Some concerns with Steam Greenlight
So yeah, Steam Greenlight is a thing now. Valve is going to accept new games on Steam based on community voting. As could be expected, it’s the subject of the day for all the dev people around the social networks. It wouldn’t be the internet if we didn’t discuss and complain about things that are not even live yet, right?
To be honest, I have some concerns of my own as well. I mean, I’m sure it’s a brilliant PR move from Valve. Its community will feel even more empowered and it’s bound to bring them more fans. But I’m unsure if it’s going to bring a positive change for the game developers. Or any change at all.
A quick summary of my concerns:
- From the perspective of indie developers, the main problem with Steam is that it’s very hard to get on the service if you don’t have a very high profile game with IGF awards, reviews in mainstream press, established fanbase, etc. I don’t see how Greenlight is going to change that.
- Imagine all those “Please, upvote my game on Steam!” spam posts everywhere. It’s annoying even now with the abundance of Kickstarter adds on reddit and forums. I don’t like the fact that indie slowly turns into being a glorified beggar.
- What about niche games? Can they compete with mass-market stuff? Won’t it turn into another AppStore/casual portal? After a twitter chat with Gareth Fouche (a fellow indie dev), we came to a conclusion that games are probably going to compete only for slots in their own weight category (Valve claims something similar), but I still have my doubts.
- It’s going to be a lot like Kickstarter, with all the good and bad that comes with it. Popularity, track record, and virality are going to trump quality. On one hand, it’s nothing new or bad, especially from Valve’s business perspective. On the other — what about brilliant newcomers? Can they stand a chance without an established fanbase?
- Indie devs will just serve as another promotion tool for Steam, directing more customers to the portal, boosting its already near-monopoly status.
- No seriously, those “vote for my zombie game plz!!!” posts are going to be annoying as hell. And, worst of all, I’ll have to make my own as well.
Of course, at this point these are just some empty predictions, perhaps dictated by the fear of change. It remains to be seen how it’s going to fare in reality.
ne_zavarj wrote a comment on: July 10, 2012 at 3:50 pm
Posted this on the GOG forum .
Mulet wrote a comment on: July 10, 2012 at 5:21 pm
As you seem to be a PC/Mac Indie studio, let me through in my 2c in regards to the problems with peer driven systems.
I’ve made and put a handful of games on the Windows Phone 7 marketplace as well as the Xbox 360. The issue is the Peer review system on the Xbox 360. You essentially have your competitors rating, judging and passing your game. These are people with paid accounts, so are 9 out of 10 times, other developers. The system is heavily moderated, and the community is a good one but the system can result in a game being blocked for weeks with only the vaguest of explanations.
The Windows Phone 7 system is the next level up, and uses paid testers hired by Microsoft. It works, and is reliable.
The steam system causes me great concern as it is a step in the opposite direction. Gamers, and anyone with a Steam account has power over your fledgling studio. They can stomp a game before it even has a chance and go on to pass “Zombies boobs vibrator Rage Meme 6000”.
Gamers are fickle demanding creatures, and loaded up with minorities whom cling to various idealogies and idolize different titles. They are biased, and often passionate about their pasttime. Their lack of neutrality and potential power over brilliant little titles could crush a lot of dreams, or promote the undeserving hack job for a giggle.
Steam’s Green Light initiative looks wonderful, but there must be regulations and rules imposed by Valve for this to work effectively.
I’m not touching it with a 10ft pole until more can be learnt.
TeeGee wrote a comment on: July 10, 2012 at 6:31 pm
Back when I worked on casual games, I had the chance to experience the perils of another peer review system, kinda similar to this one.
One of the portals ran each submitted game through its community. Hundreds of lovely grannies played your game and rated its different aspects. If it was good, it passed. If the rating was exceptionally good, the game was elevated to a special CE program, where it received more marketing and was allowed to sell for a higher price.
Sounds cute and technically makes sense, especially from the portal’s perspective. However, the competition was so big that you really had to pander to the audience to make sure the rating is high enough to qualify. No way to try something new or different. If you need at least 4.2/5 to get in, you can’t take any risks.
I think, unless heavily moderated, Greenlight could turn into something similar. Especially as competition is even higher on Steam. The problem with community-based systems is that people often don’t really know what they want, especially if it’s something new. They want more of the same.
Bad analogy time: imagine what would happen if Apple did a community poll with the iPad. Or Nintendo with the Wii.
ne_zavarj wrote a comment on: July 10, 2012 at 7:03 pm
“One of the portals ran each submitted game through its community. Hundreds of lovely grannies played your game and rated its different aspects. If it was good, it passed. If the rating was exceptionally good, the game was elevated to a special CE program, where it received more marketing and was allowed to sell for a higher price.”
I see you are talking about Big Fish Games . 🙂
TeeGee wrote a comment on: July 10, 2012 at 7:16 pm
Yup :).
Celso Riva wrote a comment on: July 10, 2012 at 9:49 pm
I actually made a better suggestion a few months ago: Steam should let devs sell with a sort of Steam2 vendor. So they could directly see how much revenues/potential each indie has, without resorting to things like popularity contest.
After all, what they want is make money 😉
mugenjohncel wrote a comment on: July 12, 2012 at 8:50 am
Don’t worry my friend… when the time comes… you have my vote… GUARANTEED!!!
Shawn wrote a comment on: July 25, 2012 at 10:06 pm
I think some of the comparisons with Kickstarter may not be an issue (or as much of one) with Greenlight. Primarily track record vs. the actual game. Kickstarter is trying to convince you to hand over money to the developer to make the game, whereas Greenlight is simply voting to see what games you’d like to have make it on Steam. So no money changing hands and worrying about if the project will ever see the light of day. Good read 🙂