Both Sony and Microsoft have implemented display advertisements on their respective consoles, so what's stopping Valve doing the same on Steam? It's a good question, and it's one Gamespot posited to Valve's Erik Johnson, who mercifully replied that it simply wouldn't work on their platform.
"We don't see a case for that ever getting user value," Johnson said, when asked whether Doritos, for example, could find value advertising on the platform. "So we wouldn't do it. I don't think that those ever work, either. To take it a step further, I don't think anybody buys Doritos as a result of that."
"We tend to focus on long-term relationships." He continued. "It would be a bad business decision, let alone just dumb."
If there ever a good reason not to do something, that thing being "dumb" is right up there. Instead, Valve is focusing on a number of new products and services rolling out soon, including the Steam Link, which we previewed earlier today. It's also planning longterm revisions for its Steam Controller.
