Valve Offering VR Developers ‘Pre-paid Steam Revenue’ to Combat Exclusivity Deals

With increasing reports that Oculus is attempting to bolster its virtual reality headset’s lineup with exclusivity deals, Valve co-founder Gabe Newell has apparently been offering “pre-paid Steam revenue” to developers looking to mitigate risk by signing a restrictive exclusivity deal.

Newell outlined the plan in an email response to a reddit user. Newell’s hope, he says in the exchange, “is that by providing funding that developers will be less likely to take on deals that require them to be exclusive.” The “pre-paid Steam revenue” is a clever move, offering the developer an advance on money that will be earned via purchases through Valve’s Steam storefront. For the developer, it means they can use that money to develop their game safely without needing to take a deal that will lock it to one platform; for Valve, it means that game will be available on Steam and its HTC Vive headset. As well, since the pre-paid revenue is ostensibly a loan, there’s a much lower risk to Valve.

You can read the full response below.