Steam – Does Steam allow hard paywalls for games on Steam

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If a developer publishes a game on Steam, can they add a micro-transaction system where players must pay money to access certain important items?

I know it's common for cosmetic items, but why is it not common to add hard paywalls like are common for mobile games?

Does Steam's publisher TOS prevent it?

Best Answer

Does Steam allow hard paywalls for games on Steam?

If by 'hard paywall' you mean actively gating content behind in-game payments, the simple answer is...well, yes. A lot of games on Steam offer extra content in various ways, either through the Steam store itself, microtransactions, in-game purchases or even just community items.

I know it's common for cosmetic items, but why is it not common to add hard paywalls like are common for mobile games?

It isn't just for cosmetics. Character upgrades, weapons, entire game expansions and new story DLC can be purchased for various games right now, including Valve first-party titles like Team Fortress 2, Dota 2 and CS:GO.

There's even a Steam Store category for games with in-app purchases, a quick browse and you can find all sorts of in-app purchases.

Does Steam's publisher TOS prevent it?

Not in the slightest. In fact, Steam has an entire Microtransaction API so that developers can integrate with the Steam wallet for near-seamless payments:

Overview

Steam provides world class support for in game purchases, whether that is items, in-game currency, or anything else that you can think up, you can use the Steam Microtransaction APIs to provide customers with more choices.

In-Game Purchase Requirements

For any in-game purchases, you'll need to use the microtransaction API so Steam customers can only make purchases from the Steam Wallet.

You can use the Steam Wallet to purchase individual items or to purchase your in-game currency.

Emphasis mine, to show that Valve is quite open about in-game purchases.

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