Is Steam hurting indie devs?
How could it possibly be steams fault that not every game is a huge success?
You don't care
>steam should let every indie game on steam>why is no one buying my game? because it's shit? because it's buried under other indie games?>no, it's because steam isn't advertising my game enough
>>730817906Would releasing their game literally anywhere else have gained them enough money to cover the fee?
>>730817906Yes, but they're also allowing for more people to become indie devs in the first place.The music industry is going through the same thing where the vast majority of music consumed (by revenue) is old and the smaller amount of new music being consumed (by revenue) is split up amongst a lot more artists.
>>730817906It gives them a convenient storefront to sell their work on. If the game is actually good and you advertise it properly then you can make great money and a factor of that is a universal storefront that people can treat as a default for browsing for things to play. It only hurts you if your games are so short/unsatisfying that people can experience it all within the refund window, or if your game has things that make them clutch pearls.
Games not selling is because your game isn't fun and you didn't advertise it well enough. And price of course. Too many indie games listing at 25 bucks for some shit you can beat in two hours.
>>730817906If you support Valve you support a rich billionaire killing gaming
>>730817906How many of those games are asset flips or AI slop?
i dont read the front page of steamif you don't have a demo during next fest or your game is not properly tagged so i can find it through recommendation tools it doesn't exist.
>>730817906>5000 games>more than 10 games released every dayEndless slop.
>>730818080Well, this certainly isn't acceptable.Horrifying!...some people, I am sure.
>>730817906lower the fee to 50$ and its good
>>730818447Tags are pretty much worthless now. There is way too much slop on the store.
>>730818313saving gaming you meanthey're the only ones pushing an open platform and actually making advances
>>730818669This can't be real
>>730818669Valve is so bas-oh no no no no
Raise the fee to $1,000.
>>730817906If Steam didn't exist most of those people wouldn't have made a game in the first place. The fact it does drives people to do it. They see people releasing a game and making millions. They want in on that action. So if anything Steam is encouraging Indies to be made. Now comes the reality. Most people aren't going to make a very good game. At least not one better than thousands upon thousands of others. We all don't get to be winners, that's just life. Welcome to competition
>>730818052FPBP nigger thread nigger repliesniggers
>>730818894So devs can bitch about the fee being too expensive AND about how Steam doesn't advertise their game enough?
>>730818832It's been an ongoing thing for a while. Valve is private and hires whoever the fuck they want, or so it seems.Sorry, it's Asmongold:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NczmW36YIHw>>730818884What is the actual relation here anyways?
>>730817906>research estimatesWhat if their estimate was off by two zeroes? We estimate that you are angry.
>>730817906nah, it's like applying to uni, you shouldn't expect to get your application fee back
>>730818910To be honest the absolute majority of these failed devs never even tried to make a good game in the first place.
It's not really on Steam, it's just a very oversaturated industry. You basically got 100 Pizza Stores all lined up next to each other, at a certain point it just becomes a fools errand to make a business out of it.
>>730817906Indie devs are hurting indie devs. >hundreds of indie games releasing every month>"indie" games backed by huge corporations with massive marketing budgets releasing all the timeIt's hard as hell to compete if you don't have the money, luck, or connections to do so.
>>730818807No, killing it
>>730818143still can't get a game on EGS without a personal invite from timmyitch.io makes no money because it's mainly a site for 12 year olds to play demosgog is for abandonware
>>730817906With the amount of shovel ware on Steam, I'm not surprised by this number at all.
>>730817906most of it is asset flips and AI slop.
>>730817906>make shitty game nobody cares about>noooooo how could valve take my money I'm just a poor small guy
Explain to me in detail why an indie game should succeed simply on the merit of "being indie"
>>730819120So they don't even consider releasing their flash games on steam.
You just upset the /v/alve defense force OP
>>730817906You know what: I'm surprised very few people have jumped onto the market niche of being an aggregator. Nostalgia for old game magazines and the sheer task it's become to dig through games to find something that's worth would make it attractive to consumers, and developers would probably love more chances to shine light on their games than having to rely on showcases like SAGE/F3 or existing influencers. It's kinda odd that, at least to my knowledge, there's basically no one doing that, even with the Steam Curators program allowing a lead-in. It's mostly just ABG and not many else.
