Both Sony and Microsoft have implemented display ads on their respective consoles, so what’s stopping Valve from doing the same on Steam? It’s a good question, and it’s one that Gamespot posed to Valve’s Erik Johnson, who thankfully answered that it just wouldn’t work on his platform.
“We don’t see a case for it ever getting value for the user,” Johnson said, when asked if Doritos, for example, could find valuable advertising on the platform. “So we wouldn’t. I don’t think those will ever work either. To go one step further, I don’t think anyone will buy Doritos as a result of that.”
“We tend to focus on long-term relationships.” He continued. “It would be a bad business decision, much less silly.”
If there’s ever a good reason not to do something, that “dumb” thing is up there. Instead, Valve is focusing on a number of new products and services that will be released soon, including steamrep Link, which we already saw before. You are also planning long-term overhauls for your Steam Controller.
