"You’ll soon be able to help decide what games get on Steam"

orderoftheflame · 9 Jul 2012 at 21:00

http://kotaku.com/5924552/youll-soon-be-able-to-help-decide-what-games-get-on-steam

With a new service the company is calling Steam Greenlight, slated to launch at the end of August, Valve will allow gamers to vote on which titles will make it to the popular digital network. Games will not have to reach specific vote numbers, Valve said. They will instead be judged based on relative interest based on the other games in the pipeline.

I presume the reasoning behind this is Steam is getting to a stage where they're getting too many submissions to be able to handle every single one of them efficiently, and this would help at least get products through a first stage of filtering.

I've got partially mixed feelings.. I like the idea of being able to promote games that I think are good... But I hate the idea that some group of internet trolls could pan a game that I'd really like to see on Steam just because it's not their cup of tea.

Given this... I hope it's really a one way process where you can up-vote, but not down vote, meaning you've got to vote with silence if you're not interested in a game (nothing nice to say, don't say it etc).

What's everyone else thinking?

Edit: Steam link -> http://steamcommunity.com/greenlight

Erich Kriegler · 9 Jul 2012 at 21:03

Great, hopefully Battletoads will finally be available on Steam

I really hope Silent Hill 2 and 3 end up on Steam.

orderoftheflame · 9 Jul 2012 at 21:05

kcon1 said:
Great, hopefully Battletoads will finally be available on Steam

I really hope Silent Hill 2 and 3 end up on Steam.

I suspect it's not aimed at that type of game, more the Indie market and smaller developers that submit new ideas, rather than people voting for what they'd like to see.

HangTime · 9 Jul 2012 at 21:06

Yeah almost certainly down to indie titles, I doubt user voting would have much bearing on decision making where big publishers are concerned.

Komedy · 9 Jul 2012 at 21:06

From what I can glean so far I don't think its anything to fear

http://steamcommunity.com/greenlight

AWPC · 9 Jul 2012 at 21:22

kcon1 said:
Great, hopefully Battletoads will finally be available on Steam

I really hope Silent Hill 2 and 3 end up on Steam.

They won't as both games need major fixes for modern PC's like widescreen aspect ratios & FOV's. You can download mods to change these right now but Konami are not really interested in PC. Just buy both these game used online from someone as neither have any online DRM its all disc check only DRM.

Gimpymoo · 9 Jul 2012 at 21:34

MUCH NEEDED and +1 to Valve.

Getting published on Steam has been a problem for Indies for a long time.

CrispyOtter · 9 Jul 2012 at 21:35

All games should be on steam... Actually then I would have no money... Ok no games should be on steam.

CaptainRAVE · 9 Jul 2012 at 21:38

Seems like a good idea - all the usual major titles will still get on there, but it should help sort the indie titles. I can understand why there is so much interest, Steam is a huge platform now.

sbweightman · 9 Jul 2012 at 21:46

Does seem a greater focus on the smaller developers - Steam will continue to release the AAA titles no matter how poor they are, because they know they will sell loads.

Just hope it doesn't turn into a mash of ideas with very little finished content - nothing worse than seeing a great idea never reach fruition.

Judgeneo · 9 Jul 2012 at 21:49

Sounds good to me

Antar Bolaeisk · 9 Jul 2012 at 21:50

sbweightman said:
Does seem a greater focus on the smaller developers - Steam will continue to release the AAA titles no matter how poor they are, because they know they will sell loads.

Just hope it doesn't turn into a mash of ideas with very little finished content - nothing worse than seeing a great idea never reach fruition.

I don't think there's much fear of that considering that Valve rarely, if ever, stop working on their products.

(unless it's got a 3 in the title).

Sounds like an interesting idea to me and also a good way of drumming up some interest in the indie releases as well.

Gimpymoo · 9 Jul 2012 at 22:00

Awaits press release from E.A declaring their love for Independent developers.

KIA · 9 Jul 2012 at 22:38

Steam, always one step ahead.

buchtis · 9 Jul 2012 at 22:49

I think they mean well but it'll eventually turn into a popularity contest with bucket loads of e-drama when devs will accuse each other of vote rigging and God knows what else.

ic1male · 9 Jul 2012 at 23:06

Is anyone else getting fed up with all this Steam stuff like Source Filmmaker, Greenlight, whatever comes next. Where the hell are the flippin' games like Half Life 3? Valve are spending too much time on nonsense.

ThunderLicker · 9 Jul 2012 at 23:25

Great move by valve. Anything that helps smaller indie devs get their games out there is a move in the right direction.

Nate--IRL-- · 9 Jul 2012 at 23:29

Getting new titles onto steam has become almost impossible for indie devs - hopefully this will improve the situation.

Nate

Aesir · 10 Jul 2012 at 01:08

Hopefully this can only be a good thing for the indie market as the current method valve use to select games is not working. Sometimes I think they must be just throwing a dart at the wall to decide what gets on steam as there have been some truly awful stuff getting on steam when great indie games can't get on there. :confused:

StriderX · 10 Jul 2012 at 03:19

Aesir said:
Hopefully this can only be a good thing for the indie market as the current method valve use to select games is not working. Sometimes I think they must be just throwing a dart at the wall to decide what gets on steam as there have been some truly awful stuff getting on steam when great indie games can't get on there.

Nah, they made a special floor mat for Gabes office, whenever his cheeseburger spills onto the mat, that's the game that gets put on.

/someone had to do it.