News Elite: Dangerous Steam Keys

Crinkley Bottom

Banned
C
bitstorm said:
Do we actually know yet if registering via Steam means Valve take a cut of purchases via the Frontier shop?

All I've seen is this http://imgur.com/lpm1OuJ which seems a bit vague and unsure.

And Edward's statement in the first post is somewhat vague?
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We know based on the current information, it's not really vague at all but has the hall marks of being written on what was quite probably a busy day.

Sticking with the Elite store and remains the best way to support ongoing development etc... all this is doing as has been talked about earlier in the thread means all your money keeps going to FD, but if you opt to go the Steam route as outlined, there would be differences in any money FD receive.

SushiCW put forward a position that while the key generation is free, future FD store purchases become liable to the "valve tax". Ed replied shortly thereafter saying it's a fair interpretation but they don't see it as a tax, just part of working with third party retailers, or the price for dealing with the devil. When you work with third parties there is inevitably costs.

The next part of the quote you copied from Ed "We especially appreciate it when you buy direct from us, but we're happy for you to play how and where you like.." This just really means, keep everything through us, we get more money and to be fair, there is nothing wrong with that. FD aren't a massive company, so you can understand that every penny is bgetter for them.

- - - Updated - - -

Mystified said:
I read this as 'any further purchased content (where ever that may be) will show up on your Steam copy of the game', which is exactly what would be relevant for a customer to know and thus make a statement about.
Click to expand...

This is true, but only part of things.
 
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hrdejong

H
Edward Lewis said:
Greetings Commanders

All EliteDangerous.com store players can now generate a Steam key to add it to their Steam library.

By generating a Steam key all future purchases made with your Frontier account will also be associated with your Steam account. This won't affect how much you pay for the game or for paint jobs, but sticking with the EliteDangerous.com store remains the best way to support ongoing development with 100 percent of your money on future purchases. We especially appreciate it when you buy direct from us, but we're happy for you to play how and where you like. Just enjoy the game, and fly safe Commanders!

Instructions to redeem:

Log into the Elite: Dangerous store.

Go to your account dashboard.

Click on ‘Partner Keys’

Click ‘Claim an Elite: Dangerous’ key.

You can redeem your code by selecting 'Games > Activate a Product On Steam' in the Steam UI.

Note: the key you generate will add Elite: Dangerous to any Steam library but WILL NOT grant access to the game without an existing registered Frontier account and copy of the game. For this reason, please don’t give your keys away to friends! They won’t be able to play without having already bought the game from Steam or the EliteDangerous.com store!
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There is no ‘Partner Keys’ link to be found on my store profile.
 

Harbinger

Volunteer Moderator
Harbinger
If you don't see the "Partner Key" link, delete all cookies for store.elitedangerous.com and log in again.
 
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bitstorm

bitstorm
Crinkley Bottom said:
Sticking with the Elite store and remains the best way to support ongoing development etc... all this is doing as has been talked about earlier in the thread means all your money keeps going to FD, but if you opt to go the Steam route as outlined, there would be differences in any money FD receive.
Click to expand...

I'm still confused.

These two things described are not mutually exclusive, it is not one OR the other.

You can continue to buy through the Frontier store AND opt to go the Steam route ie registering a key.

This is where people are confused.

Gah I may just register my Steam key and be done with it at this point. I want to support Frontier but if they're not bothered enough to clarify it (we have 36 pages of confusion) then my assumption is either:

  1. That if you register via Steam, Frontier still get 100% through Frontier's shop
  2. OR Frontier are at communicating issues

And I guess I'd give them the benefit of the doubt and go for the former... meaning I should just go a register the damn key!
 
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Crinkley Bottom

Banned
C
bitstorm said:
I'm still confused.

These two things described are not mutually exclusive, it is not one OR the other.

You can continue to buy through the Frontier store AND opt to go the Steam route ie registering a key.

This is where people are confused.

Gah I may just register my Steam key and be done with it at this point. I want to support Frontier but if they're not bothered enough to clarify it (we have 36 pages of confusion) then my assumption is either:

  1. That if you register via Steam, Frontier still get 100% through Frontier's shop
  2. OR Frontier are at communicating issues

And I guess I'd give them the benefit of the doubt and go for the former... meaning I should just go a register the damn key!
Click to expand...

