Valve forbids mentioning “non-Steam versions” of games in its platform

With competition heating up within the PC market thanks to the Epic Games Store, Xbox Game Pass for PC and other PC services, Valve now feels that its platform must be used for their benefit. Some publishers and developers have been using their Community Hub to announce games on other platforms, using Steam’s reach to benefit 3rd parties. 

Below is what Valve has to say regarding “non-Steam versions” of titles on Steam. 

In the game you ship via Steam, and in communications on Steam, you may only promote the Steam version and its availability via Steam, and not other distribution outlets.

This applies both to full versions of your game and to content patches that change the existing version.

At this time it is unclear when Valve decided to add this rule, or what games force Valve to put this rule into place. Regardless, PC gamers can expect Steam’s Community Hub to no longer mention game releases on Xbox Game Pass for PC, GOG and the Epic Games Store.