>>730819120A business shouldn't rely on a 3rd party advertising their product for freeThat's just marketing 101
>>730819168As far as anyone knows, the only working relations Valve had with SBI was on Neon Prime. Since the game has been restyled as Deadlock, that connection has apparently been severed. I'm sure I'll get replies about certain character designs that are post-Neon Prime being "woke" (i.e. Wraith being a sassy black woman, Calico being a sassy black woman, etc.), but that seems to be more Valve's usual MO (a la Alyx) more than any external influence.
>>730817906Prosperity isn't something that's owed to every fag with an AI shovelware game.
>>730817906>wow I cant believe my early access open world survival pvp didnt make it
>>730819727I see. Thanks for a decent reply!
>>730819347what does shovelware that no one buys and plays have to do with anything?
>>730817906Hmm. Today I'll make some AI porn slop jigsaw puzzle and put it on Steam, surely I'll make the $100 for publishing back in no time at all
>>730819641Because an aggregator would be useless due to being dependent on its managers' own personal tastes.
>>730819347any student project or one man hobby game can get featured on the biggest videogame storefront in the world, games have never had it easier
>>730817906Who the fuck cares? It's just reality that not everyone can make enough money to exist in this world. If they can't do it making vidya, they can get a job. Otherwise, they're out.
>>730819347The same could probably be said of any storefront that allows itself to be flooded with AI bootlegs and shop simulator games.
>>730819940>>730820231Good valvegoys
>>730820154Anon, I don't want to alarm you, but people being critics and showcasers based on their own personal tastes have existed for other creative mediums for hundreds of years. The solution is that you pick one that aligns with your personal taste or is trusted to nevertheless showcase quality.
>135 million people born every year>5,000 games uploaded every yearThat's 0.0037% of people born just in a year, and 0.000061% of the human population uploading games. Most of these games are absolute dogshit too. Like 10 year olds uploading their school projects.My game will be different, thougheverbiet :)
We don't need 5,000+ games a year. We dont even need that many in a decade
>>730819727>>730819887The newer character designs are a lot more sexualized and male-gazey since SBI got exposed, there's a marked difference. Lady Geist got aged down, Ivy got made cuter, Mina is SEXO and Paige is an onahole. Yamato is due for a redesign too.
>>730817906no, you have 3 chances to get noticed on steam without even paying: new releases, top selling, and upcoming (wishlisted). the problem is that there is far too much indie slop. it’s even worse than the Wii shovelware era
>>730819347>Make a shitty game full of ia slop>nobody want to buy it cause there is already enought good games to fill multiples life time>HELP THIS IS GENOCIDE
>>730820742are you capable of reasoning?a lower entry barrier is objectively good, there's a reason indies are born on pcthere are obviously going to be lots of failures especially in the age of ai slop
>>730818080>as Epic Games Store looms large
>>730817906>open world survival crafting extraction shooterEvery single one of these games deserves to live in the dumpster.
>>730821241The Deck flopped
>>730819727>As far as anyone knows, the only working relations Valve had with SBI was on Neon PrimeDota Underlords.
>>730821415what does your opinion have to do with the retarded tangent you brought up?
>>730817906You put it on a gigantic platform to advertise you would never, ever would have reach to otherwise. It's completely your fault.
>>730821424I honestly completely forgot Underlords existed. Whoops.
>>730820779So what youtubers, e-celebs, critics, Steam curators and the like already do? You're literally offering no real solution, just regurgitating what already exists, but "this one has a new hat"
>>730817906There's just too many games now. Same with movies if it doesn't cater to me specifically I don't care much anymore
>why isn’t my business successful overnight?!
>>730821550>So what youtubers, e-celebs, critics, Steam curators and the like already do?Mmm, I don't think you read the post if you think this is the case, and you're becoming angry and confrontational over nothing. I will no longer be replying to you.
Crazy how Nintendo is the only one winning now
>>730822032An aggregator is simply a database of games, which Steam technically already does, and if you turn it into a review platform then that's something Metacritic and the like already do. You're really not offering anything new, simply attaching bells and whistles to something that already exists.
