Why can't Steam allow users to sell used games.

[Guanzo]

Both PS and Xbox will allow selling used games. Why can't we sell used games the Steam market? Console people get it why not us?

 

 

[Levent]

Physical copies != digital licensing.

[Inception9269]

26 minutes ago, Guanzo said:

Both PS and Xbox will allow selling used games. Why can't we sell used games the Steam market? Console people get it why not us?

 

 

Because games on PC unlike consoles, is pretty much entirely digital. You don't (and won't ever) see Xbox or PS allowing people to sell their digital games.

 

Honestly it would be nice if there was a system in place where if nothing else you could trade games you don't want anymore with friends, but sadly game devs and publishers could/would lose a lot of money, so there's no way a system like that would be implemented.

[will0hlep]

This isn't just a steam thing. This is true of all digital games (as in games with no physical copies) even on consoles.

Synical answer:

Because everyone buying the game from steam/epic/sony/... is better for steam/epic/sony/... than some people buying it from them and many others just buying it used.

Non Synical answer:

Such a system would likely be impossiable to implement without opening up a potential method for piracy and adding an always online requirement to every game (AKA It would be non trivial to stop people keeping and using a copy of the game they'd sold).

[Avocado Diaboli]

Because they don't want to. Why would they foster competition with themselves when they can monopolize instead? Even if they were to take the typical 30% cut they take from all their copies, if you sell your game below the price of what it sells in the store itself, they make less than they would have otherwise. The only reason I can think of why you're even able to buy Steam codes elsewhere, like Green Man Gaming or Humble, is for the obvious antitrust issues that would arise otherwise.

 

 

25 minutes ago, will0hlep said:

Non Synical answer:

Such a system would likely be impossiable to implement without opening up a potential method for piracy and adding an always online requirement to every game (AKA It would be non trivial to stop people keeping and using a copy of the game they'd sold).

No, the system behind how Steam allows you to access games is almost certainly just a database, where each user has a record that notes down who has paid for access to what. It would be an absolute triviality to allow you to sell digital games by implementing a function that allows the arbitrary erasure of those entries in a table somewhere while simultaneously adding the same record to another one. 

 

Steam is already in itself a form of online DRM. You can't download a game you haven't activated on your account. Removing that access is trivial, as we've seen with how easy it is to deactivate licenses that have been purchased fraudulently.

[KaitouX]

3 hours ago, Avocado Diaboli said:

No, the system behind how Steam allows you to access games is almost certainly just a database, where each user has a record that notes down who has paid for access to what. It would be an absolute triviality to allow you to sell digital games by implementing a function that allows the arbitrary erasure of those entries in a table somewhere while simultaneously adding the same record to another one. 

 

Steam is already in itself a form of online DRM. You can't download a game you haven't activated on your account. Removing that access is trivial, as we've seen with how easy it is to deactivate licenses that have been purchased fraudulently.

The issue they are talking about is that even if Steam revokes access to the game on their side, that doesn't mean the person didn't just move the folder and kept the game installed, basically they are limited to blocking the download. Many games on steam are DRM free, and blocking/removing the Steam DRM is trivial, naturally at that point you might as well just download a pirate copy in the first place.

 

Probably Valve would be mostly fine with allowing users to sell games, as long as that is done within Steam. Publishers would absolutely not be okay with it though, if Steam tried it I guess most major publishers would threaten to pull out of the platform.

[chocolatekarma]

15 hours ago, Guanzo said:

Both PS and Xbox will allow selling used games. Why can't we sell used games the Steam market? Console people get it why not us?

 

 

Here's a wild thought....  ask steam!

[Middcore]

On 11/19/2023 at 12:40 PM, Guanzo said:

Both PS and Xbox will allow selling used games. 

Not digital ones. 

[Mark Kaine]

On 11/19/2023 at 7:40 PM, Guanzo said:

Both PS and Xbox will allow selling used games. Why can't we sell used games the Steam market? Console people get it why not us?

 

 

show me how you're selling digital games on ps or xbox???

 

 

also yes, you're allowed to sell digital games, it's just none of the stores gives  you the option. 

 

so ask them , go to a lawyer,  etc, we can't really help you with that, unfortunately?

 

On 11/19/2023 at 11:59 PM, KaitouX said:

Probably Valve would be mostly fine with allowing users to sell games, as long as that is done within Steam

lol, no... they're actually suing and counter suing whenever someone tries to ... 

 

 

[Mark Kaine]

On 11/19/2023 at 7:42 PM, Levent said:

Physical copies != digital licensing.

not in European law, no, its exactly the same - in theory (lol)

[Mark Kaine]

On 11/19/2023 at 8:12 PM, will0hlep said:

Non Synical answer:

Such a system would likely be impossiable to implement without opening up a potential method for piracy

well, yeah but people can pirate anyways... its just a cop out, its super easy to implement,  the buyer gets a new "validation code" the old gets expired immediately,  seller's copy is therefore useless for them.

 

 

its literally not rocket science,  does require some sort of rudimentary drm though,  shocking!