Valve lets community rate indie games

Valve will launch Steam Greenlight in October, a system in which members of Steam will be able to rate indie games. The most anticipated games will be available first through Valve’s download platform Steam.

Until now, Valve itself determines which games are offered via Steam. There is always room for the games from major publishers, but Valve has also been publishing games from indie developers via Steam for years. Valve also determines which games will appear on Steam and when. That’s about to change with Steam Greenlight. The new system, which will be introduced in October, will allow Steam users to control which games should be published. Steam members can vote for their favorite indie game and the games with the most votes will appear online first. Valve bases the technology for Steam Greenlight on its own Steam Workshop, in which players can sell homemade virtual items.

Greenlight allows developers to post games to Steam. That can be a game that is still in the concept phase, but also a game that is already fully playable. Through Greenlight, Steam users can provide feedback on the game and vote for the games they want to see published on Steam. Valve does not use fixed guidelines in this regard. It is not the case that games are banned after a certain number of votes have been reached. Valve measures the ‘relative interest’, measured against the other games on Greenlight.

At least one version of the games on Greenlight must be released for PC, although the game may of course also appear for other platforms. Developers must provide at least one video, four screenshots and a description per project, including the expected system requirements. Games that have not yet received enough votes will remain in the list until they are chosen or removed by the creators.