>research estimates that all of the low quality AI garbage that we wouldn't review in a million years isn't selling wellThanks, gamesradar. Hard hitting stuff as always.
>>730822240instead of having to deal with shovelware they have no games at all
>>7308179064900 of those games are AI slop porn
>>730819347>90% of games on steam get played and reviewed Oh nooooooo...... ?????????????
>>730822346cope
>>730822346Nintendo's shovelware problem is worse than Steam.
>>730818832>people have already forgotten just how fucking insane neolibs got in 2020-2022
>>730819347of those games with less than 10 reviews, how many were actually good? the thing is there is such a drought for good games, I think no matter what if a game is exemplary, it will naturally become a massive success
>>730817906Considering the smountof shovelware being pumped out, I'm surprised the number isn't higher.
>>730817906It's the inevitable outcome of a lower barrier of entry. There's no process that filters out hopeless ideas or refines a project into something actually worth publishing.
>>730824992>There's no process that filters out hopeless ideas or refines a project into something actually worth publishing.It's right there at the end of your sentence. Publishers. Self-publishing was a mistake. Gatekeeping is a necessary evil.
>>730817906Give it back gabe
Most games on Steam are pure garbage.Because of this, though, it genuinely is hard to find some decent games. The store is still sluggish enough to browse through all these multiple almost never ending piles of garbage.
>>730817906Didn't you just make this thread the other day
Indie devs should make something I'd actually buy like a gen 1-3 monster hunter game.
MAKEGOODGAMES
>>730817906>release shit game>sells poorly>HURRR DURRR STEAM BAD HURRR DURRR CAPITALISTS PIGS HURRR DURRRR
the Epic Games shill who wrote that failed to mention those games are the worst shovelware piece of shit games ever.
>>730817906I think they should up the entrance fee to $1,000 to weed out indesirables. Of course GabeN would rather have a thousand of aislop barely working shovelware titles rather than a dozen passion projects paying a high fee.
>>730817906indies are hurting themselves because they dont know marketing
Yes. Unless they find ways to sell those games and money directly goes into their pocket. Publishers will cause games to be higher due to the cut and they have to raise the price to compensate it
>>730818080Thread should've ended here.Steam lets everything in now because people fucking begged them to and now here we are. Of course, the third world EGS shills paid to spam these threads aren't old enough to remember those days.
>>730817906I don't care. I didn't tell them to make garbage I don't want to play.
people are getting their copypasted jeetware from the eShop instead
How many of those games had any marketing plan outside of New Releases?
I SOMETIMES check the steam discovery queue when I'm bored. The hidden gem threads and discovery are the only way I'm going to see new games.If your game is so shit that I don't see it in either of these places, your game must be that bad. Because a truly good game WILL be talked about in the hidden gem threads, without fail.
>>730817906Nope.Shit indie games with zero effort is hurting the indie industry.
>AI generated shovelware initiates a gold rush>number of new releases surge on every digital storefront>but it's all garbage that the consumer immediately associates with the absolute worst quality>number of unsold, unreviewed games goes upWhy would you need a researcher to reach such an obvious conclusion?
>>730824685False
>>730817906Hey, that will be me soon.My first game just got accepted onto Steam, and there is very little chance it will make back its money, but that's okay. As long as some people enjoy it, and I can use the experience to build better games in the future, isn't that enough?
>>730829742steam let's you filter out the slop to you choosing
How do you not make even 100 bucks with your game? You'd think at least two or three friends and your gamer nerd cousin would buy it, at leastDo people just put their game on steam and tell no one about it and expect it to magically reach players?
>>730830061That's a lie, Steam only has slop so there's nothing to filter
>>730830130you sound depressed
>>730817906I browse Steam releases regularly and at least 90% of those games are AI slop. That said indie devs probably are getting hurt by their actual shit being blanketed in AI slop.
>>730830236Why? Because I'm telling the truth? Nintendo is better than Valve. Cope.
>>730830121I don't think many of them have a plan outside of shitting out a bootleg of some flavor of the month streamerbait game and then hoping for the best.
>>730830296>i only play mascot platformers, which are absolutely dogshit on steam>therefore, steam is 100% slopwew!!! lad.
