Thoughts on Steam Greenlight

Steam has at last launched their Greenlight program which allows the community to vote on if they desire or do not desire submitted indie games. Personally, I think it's a wonderful experiment and only time will tell if it actually succeeds, but everyone should probably go try it out. Here are some of my thoughts on what I like and don't like about the program in its current form:

What I Like:

1) Developer Requirements - Currently, all developers are required to post a minimum of one video and three screenshots. Any game can have a neat description, but actually being able to see the game in action can really help consumers to make a decision. It also is good for the developers themselves as it's a relatively risk-free way of learning what does and does not work when marketing a game.

2) No Time Limit - Unlike some programs, games can stay up on Greenlight for as long as their developers desire even if they never gain enough interest to get approved. This is a great way to advertise a game as, regardless of its acceptance on Steam, it will inevitably gain attention and people can check it out on other services.

3) In-Development Approved - Since Greenlight is a way of monitoring community interest in games, developers are encouraged to post their projects on it even if they are not finished. This allows developers to receive feedback from Steam's massive userbase, which can save a ton of time and effort in the future.

4) Ease of Feedback - This may be my favorite thing about Greenlight. It's really easy to get in touch with developers in an open environment simply by posting comments on project pages. Greenlight is a competitive environment (games are approved based on relative interest and not just by raw vote numbers), so many developers frequently check the comments sections for their respective games and leave comments of their own. This is a far better alternative to posting on the forum of a niche indie game site as it allows for large amounts of feedback from a diverse audience.


What I Don't Like:

1) Vague Voting - There should really be more data collected during the voting process than if a person did or did not like a game. For example, a simple binary yes/no question concerning if a person already knew about the game before seeing it on Steam after a person upvotes a game could be really useful. Some games on Greenlight have been advertised or even available on other services for months, sometimes years, so these games have a much, much higher chance of receiving a large amount of votes. Since Greenlight approves games based on relative interest, the lack of such questions means it will probably be very hard for newer games to be approved even if significantly more interest is shown for them compared to other 'new games'.

2) Game Collections - Games on Greenlight can be a part of a 'collection'. While this can potentially make it easier to find high-quality games or similar games, it also creates an unbalanced market. More experienced developers with connections in the indie world will have a much higher chance of getting their games noticed regardless of quality simply by being able to attach them to a 'collection' while newer developers will have more time getting their solitary games noticed even if the games are quite good. This could have the potential benefit of encouraging new developers to work on getting acquainted with other developers, but I suspect more than one game will slip through the cracks while others rise in approval because of this system.

3) Vague Pricing - While a game in development probably shouldn't be expected to have a set price, it would be helpful to at least give a rough estimate of the 'expected price' such as "$10 or less". Free games also seem to be having a bit of an issue as it's possible to sort games so that only free ones are displayed, but many have received downvotes from people who saw them within one of the other game lists and simply were not aware that there would be no price attached; having something like a special border or a small symbol to denote that a game will be freeware would likely be a great help.


Well, those are my thoughts on Greenlight. It's a bit rough around the edges in some spots, but it is overall a fascinating system and, like Kickstarter, is an interesting new way of simultaneously supporting both developers and consumers which I can only hope to see more of in the future.

Greenlight can be accessed via Steam or via this link.