You’re right, but I think that’s probably preferable to back when steam was much stricter about games on their platform. I remember a lot of good or promising games not being allowed onto steam, especially foreign VNs.
It’s true there’s a lot of crap on Steam these days, but generally we’re not seeing good games being unable to get on the platform. And steam has tried to use curators/etc to give ways for users optional ways to cut out the crap and focus on a smaller number of recommended titles.
SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
I dunno. I rather have that devs have an easier time to get on the platform and release a surprise hit, than an arbitrary hurdle that gatekeeps the platform.
If something is shit, it will just not be relevant.
Downside is, that devs actually need to promote their stuff instead of completely relying on just being discovered on the platform
Ledivin@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
If it’s easier to get on the platform, but it requires that you spend the same amount on marketing as development, is it actually easier to get on the platform? Sounds like the worst of both worlds for everyone except Valve.
SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
yes. Because you’re on the platform. All it takes in 100 bucks and you’re good to go. Distribution and sales already taken care of.
Counter example: Until steam opened up fully, you would not have a chance for a game like balatro to reach its popularity. The dev himself stated that he expected to sell only a handfull of copies. Not a chance he’d go through all the hoops of trying to get it through something like Steam Greenlight, let alone a “proper” publisher.
I rather have a bunch of low effort games that nobody looks at even twice, if that means we get a chance of getting a couple of really good indie games