How Steam works against Small Games

https://howtomarketagame.com/2021/08/09/steam-hates-small-games/

by NonContro • 5 years ago

3 1 5 years ago

People complained that Steam was flooded with Shovelware. “It is the Indiepocalypse” developers shouted!
Guess what? Valve was listening. And they acted. You got your wish. Shovelware isn’t a problem anymore. Really it isn’t.

I remember telling people at the time that this sort of thing would happen. It's the obvious result of store curation: some games are going to get excluded even if that are actually good. I cited GoG as an example because at the time it had rejected Opus Magnum[0]. Much like they get flak for not policing the forums better, or because there are 'porn' games, or 'hate' games, everyone seems to think this is an easy problem to solve and it really isn't if you care about allowing a wide range of expression.

And in this case it is a real shame, because I have a soft spot for short games. There are a lot of games out there that "don't really get good until after hour 6" or some such nonsense, and I value my time so I consider long games with "a lot of content" to generally be a negative. I want games that can be enjoyed in less time, not more[1]. And being that such games are usually a lot less work they are free to be much more experimental.

Fortunately Steam has a system of allowing individual players to curate collections of games. I am not aware of anyone curating Small Games, but I would imagine they exist. Perhaps life would be easier for small game devs if discoverability of curated collections related to your interests was better?

[0] Which I maintain is the best of the Zachtronics games.

[1] Yet I find that I like Stardew Valley, a game I would have assumed I'd hate. Go figure.

How Steam works against Small Games

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