like Hades, Civilization 6 or Rise of the golden idol.
Doesn't seem to me like phone games are a good match for Netflix but hey these good games are free now for me.
Also Balatro is great on the phone
Cataphract
in reply to GTac • • •Seems like phone games are a good match if it makes even %1 of their subscription's stick around. Gives you another excuse to not cancel a subscription that's slowly losing it's value over time.
Jesus, Netflix games.... my mind is still baffled.
RogueBanana
in reply to Meldrik • • •stringere
in reply to Meldrik • • •You can use this site to help with your game choices.
Deceptive Patterns (aka Dark Patterns) - spreading awareness since 2010
www.deceptive.designLongLive
in reply to stringere • • •stringere
in reply to LongLive • • •I still allow them to play some but I want them going in with eyes open to the machinations going on.
Dyskolos
in reply to stringere • • •Zagorath
in reply to Meldrik • • •I don't mind the fact that apps on Android show ads. I mind the terrible inconsistency of those ads. Some have an X button at the top left, some at the top right. I've seen "mute" buttons in at least three different quadrants, plus some are within a small landscape window rather than taking up the full portrait-held phone. And some don't have mute at all.
And then some have a fake-out X button that actually clicks on the ad if you try to use it.
And a couple of times I've gotten an ad that I literally couldn't exit. Had to force quit the app to get back to it.
If the ads were a consistent experience, I would have a much less intensely negative opinion of them.
Jericho_Kane
in reply to Meldrik • • •VeryFrugal
in reply to Jericho_Kane • • •P1nkman
in reply to Jericho_Kane • • •ekZepp
in reply to misk • • •like this
Shawdow194 and ShadowRam like this.
HeckGazer
in reply to misk • • •like this
RandomStickman and xep like this.
inlandempire
in reply to misk • • •Steamdb mentioned it's not a recent ban :
bsky.app/profile/steamdb.info/…
like this
xep likes this.
misk
in reply to inlandempire • • •inlandempire
in reply to misk • • •spooky2092
in reply to misk • • •unautrenom
in reply to misk • • •Makes sense. They don't get money from ads, so they have little to loose by banning them apart from annoying some publishers, but from what we saw in the past, what will they do? Leave Steam?
Classic killing two birds with one stone: get more revenue from sales, and make customers happier.
like this
Rakenclaw and Cătă like this.
mhague
in reply to misk • • •Valve will let players (including kids) gamble on skins because it boosts player count. According to them.
Big publishers will still give you rewards for signing up somewhere, entering something, going to an arbitrary website and watching their stream, etc.
But for the small devs: you're not allowed to even give a player a reward for watching an ad. The choice doesn't even matter. It just can't be done.
It's a private corporation so Valve can do whatever they want though.
Panamalt
in reply to mhague • • •like this
Rakenclaw likes this.
frezik
in reply to Panamalt • • •Draconic NEO
in reply to frezik • • •I wouldn't entirely agree, it's shit because Google and Apple enable the practice by providing app Advertising frameworks and fighting back against people working against those systems (i.e. mobile ad blocking and app firewalls, either through store policy or public discouragement).
Developers are incentivised because advertising both:
Advertising basically takes away the need to sell stuff and allows poaching revenue from people even if they don't want to support the app. I've known many Devs who will try to eek out more revenue by click fraud (auto clicking their own ads).
So I'm not really a fan of implying this is our fault or "devs gotta eat too". This practice is very much corporate greed.
Linktank
in reply to misk • • •secret300
in reply to Linktank • • •Linktank
in reply to secret300 • • •Looks like over a year now:
reddit.com/r/BattleBitRemaster…
reddit.com/r/BattleBitRemaster…
MellowYellow13
in reply to misk • • •