>>730830296But all digital storefronts are oversaturated with the same garbage :(
>>730830430So you admit you lost.>>730830441So you admit you lost.
There needs to be more quality control from Valve. You shouldn't be able to shit up the store with 21 pieces of shovelware with zero gameplay whatsoever.
>>730830586valve made $2,100 to let him do that.
>>730819347How many of those games were AI?
>>730830586Valve did have quality controlPeople bitched that they did so Valve got rid of it
>>730830121Because it's shit. Steam does it to incentivize you to not publish absolute shit. If your game makes $1000 they give you the original $100 back. It's like a deposit where you're promising Valve you're not just shitting up their storefront even worse than it already is.
>>730830586The $100 fee is the quality control.Imagine the amount of indian scamslop you'd see if that fee didn't exist.
>>730817906Don't care. Indie devs don't even make anything i want to play. Nothing is getting 'lost' for me. They're just not making anything worth a damn. Fucking entitled little pricks should shut their mouths.
>>730831159holy jesus
The $100 fee really needs to increase to $1000 to account for inflation and AI.
>>730830964I don't know if it's a search option in the store, but Valve makes you say whether or not you used any AI in making your game when you submit. This should at least make filtering easier, provided you can't just lie about it and get away with it.
>>730817906>Saturated platform >Shit games easily get pushed under the rugWow.
Deck flopped btw
>>730830586i wonder what a cactus simulator gameplay is like
>valve makes 1.9 million dollars every year by literally doing nothingkekthat's only for accepting games to be publishedwonder how much they make off the market by doing nothing
>>730819657Agreed. These idiots think sales come magically from being on a marketplace and do nothing to promote their product.
>>730820940>Geist got aged downNigger, what are you even on about? That she got a model with more facial detail? If I recall, she was fully modeled underneath the dress like even before the model update. So much so you could spot a hint of lingerie underneath. Could have seen it clearly due to the zipline bug which made her dress go crazy.
>people making games increases many fold over the last decade>population of the world increases less than 1% per yearwhy is it steam's fault that indie devs aren't making smart business decisions. there's only so many hours in the day and so many people
>>730831332>you can do whatever you want as long as you pay me, it's not illegal, and visa and mastercard approvepretty based except for the last one
>>730831973In other words only westoid slop is allowed
>>730817906
>>730831159Does it still apply to "publishers"? I think that was one way of getting garbage on steam because once you are "established" there's even fewer barriers so there's those fake publishers that just have fake scam game sunder them.
>>730830586So what's the play here? Spend $100 bucks a pop and then hope for two hundred $0.99 sales apiece?
>>730832159What makes Angry Cubes so cheap?
>>730830586I want to block the word "simulator" across the entire platform so badly.The universe doesn't need 15 games named kebab/pizza/hotdog stand that are extemly simplistic unity aeest flips I'd be embarrassed to turn in as my homework
>>730832368Just enjoy the 2 cakes, anon.
>>730817906Steam used to have more quality control over what went on in their store. Then they did Greenlight to ease it up a bit and let the numbers determine what went in.But they decided they could be even lazier, so they removed all that and now Steam is chock full of the absolute worst slop with difficulty finding stuff that don't get big media coverage.
>>730832520Hopefully goyben crokes and Valve goes under
>>730832159based. this guy makes millions for himself and for steam because to normies: expensive = good
>>730832892Something tells me that his primary source of income relates to narcotics and/or whores.
>>730817906>release a "game" with worse quality than what people made with flash years ago for free>doesn't even advertise it and just expect steam to do everything for them>cry foul when no one know it even exists and the ones that actually sees the game realize its nothing but slop and ignore itHow many of those "games" aren't just AI shit churned out by the hundreds?
>>730817906>Without that fee Steam would be flooded with even more asset flip crapJesus fuck how horrifying
>>730827918that would require effort and a smidge of skillthings that most indie devs doesn't have
>>730830121steam takes its cut, the government takes its cut, at the end of the day I'm losing money god damn it
>>730833741They should raise the price.
>>730830586>21 pieces of shovelware with zero gameplay whatsoeverthis nigga hates gun and ball games
