Valve replaces Greenlight program with ‘Steam Direct’

Valve has announced that it is ending the Greenlight program on Steam, which allows users to influence releases. The company is replacing Greenlight with Steam Direct, which should be available in the spring.

In the announcement, Valve says the new program is a more direct way for developers to offer their games on Steam. For example, in order to qualify for the program, the developers must share personal information and tax information in advance. According to Valve, the process is similar to “applying for a bank account.” Developers then pay an amount per title they want to offer. This amount can be refunded by Valve. This seems to put an end to the collection of votes from Steam users.

About the entry amount, the company says that there is no hard number yet, because feedback from studios and developers shows that suggested amounts range from one hundred to five thousand dollars. Valve wants to collect even more feedback on that front before setting a final amount. The introduction of Steam Direct is “just the beginning” and should be followed by other improvements to the Steam store and content pipeline.

The decision to discontinue Greenlight, which was introduced in 2012, has been due to the program’s failure to build the “pipeline” for games and the offerings that Steam users wanted to see, according to Valve. Two Steam team members tell Venture Beat that Greenlight was a great stepping stone and helped solve many problems. Now Valve would like to be less in the way and get new games out on Steam faster. Greenlight is said to have resulted in more than a hundred games released through the program each grossing more than a million dollars.