Good news if you plan to dive into Diablo 4 with the Steam release coming on October 17th, as it has been Steam Deck Verified. There's some bad news if you already purchased it on Battle.net though.
For Diablo 4 being Steam Deck Verified, this means everything should just work out of the box directly from Steam and Valve's Diablo 4 verification was done on Proton Experimental. It already worked pretty great on Steam Deck anyway, as I showcased previously.
The bad news? Well, if you were hoping to simply transfer your Battle.net purchase over to Steam, it's a solid nope. Even though Steam keys cost developers / publishers nothing, Blizzard aren't going to provide you with one. As mentioned on X (formerly Twitter) by Adam Fletcher, the Global Community Development Director on Diablo, in reply to a user asking about having to buy it again Fletcher replied: "Yes. Two different store fronts run by two different companies."
Why don't some publishers do this? The reasoning is pretty simple really: Valve take a cut of all sales on Steam, including DLC and micro-transactions. So if you purchased directly before, publishers will want to keep you there so any extras you purchase don't get a cut eaten by Valve.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
Linux_Rocks Oct 13, 2023
I'm glad that I waited & I didn't buy it on Battle.net yet. I'll probably wait for it to go on sale too.
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Valve would never allow them to generate so many free Steam keys.
Last I heard, the game isn't actually "finished", so waiting for a proper endgame to appear would be a good idea.
Quoting: Linux_RocksI'm glad that I waited & I didn't buy it on Battle.net yet. I'll probably wait for it to go on sale too.
Last I heard, the game isn't actually "finished", so waiting for a proper endgame to appear would be a good idea.
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Quoting: EhvisValve would never allow them to generate so many free Steam keys.What makes you say that? I see no reason Valve wouldn't allow it for such a publisher.
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hardpenguin Oct 13, 2023
Silly excuse from their community guy. But yeah it is because they want people to stay with Battle.net as well as purchase on new platforms (Steam now, Microsoft Store later on probably).
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Quoting: Liam DaweQuoting: EhvisValve would never allow them to generate so many free Steam keys.What makes you say that? I see no reason Valve wouldn't allow it for such a publisher.
If small publishers can't, why should big ones be able to? Don't see Valve setting such a precedent.
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Quoting: EhvisSmall publishers absolutely can. How do you think they do it for itch sales? For Kickstarter backers? For Steam keys on other stores? It's been a thing for a long time.Quoting: Liam DaweQuoting: EhvisValve would never allow them to generate so many free Steam keys.What makes you say that? I see no reason Valve wouldn't allow it for such a publisher.
If small publishers can't, why should big ones be able to? Don't see Valve setting such a precedent.
While Valve generally limit key generation, I've no doubt they would work with bigger publishers on this. There's nothing to say they wouldn't. It would be a win for Valve, because then they would get the extra cut from DLC and micro.
Last edited by Liam Dawe on 13 October 2023 at 2:36 pm UTC
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Quoting: Liam DaweWhile Valve generally limit key generation, I've no doubt they would work with bigger publishers on this.
That's quite the assumption. Valve hasn't shown much of a will to bend to publishers. They've let them leave steam because the publishers didn't get what they wanted.
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Quoting: EhvisBack at ya, you're assuming something that neither of us actually know. I'm just coming from the side of: we know Steam keys are already a thing and have been for a long time, and it would be to Valve's benefit to do it and would take little effort from Valve.Quoting: Liam DaweWhile Valve generally limit key generation, I've no doubt they would work with bigger publishers on this.
That's quite the assumption. Valve hasn't shown much of a will to bend to publishers. They've let them leave steam because the publishers didn't get what they wanted.
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Quoting: EhvisQuoting: Liam DaweQuoting: EhvisValve would never allow them to generate so many free Steam keys.What makes you say that? I see no reason Valve wouldn't allow it for such a publisher.
If small publishers can't, why should big ones be able to? Don't see Valve setting such a precedent.
Key generation limits are tied to store sales. If you don't have sales, you won't be allowed to generate a million keys. But a few thousand, sure. In the case of Diablo 4 there are sure to be a lot of sales so the keys will be pretty much unlimited. And even before release I'm sure they would be allowed to generate as many keys as they wanted. Why? Because they can be trusted not to abuse it. It's not *just* about being big vs small.
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Quoting: LachuAnd what about Lutris and Proton?What about them? I'm not sure what you're getting at - the article is about Diablo 4 coming to steam, which will use Proton and has been proven to work. Not sure where Lutris comes into this.
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Quoting: scaineLutris allow to install proton and use it to non-Steam games/programs.Quoting: LachuAnd what about Lutris and Proton?What about them? I'm not sure what you're getting at - the article is about Diablo 4 coming to steam, which will use Proton and has been proven to work. Not sure where Lutris comes into this.
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Quoting: LachuWell, yeah. You can still do that to install Battle.net and Diablo 4 from the Blizzard store, definitely. Still an option. But as the article points out, if you've already bought it on the Blizzard store, you'll have to buy it again on Steam if you want to play with Steam friends, sadly.Quoting: scaineLutris allow to install proton and use it to non-Steam games/programs.Quoting: LachuAnd what about Lutris and Proton?What about them? I'm not sure what you're getting at - the article is about Diablo 4 coming to steam, which will use Proton and has been proven to work. Not sure where Lutris comes into this.
