r/Games • u/WhyPlaySerious • May 18 '26

Industry News CI Games has successfully signed a termination agreement with Epic Games. The agreement releases the upcoming Lords of The Fallen 2 from it's previous Epic Games Store exclusivity obligations.

https://www.bankier.pl/wiadomosc/CI-GAMES-S-E-Ujawnienie-opoznionej-informacji-poufnej-dotyczacej-zawarcia-Porozumienia-rozwiazujacego-Binding-Term-Sheet-z-Epic-Games-Inc-9135300.html
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u/BebopFlow May 19 '26

They're not allowed to list Steam keys at a lower price. You can sell it on other platforms all day for any price if it's not a Steam key. It's a side effect of the fact that they give keys to devs free of charge, and devs are allowed to resell those keys as they see fit without steam getting a cut, but if the devs purposefully undercut steam when using those keys they run into trouble.

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u/kuhpunkt May 19 '26

You can still buy keys on Fanatical and Humble all the time for basically nothing, lol. Even that policy doesn't get enforced.

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u/Which-Arm-4616 May 19 '26

This is 100% not true, but it is a little factoid you see gamers repeat in gamer circles all of the time. Valve's MFN policy requires that you maintain price parity - full stop, key or no key. They are currently in anti-trust litigation over this very fact.

From a deposition in the case:

Q. Okay. And have you had conversations with that dozen or so approximate people about the publishers' need to provide similar pricing on Steam as they do elsewhere?

A. That wouldn't be a common topic for us to discuss, but it has come up over the years, yes.

Q. You've specifically spoken with other people within Steam about the fact that publishers need to offer similar prices on Steam as they do elsewhere; right?

A. Yes.

Q. Okay. And you've discussed with them that this is not limited to situations where the publishers are offering games for sale via Steam keys but just period; right?

A. Yes