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Source 2 Will Be Completely Free To Use

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More news on Source 2 has been circling around, and the great news is that it will be completely free to use, but it does have one little stipulation. Your games must be available on Steam.

That doesn't mean it can’t be on other stores, but you must have it available to be purchased on Steam too. Valve will then take their standard 30% cut, but that would be the same if you used Unity or Unreal Engine, so you would still save a fair bit of money by using Source 2.

Not sure why you wouldn't want to sell your game on Steam, as it's the biggest store around.

Considering Source 2 will have full support for Linux, OpenGL and Vulkan it will be very interesting to see the developer uptake with it.

It’s an exciting time to be a gamer, and for developers even more so. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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17 comments
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Xeekei Mar 7, 2015
Does this mean that there won't be any DirectX support in Source 2? Or did you just exclude that since Linux users wouldn't really care about that?
tony1ab Mar 7, 2015
Whats your source to affirm that?
Liam Dawe Mar 7, 2015
Quoting: tony1abWhats your source to affirm that?
Valve.
Kristian Mar 7, 2015
Quoting: tony1abWhats your source to affirm that?

It has been all over the news the last couple of days. It is confirmed, no doubt about it. What has not been confirmed however is what features it will have in terms of various rendering algorithms and techniques or whether it comes with source code(Like UE4) or not(Like Unity 5).
tony1ab Mar 7, 2015
For what I can discover on the internet, certain sites says It will be free, for content developers (wich means taht only will be free if you develop stuff for Valve existing games), and others say the same that here, that will be completly free for developing games. Not a single word on this on the steam official pages, nor universe steam pages, nor other valve pages...

I hope this is really official, and Im happy for the ones that choses this engine.
Bomyne Mar 7, 2015
Quoting: XeekeiDoes this mean that there won't be any DirectX support in Source 2? Or did you just exclude that since Linux users wouldn't really care about that?

Hopefully no DirectX support.

If they focus their attention on OpenGL support, it'll work across all platforms, and not just Windows.
Kristian Mar 7, 2015
Quoting: tony1abFor what I can discover on the internet, certain sites says It will be free, for content developers (wich means taht only will be free if you develop stuff for Valve existing games), and others say the same that here, that will be completly free for developing games. Not a single word on this on the steam official pages, nor universe steam pages, nor other valve pages...

I hope this is really official, and Im happy for the ones that choses this engine.


" (wich means taht only will be free if you develop stuff for Valve existing games),"

No, it means no such thing EVERYONE who uses an engine/creates a game is a "content creator". They didn't say it was free for only MODDERS. You are confusing the two terms here. The Source SDK is already free for modders. So if that was all they meant their announcement wouldn't make any sense, the "has to be available on Steam" wouldn't really make sense either. The whole thing about there being no royaties also only makes sense for commercial games.

Check it out: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/03/04/source-2-is-actually-free-like-for-free/
Ivancillo Mar 7, 2015
QuoteNot sure why you wouldn't want to sell your game on Steam, as it's the biggest store around.

If I were a developer I should think it won't be a problem.

But as an user I am, (and an anti-DRM one), this concerns me.
You say that : it's the biggest store of PC gaming by digital distribution.

Which means that if they grow a bit more enogh, they could turn into a monopoly.
N30N Mar 7, 2015
Quoting: tony1abNot a single word on this on the steam official pages
Quoting: http://www.valvesoftware.com/news/?id=16000We will be making Source 2 available for free to content developers.
Styromaniac Mar 7, 2015
Quoting: Ivancillo
QuoteNot sure why you wouldn't want to sell your game on Steam, as it's the biggest store around.

If I were a developer I should think it won't be a problem.

But as an user I am, (and an anti-DRM one), this concerns me.
You say that : it's the biggest store of PC gaming by digital distribution.

Which means that if they grow a bit more enogh, they could turn into a monopoly.

Saw your comment coming.

But I agree to an extent. DRM is pointless as it's easily circumvented by someone and then, by extension of people downloading the cracked copy, everyone, so for one it's a wasted effort to implement. Secondly, allowing it opens the doors to locking games with bloatware which might also introduce security holes. I only am okay with running the distribution platform I intended to run in the first place and nothing else. Thirdly, the Steam smartphone app makes no mention of DRM, so if you're not careful, you'll buy a game with useless bloatware such as GFWL.

Points two and three are the most important to me. DRM for games isn't always as bad as it is for movies (who loves being talked down to like a thief by the MPAA and being forced to watch trailers on a legitimately purchased disc, anyway?), but IMO it would be a better world without, so I avoid DRM beyond Steam's own and have a bit more interest in buying DRM-free games.
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