Closing Greenlight Today, Steam Direct Launches June 13 - Sensationalist Headlines

[QUOTE]In this post, we're going to talk about closing down Steam Greenlight and the transition to Steam Direct. If you haven't already, it's worth reading the last few posts we've made recently about [URL="http://steamcommunity.com/games/593110/announcements/detail/1301948399257707760"]our philosophy[/URL], some [URL="http://steamcommunity.com/games/593110/announcements/detail/1954971077935370845"]changes to address bad actors[/URL], and some [URL="http://steamcommunity.com/games/593110/announcements/detail/1265921510652460726"]upcoming improvements to Steam Curators system[/URL]. These posts introduce and describe the subtle, but important, shift in the way the Steam Store is designed, and who it is designed for. A look back at Greenlight Steam Greenlight launched on August 30, 2012, at a time when we realized that we weren't able to predict which titles players were really interested in. Up until that point, a small team here at Valve had been hand-picking games to invite on to the Steam platform, and almost every day we would hear from players wondering why awesome new game X wasn't available on Steam. The more this happened, the less confident we became that our own tastes were accurately representing the tastes of everyone using Steam. Greenlight was introduced as a way to help our team figure out which games players most wanted, by having those Steam users vote. Almost right away, we saw an incredible variety of games being submitted and voted on, which made it clear to us that there are far more distinct tastes and interests among Steam players than we had realized. Right from the early days and throughout the life of Greenlight, we have been continually surprised by the hits coming through. In just the first year we saw titles such as [URL="http://store.steampowered.com/app/230190/War_for_the_Overworld/"]War For The Overworld[/URL], [URL="http://store.steampowered.com/app/233470/Evoland/"]Evoland[/URL], [URL="http://store.steampowered.com/app/241600/Rogue_Legacy/"]Rogue Legacy[/URL], and [URL="http://store.steampowered.com/app/242860/Verdun/"]Verdun[/URL] move through Greenlight and go on to become hugely successful. We found it was easy to explain afterwards why some titles turned out to be big hits, but when we forced ourselves to predict beforehand, we weren't nearly as accurate as we thought we were going to be. Those early years also saw huge growth in some categories of games that we had previously considered extremely niche, like visual novels. Whether you love or hate visual novels (In which case you can customize your preferences [URL="https://store.steampowered.com/account/preferences/"]here[/URL]!), they have gone on to form a huge following on Steam. Even today, we still see surprising smash hits come through Greenlight, such as the recent releases of [URL="http://store.steampowered.com/app/588650/Dead_Cells/"]Dead Cells[/URL] and [URL="http://store.steampowered.com/app/420290/Blackwake/"]Blackwake[/URL]. Now, five years since Greenlight started, we've seen over 90 Million votes cast on submissions in Greenlight. Nearly 10 Million players have participated in voting in Steam Greenlight, but over 63 million gamers have played a game that came to Steam via Greenlight. These players have logged a combined 3.5 Billion hours of game time in Greenlight titles. Some of those titles, like [URL="http://store.steampowered.com/app/242760/The_Forest/"]The Forest[/URL], [URL="http://store.steampowered.com/app/251570/7_Days_to_Die/"]7 Days to Die[/URL], and [URL="http://store.steampowered.com/app/413150/Stardew_Valley/"]Stardew Valley[/URL], are in the list of top 100 selling games ever released on Steam. With these kinds of successes, the thousands of niche titles, and everything in between, we realized that a direct and predictable submission process will best serve the diverse interests of players moving forward. So thanks to all of you who voted and played games in Greenlight, as we begin the transition to Steam Direct. Retiring Greenlight The information below on Greenlight and Steam Direct is going to be most relevant for game developers, as it discusses the nuts-and-bolts details of the transition. As of now, we are no longer accepting new game or software submissions via Steam Greenlight and voting has been disabled. One week from today, on June 13th, we'll be turning on Steam Direct. Over the next week, a team here at Valve will be reviewing the list of titles that have not yet been Greenlit and will be selecting the final batch of titles to pass through the Greenlight process. Our goal is to Greenlight as many of the remaining games as we have confidence in. There are some titles that will not be Greenlit, due to insufficient voter data or concerns about the game reported by voters. Titles that are not ultimately Greenlit may still be brought to Steam via Steam Direct, provided they meet our basic criteria of legality and appropriateness.[/QUOTE] [url]http://steamcommunity.com/games/593110/announcements/detail/1265922321514182595[/url]