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redneckdrow 
Oct 13, 2023
Not to mention that ephemeral crap such as skin pricing is beyond predatory. I've never bought any "skins" for any game, and never will, and $25 is a good reason why! They aren't "micro" transactions at all at this point!
Criminently, they must think my mama named me Nutsy!
By the way, Blizzard Hospitii delendum est!
Criminently, they must think my mama named me Nutsy!
By the way, Blizzard Hospitii delendum est!
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Mountain Man Oct 13, 2023
I would love to get away from having to use Battle.net, but there's no way I'm going to double dip at full price.
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Mountain Man Oct 13, 2023
Quoting: redneckdrowNot to mention that ephemeral crap such as skin pricing is beyond predatory. I've never bought any "skins" for any game, and never will, and $25 is a good reason why! They aren't "micro" transactions at all at this point!You may not be willing to buy a skin for $25, but obviously enough other people are for Blizzard to consider it to their advantage to keep it at that price.
Criminently, they must think my mama named me Nutsy!
By the way, Blizzard Hospitii delendum est!
It's like this: would you rather sell a $5 cosmetic item to 100 people, or a $25 cosmetic item to 25 people?
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redneckdrow Oct 13, 2023
Quoting: Mountain ManQuoting: redneckdrowNot to mention that ephemeral crap such as skin pricing is beyond predatory. I've never bought any "skins" for any game, and never will, and $25 is a good reason why! They aren't "micro" transactions at all at this point!You may not be willing to buy a skin for $25, but obviously enough other people are for Blizzard to consider it to their advantage to keep it at that price.
Criminently, they must think my mama named me Nutsy!
By the way, Blizzard Hospitii delendum est!
It's like this: would you rather sell a $5 cosmetic item to 100 people, or a $25 cosmetic item to 25 people?
Obviously, that's just good business sense. It's the people that buy the stuff that make playing any popular game a chore for anyone over the age of majority with two brain cells to rub together.
Let me be clear, I wouldn't buy either purely cosmetic or pay-to-win stuff at any price. I never bought the horse-armor in Oblivion! Darn it, Jim, I have principles!
Giving in just feeds the problem.
Also, the fact that most of the stuff is aimed at age groups typically without an understanding of the words "financial restraint" or "budget" galls me.
But really, that's a societal problem, huh? I'm scared to how bad it will be by the time I have kids. (Yes, I'm the 30-ssomething who's never dated.
Mainly by virtue of having the full use of only one arm and being unable to drive, and the fact I haven't met the right girl yet. But I'll figure all that out in due time.)
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Mountain Man Oct 13, 2023
Quoting: redneckdrowI remember how ruthlessly Bethesda was mocked for the $1 horse armor. Who could have ever guessed that they were pioneers paving the way for something that a depressing number of people simply accept without question?Quoting: Mountain ManQuoting: redneckdrowNot to mention that ephemeral crap such as skin pricing is beyond predatory. I've never bought any "skins" for any game, and never will, and $25 is a good reason why! They aren't "micro" transactions at all at this point!You may not be willing to buy a skin for $25, but obviously enough other people are for Blizzard to consider it to their advantage to keep it at that price.
Criminently, they must think my mama named me Nutsy!
By the way, Blizzard Hospitii delendum est!
It's like this: would you rather sell a $5 cosmetic item to 100 people, or a $25 cosmetic item to 25 people?
Obviously, that's just good business sense. It's the people that buy the stuff that make playing any popular game a chore for anyone over the age of majority with two brain cells to rub together.
Let me be clear, I wouldn't buy either purely cosmetic or pay-to-win stuff at any price. I never bought the horse-armor in Oblivion! Darn it, Jim, I have principles!
Giving in just feeds the problem.
Also, the fact that most of the stuff is aimed at age groups typically without an understanding of the words "financial restraint" or "budget" galls me.
But really, that's a societal problem, huh? I'm scared to how bad it will be by the time I have kids. (Yes, I'm the 30-ssomething who's never dated.
4 Likes, Who?
Quoting: redneckdrownever dated... virtue of having the full use of only one arm
There must be at least one inappropriate joke there...
1 Likes, Who?
Quoting: Liam DaweQuoting: EhvisBack at ya, you're assuming something that neither of us actually know. I'm just coming from the side of: we know Steam keys are already a thing and have been for a long time, and it would be to Valve's benefit to do it and would take little effort from Valve.Quoting: Liam DaweWhile Valve generally limit key generation, I've no doubt they would work with bigger publishers on this.
That's quite the assumption. Valve hasn't shown much of a will to bend to publishers. They've let them leave steam because the publishers didn't get what they wanted.
Publishers are allowed to generate up to 5,000 keys without question, but anything beyond that has to be approved on a case-by-case by Valve. Considering the number of copies Diablo 4 moved, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Valve rejected a request for bulk keys; that's a lot of potential money from second-time buyers to give up.
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