Blockchain Games No Longer Welcome on Valve’s Steam

An interesting trend a lot of companies seem to be going with these days. While a lot of indies and smaller businesses are embracing the future and new technologies as they come along. The old failing and dying dinosaurs seem to yet again be getting in the way.

I recall quite a while ago when Steam first attempted to give cryptocurrency as a payment option a try. By try, I do mean only that. Instead of searching for solutions within cryptocurrency to make it a future success they simply cited “high fees” among other issues before fully killing it off altogether after a very short and bumpy trial run. As if somehow they had no idea that would be the case.

Buying my first game on Steam with cryptocurrency was an intresting one. It was not ideal and yes the transaction fees sucked with how Steam was going about it with the payment processer they were using at the time.

I was hoping one day they would be looking to embrace and find new ways to get cryptocurrency integrated. That they would relook at their past failures of using it as a payment option and find a path forward.

applications built on blockchain that issue nfts are not allowed on steam.png

It seems they have indicated they are just not into cryptocurrency at this time in any form. It has been brought to my attention buried in their partner documentation that at some point they have included blockchain games applications should not be published on their platform.

Instead of looking to embrace NFTs and the new era of gaming that is slowly unfolding. They want nothing to do with it. In the past, we have seen other platforms like Apple frown on games and dapps where they are not getting massive cuts of every sale. This makes me wonder if that is a contributing factor in them no longer looking to include a growing portion of the gaming world.

I’m only glad I have not gone through the process on any front as of yet to try and get my own game that is in development listed on the Steam store. It seems now I can save myself some money from paying a processing fee and time looking into all the requirements.

There are a lot of indie game developers out there looking to embrace new technologies and trends in gaming to set themselves apart. I feel in several years play to earn will not only grow to be a more common practice being embraced by the gaming industry as a whole for how much revenue it could bring in. It will also usher in a new era of wealth for individuals that are commonly looked down on by a society that tries to blame them for a lot of things that gaming has nothing to do with.

Age Of Rust Steam Store Page
As a result, several blockchain games on Steam seem to be pulling themselves off the platform to avoid any future issues. With their store pages indicated by Steam that it was the developer's decision to be removed.

It’s not all bad news. Gaming Platforms and stores that make it public knowledge that they are open to blockchain games that issue cryptocurrency or assets like NFTS have an opportunity. They can help foster the next generation of gaming while Steam cuts itself off from what will be a growing source of revenue in the gaming industry.