Valve has added another feature to its store. Now unrelated developers and publishers can independently launch joint bundles with games on Steam. Previously, only Valve itself could create such sets.
According to the company, this feature appeared in response to requests from developers. She recalled that discount bundles on Steam appeared in 2016, but mostly they had games from one developer or publisher. There were a few exceptions, but they were manually formed by Valve after appeals from the authors of the games.
What is known about joint bundles?
- developers will have to negotiate the launch of such a bundle through personal communication channels (e-mail, calls, etc.). In other words, there is no button in Steam that would send an invitation to other teams;
- any developer who has at least one game can create a bundle;
- immediately after the developer creates a bundle and enables collaboration mode, he will receive a special link. It is this link that will open access to other developers;
- before the bundle starts to be sold, developers need to agree on a lot of details: its price and name, the size of the discount, the composition of games, etc.;
- only the owner of the bundle (i.e., the one who first created it) can change its description, design and localization. In addition, he does not need to get anyone’s approval for these changes.;
- every developer with access to price management can remove games from a joint bundle. You can do this at any time and without approval;
- bundles can be not only with games, but also, for example, with soundtracks.
Now sets with games from several developers are sold on specialized platforms like Humble Bundle and Fanatical. So joint bundles on Steam will become an alternative to them (although they will not be replaced until the end, because they work a little differently).
Also, the Valve initiative is able to help indie developers with the promotion of their projects. Because developers will be able to group them with other more popular games.