(This is a repost from my devblog over at Pyrodactyl Games)
Steam Greenlight – the new approval process for indie games on Steam can’t catch a break. Everyone from players, developers, press, politicians and even Gabe Newell himself have criticized the process. Some Valve employees had a chat with developers in a developer group yesterday, where I presented these suggestions:
- Let anyone sell their game on Steam, with games hidden from the main steam storefront and search bar by default.
- Developers can sell their game by directing people to a store.steampowered.com/app/abcxyz/ URL from their website without the steam storefront getting cluttered.
- Journalists and other sites can also direct people to the address – measure traction by sales instead of “yes” votes.
- If a game gains traction, make it visible and accessible from the main storefront.
- Convert Greenlight into an unfiltered version of the steam store, where only the “hidden” titles are visible, and communicate the difference between the two stores clearly.
Miscellaneous thoughts
- A “Verified by Steam” logo that lets people know this game is on the main storefront (Nintendo seal of quality anyone)?
- Keep the 100 dollar fee if you are worried about being bombarded with a lot of games (thought whether it actually does that is a different matter).
The way I see it, there are two sides to the debate: one which would like all floodgates to be opened, and the other which would like the curated store. Both have their benefits and drawbacks, and what I have tried to do is think of a way to reach a compromise between being accessible to everyone and keeping the great curated store we all love.
Related Links
Crunching Koalas have a nice summary of the Q&A on their site
This NeoGAF post about steam providing a store widget is a great idea