Okay, to clear up your confusion.
Yes you can continue to buy through the FD store and use Steam. But you can also opt not to use the Steam key which a lot of people are doing.
In the first case, if you take the Steam key and register it, then given what we know right now, Steam will get some kind of cut even if you buy through the FD store for future purchases. Possibly part of the cost of supporting the game on their CDN. This would apply even if you just register the key but never access or play the game through the Steam client.
In the second case, if you do not go the Steam route, any money made on the FD store will be 100% kept by FD without any Valve tax. So basically, don't get a key, FD keep all the money. Get a key, Valve take a cut.
So for your two points, the first one isn't right. For the second point, yes they could have communicated better, but given this only launched yesterday, it would have been busy, busy, busy.
 

ape808

ape808
bitstorm said:
  1. That if you register via Steam, Frontier still get 100% through Frontier's shop
  2. OR Frontier are at communicating issues
Click to expand...

or option 3: Valve's contract contains an NDA which prevents them discussing any revenue share details. *Just speculation on my part, of course.
 
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bossbrigand

B
bitstorm said:
I'm still confused.

These two things described are not mutually exclusive, it is not one OR the other.

You can continue to buy through the Frontier store AND opt to go the Steam route ie registering a key.

This is where people are confused.

Gah I may just register my Steam key and be done with it at this point. I want to support Frontier but if they're not bothered enough to clarify it (we have 36 pages of confusion) then my assumption is either:

  1. That if you register via Steam, Frontier still get 100% through Frontier's shop
  2. OR Frontier are at communicating issues

And I guess I'd give them the benefit of the doubt and go for the former... meaning I should just go a register the damn key!
Click to expand...

Ultimately I decided that if FD was that concerned about it they wouldn't have made the option available. I'd like to continue to support them as much as I can but the lack of clarification here has annoyed me.
 
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faster4233

F
Does anyone know how updates will be delivered through the steam version? Will they be normal steam updates or will they be injected via the launcher?
 

Jim Steinman

J
bossbrigand said:
Ultimately I decided that if FD was that concerned about it they wouldn't have made the option available. I'd like to continue to support them as much as I can but the lack of clarification here has annoyed me.
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They no doubt would have been concerned on some level, otherwise they wouldn't have asked us to keep supporting them directly through all manners. There just seemed to be a lot of Steam fans (again, nothing wrong with that) who just had to have the game in their library.

Hopefully with this however, it can only help to bring more exposure and players to the game.
 

SirBaron

S
Basically steam doesn't get a "cut" from generating steam keys, otherwise Valve has changed.

The reason why FD wants you to continue to use their store to do future purchases is because they get 100% of the money compared to 70% they would get from steam. So the reason they want you to buy on the FD store is they want the extra cash, can you blame them? Not really at least if you buy on the FD store it works on the steam version (as it should anyway), and they get the extra 30%, doesn't cost us a penny extra, but they get more cash to develop back into the game.

Indie developers generate thousands of steam keys all the time it's built into the steam developer portal, I talk to various developers quite often as I was a developer, and know a fair few contacts who have games on steam.

What took FD took so long is because in my opinion they were trying to figure out to

1. implement steam keys without people just generating the key and selling it off as a seperate account aka as a lost sale

then

2. implementing the system

which they did and you can't use it for a 2nd account which is why they use the STEAM api to lock it to the FD account.

Valve takes no money from steam key generating unless Valve has changed the conditions (very unlikely)
 
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Jim Steinman

J
SirBaron said:
Not really at least if you buy on the FD store it works on the steam version (as it should anyway), and they get the extra 30%, doesn't cost us a penny extra, but they get more cash to develop back into the game.
Click to expand...

Yeah it's unfortunate Steam will take their Valve tax, it does seem a tad high. But as you have said, keeping it all FD is better for development.
 

hackenbacker

H
Jim Steinman said:
Yeah it's unfortunate Steam will take their Valve tax, it does seem a tad high. But as you have said, keeping it all FD is better for development.
Click to expand...

Maybe it's slightly different in the internet world, but as a historical reference, the "Valve tax" is a lot lower than what would be taken out by distributors and retailers when selling physical products through shops.
 
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