obviously steam is using some sort of horrible clownface robot to process their employes for their mandatory protein donation stripped from their bones so they can resurrect the giggashadow.

Then how does steam make any money at all? They may give unlimited Keys, but they still make profit from every sale.

By making sure that all roads lead to Steam. They might not get any money from the key sold on Amazon but they'll probably get further sales by making sure everyone has Steam installed.

They only profit from sales made through the Steam client or site. If you buy a Steam key from GMG, GG, GameFly, GameSpot, Amazon, or any other digital retailer Valve gets nothing.

What is the basis for this belief? Has Valve stated that they never get anything for Steam keys that are not bought from their own site? The link above was for the developers/publishers.

Rincewind81 had several links...

It was NOT my intention to start an argument here, but I must disagree again. The publisher/developer gets unlimited Keys, but if they sell a game, anywhere, using a Steam Key, Steam gets part of the profit. That is how it works.

Several indie developers have said so. Dave Gibert (Wadjet Eye Games), for example, gives away Steam keys to those that buy his games directly from his store if they ask him for it. He confirmed it doesn't cost him a penny to ask Valve for new keys to give away.
No, it doesn't.

Explain to me how Steam makes money then.

I just don't understand .

Steam has millions of customers but its support service still sucks .

They have a store. They sell games. It isn't rocket science.
The store and the client are the same thing. Everybody that uses the Steam client is a potential customer. By default the client starts up with Windows and shows popups for new releases and sales when it starts. Most people don't ever bother to change the default settings of any software they use so they have Steam running at all times and have access to the store. It's a perfect marketing strategy.

Profit from every Steam sale. They dont get anything if the Steam Key was bought from GMG, Gamersgate or elsewhere.
I cited a statement from Newell in my last post:
If it’s sold through retail, or if it’s sold through a developer’s website or it’s sold through Origin or Direct2Drive, then we don’t take anything.
We’re only generating money when we’re directly contributing to a sale. Our tools and services are free to use, regardless of distribution channel.

A great way to expand your own Userbase, but the potential userbase is not endless...

Why are people getting so angry here?

I wonder if Steam might start charging developers a small fee for keys purchased or obtained outside of Steam? Or maybe when users redeem a key on Steam, they pay a very small fee charged to their account (e.g. $0.10). I don't mean I want this to happen, and I doubt it will, but I wonder if it is a slight possibility.

If we look at the past few years, places like Amazon, GMG, GamersGate, etc. have matched or sometimes exceeded Steam's sales. Steam still has great prices during sales (e.g. 75% off), but relative to other retailers the advantage is just not there. Steam should still benefit from having users on the platform, and making other purchases through Steam. However, it certainly seems possible that they have seen drops in their revenues, though I'm not sure how significant these would be.

But if developers get their keys for free from Steam, then those developers sell their keys through other retailers or directly themselves, there is a massive chunk of change that Valve isn't seeing.