Steam Trading Cards

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Once again, you don't have to pay to get them.

So you really think Steam would knowingly deprive themselves of a profit? Even in the case of holiday sales the added traffic balances things out. There is absolutely no way you could ever get something absolutely free from Steam. Certainly not to this degree, where every single Steam user has a chance of getting game discounts.

Just look at their free to play model. What more proof do you need? If you were really getting this for free, why do you need to pay to get card drops just because the game is free? It's because they have thought this through and decided that it's balanced enough so they come out on top, even if people have owned the game for years.

EDIT: If this card trading thing is just a temporary thing only for this summer however then it's all different. I would be more willing to believe they would give away stuff for a limited time to get more people interested in Steam.