Time to see how regulated the new way of distributing trash is

[QUOTE=Wii60;52320120]Time to see how regulated the new way of distributing trash is[/QUOTE]They've put some air freshener in the sewage pipes.

[QUOTE=Sgt Doom;52320156]They've put some air freshener in the sewage pipes.[/QUOTE] You can't compare Greenlight to sewage pipes Sewage pipes are at least properly maintained and regulated

Steam direct already looks like its better than Greenlight, now we just have to see if it actually does its job

-snip-

[quote]After completing the paperwork, the developer will be asked to pay a $100 recoupable fee for each game they wish to release on Steam. This fee is returned in the payment period after the game has sold $1,000.[/quote] In the previous thread I asked about the recoupable fee. I'm guessing this means the average asset flipper makes less than a thousand bucks each. Also my heart goes out to the poor employees tasked with reviewing the remaining 3400+ submissions.

Since the greenlight introduction I've had hope that valve will make separate store/containment zone for greenlighted products... and now we've got steam direct.:disappoint:

On one hand trash f2p games won't be able to bribe their existing community for greenlight votes. But on the other they could have an easier time getting on Steam as the people handling approvals could mistake them for something people want.

[QUOTE=SurReal223;52320174]You can't compare Greenlight to sewage pipes Sewage pipes are at least properly maintained and regulated[/QUOTE] Sewage in the medieval times AKA in the streets and all over everyones yard

Goodbye old shovelware platform, hello new shovelware platform.

can't wait for the next Digital Homicide

[QUOTE=DEMONSKUL;52333304]can't wait for the next Digital Homicide[/QUOTE] Spoilers: They are still there but under a new name.

[QUOTE=DEMONSKUL;52333304]can't wait for the next Digital Homicide[/QUOTE] I doubt people like that will want to be spending money for every game they put out when their entire "business" plan is to just release as many no effort games as they possibly can with the hopes that enough people will buy each one by accident that they'll get the few hundred bucks they spent on greenlight back.

Seems like a step back. Is the 100 dollars for each title such a barrier of entry to cut out the trash? Virtually anyone can fork up that. I'd be more excited if they talked more about their new selection process. The only way this helps indie devs is if their selection process is very strict.

[QUOTE=Mr_Razzums;52347877]Seems like a step back. Is the 100 dollars for each title such a barrier of entry to cut out the trash? Virtually anyone can fork up that. I'd be more excited if they talked more about their new selection process. The only way this helps indie devs is if their selection process is very strict.[/QUOTE] There really is no selection process beyond "is it legal and does it run"

[QUOTE=geel9;52347892]There really is no selection process beyond "is it legal and does it run"[/QUOTE] Hnnnnggg

[QUOTE=geel9;52347892]There really is no selection process beyond "is it legal and does it run"[/QUOTE] And "do you have $100 for every game you want to release" but that's already more of a barrier than greenlight basically was.

[QUOTE=Sgt Doom;52320156]They've put some air freshener in the sewage pipes.[/QUOTE] "Even the trash is clean!"

[QUOTE=simkas;52348301]And "do you have $100 for every game you want to release" but that's already more of a barrier than greenlight basically was.[/QUOTE] 100$ is literally nothing, if your game took your programmers more than three hours to complete you've essentially already shelled out that amount.

[QUOTE=phygon;52354473]100$ is literally nothing, if your game took your programmers more than three hours to complete you've essentially already shelled out that amount.[/QUOTE] 100$ is a lot of money in poorer countries though.