How do internet cafes work in regards to Steam?

[Bob_McMillan]

When people bring up how many active users there are on Steam, I always think of this.

I'm not sure if internet cafes are even a thing in the States or Europe, but they are certainly very common here in Asia. A modest cafe will probably have two dozen computers, some of the bigger ones have well over 40. Each and everyone of these PCs have Steam installed, and have your usual selection of games. CounterStrike, CoD, DOTA 2, WoW, LoL, TF2, and much more.

So how do these internet cafes buy all these games? Do they have an account for every single PC they have? Is there some kind of "internet cafe account" a business can set up with Steam that can be spread across multiple PCs?

I have my doubts for both of those theories. The former would cost a huge amount of money, even if it was the greatest Steam sale ever. The latter makes a bit more sense to me (maybe because I came up with it ), but then that wouldn't explain the really small internet cafes that have just 8 or 10 cpmputers.

 

[Pirate Of PC Master race]

Internet cafe deals directly with company like Steam like... a Union, or as a collective. I have no idea what, or how the deal works
but I have experienced the result of the said deal plenty of times. I assume that they will get bulk buy price drop, but who really knows...

There are certain incentives given while playing in internet cafes - indirect indication of such dealings.
For example: if you play LOL there you will get bonus EXP and IP.

and I have seen such things 10 years ago... I wouldn't be surprised if it is still true.

 

[MysticSlayer]

According to this page [http://cafe.steampowered.com/] from Valve, it is a combination of free-to-play games and allowing access to games through the person's personal account.

Also, it appears Valve makes a lot of games available at a monthly fee based on how large the cafe is [http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2258151].

So whatever the case, it appears that they aren't buying individual games but getting access to hundreds of games through a subscription.