Regarding Bundles and Complimentary Steam Keys
I'd like to thank everyone for their patience while I've been looking into the matter of the complimentary Steam Keys and Bundle. Now that I am no longer experiencing power and internet outages due to storms, I can finally post an update. I was finally able to get specifics from Valve support and have been investigating whenever I had a moment. Moving forward I'll need to choose my words carefully, as I don't want to violate any terms of the NDA that Steam developers must sign to use the platform. I thank you all for your understanding.
When I assumed control of AIdol's store pages on Steam and itch.io, I overlooked the fact that the complimentary Steam keys were already enabled on itch. In some ways, this is great because I'd always planned to have that enabled. Unfortunately, it meant I hadn't been able to double check how that would work with bundles.
Steam allows developers to offer keys to users on other storefronts as a courtesy, with the expectation that Steam will be treated with equal consideration. This means that key requests will be denied if it is seen as a detriment to Steam's bottom line. Which makes things like Bundles tricky. Especially for games like AIdol, which, when compared to other games haven't met certain thresholds of success.
Based on previous bundle experience, I had assumed that Steam keys not being included in Bundle purchases would have been made more clear to itch.io users, or there would be some sort of automatic delineation on itch's backend...but it seems that I was wrong. I apologize for any confusion this has caused and I will work towards mitigating this issue in the future. I'll be reaching out to the itch team and Queer Games Bundle organizers to let them know about this issue, as it may not have affected all developers/games equally.
Complimentary Steam keys have been disabled for AIdol until further notice. This is because Steam notified me that I need to perform an audit of the existing Steam Keys for AIdol. Once that is done, I should be able to add Steam Keys for users who have purchased the game on itch, outside of bundles. It is my hope to make the wording more clear in regards to future bundles when the option is re-enabled.
If you want to play the game through the Steam app, you can add a shortcut to your Steam library manually. Otherwise, you'd have to either purchase it on Steam directly or buy it from itch.io again outside of a bundle (once I get the key situation sorted.) AIdol does generally go on sale during the seasonal Steam sales, if it helps. While I'd love the support, I understand this isn't financially feasible for many players
I completely understand if this has been frustrating or confusing. Please reach out with any concerns you might have. I'm generally available to answer questions on Monday–Thursdays, though I may be a bit slow to respond. Either way, thank you for your support and interest in playing AIdol.
Get AIdol: Artificial Intelligence Idol
AIdol: Artificial Intelligence Idol
A fangirl helps her much-beloved idol find her missing programmer.
Status | Released |
Author | MysteryCorgi |
Genre | Visual Novel |
Tags | Anime, artificial-intelligence, Cute, disabled-characters, Female Protagonist, Kickstarter, LGBTQIA, Queer, Transgender |
More posts
- Queer Games Bundle 2024 and Steam Keys84 days ago
Comments
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Thank you for the very detailed update! I understand the situation. Please remind me of further notice.
Thank you for understanding! I'll reach out if anything changes.
Thank you for the very detailed update!
I was surprised any games in that bundle offered Steam keys because I've only ever bought itch.io charity bundles in the past which strictly did not include keys (I know this one wasn't "for charity", but anyway). It was a nice bonus but not the reason I bought the bundle.
Thank you for understanding! It definitely caught me off guard, too.
Thank you for putting in all this effort and being transparent about the problems :)
Thank you for understanding! I wanted to make sure to do right by folks. :)
Sorry to hear Valve won't play nice and supply keys to you, hopefully they aren't a problem to you in the future. It is a pity, but won't blame you for this, I've heard of such issues before, been waiting over a year on some Humble keys. -_-
And a damn shame that a certain user still refuses to read.
Same here, I bummed out, too. It's just one of the issues I've run into post-launch. Unfortunately it appears to be a rare issue, from what my research has turned up.
If the key audit goes well I may be able to work something out for folks who got the bundle...but since it's currently a big unknown, I can't make any promises. But if anything changes I'll be sure to update everyone. Thank you for being so understanding!
You mean you are not going to provide Steam KEY to the buyers of Queer Games Bundle 2024?
Correct. As explained above, I am unable to get more Steam Keys until further notice. And even if I had Steam keys, I wouldn't be able to use them for bundles. Thank you for understanding.
EDIT: It appears I am unable to respond further to this. I'm guessing it's because this user has blocked me, but maybe I'm wrong. Either way, I wanted to clarify:
It is an unusual situation, so it doesn't surprise me that I'm the only one out of 14 developers in this bundle who encountered this issue. While waiting on Valve to get back to me, I tried to do research on the issue proactively. It was difficult to find anything concrete (as in: actions to take), as there's not much information for/about developers who find themselves in this circumstance. The most information I could find was about when the change was brought to light late in 2023. I only realized there was an issue thanks to the bundle bringing it to my attention. I feel just as blindsided as y'all do.
I have hit the limit of complimentary Steam keys for this game. Requests for keys specifically for this bundle were denied. Requests for keys for itch.io sales in general (non-bundles) were denied. Previous requests for another storefront were denied. Unless something changes drastically, I will not be able to get more keys for the foreseeable future.
I will do what I can to fix this and prevent similar issues in the future, but this situation has largely been out of my control. I'm trying my best, but this is all that I can do right now.
Moving forward I'd like to request that everyone be kind, or abstain from posting. Unfounded allegations, harassment, abusive language, and name-calling will be purged. If you cannot abide by that, please refrain from interacting with AIdol and its related pages and community.
You are the only one among the 14 developers(the bundled package shows that Steam KEY is provided in this bundle )who have not provided Steam KEY yet.
You are also the only one who says "even if I had Steam keys, I wouldn't be able to use them for bundles".
I don't think it's because you're a small developer, Perhaps it's due to your own reasons.
Please be kind.
Yeah, noticed that user likes to do so to people calling them out on their behaviour. An entitled person with little in the way of manners. -_-
And clearly not one used to dealing with Steam support.