Valve is going to change the way independent developers can have their games on Steam service. Steam direct will be replacing the current system which is called Greenlight. The Greenlight system allows users to vote for games that the gamers think are worthy to be in the Steam store. With Steam Direct, developers can get their games onto the service without having to win the players over first.
Valve stated that developers would be able to publish directly after they have completed the signup. The process requires developers to submit information that they would need to open a bank account. In addition, Valve said that the developers will have to pay a fee for their game to be published. Valve said that they do not still know how much the fee would be but it would probably range somewhere from $100 to $5000 per title.
According to Valve, the processing fee would decrease the noise in the submission pipeline. Many interpret this as an attempt to dissuade unscrupulous developers from submitting games that are bad as they did so with Greenlight. Steam regulars had complained that many of the games submitted in Greenlight were bad games as they were poorly created. In response, Valve started charging a small fee of $100 to have a game listed on Greenlight.
Valve stated that they wanted to make sure that Steam is a welcoming environment to developers that are serious about making quality games and treating their customers fairly. Developer Mike Gale said that it is unclear whether Steam Direct would stop bad games from being published. Gale stated in his blog that it would probably mean far more games reached Steam as it is easier to pay $100 to $5000 than having tens of thousands of votes on Greenlight to have the game published, as reported by BBC News.
Valve will check whether the games submitted will actually work. They will also make sure that the games do not break any local laws on pornography or other kind of restricted content. Valve has also added discovery tools which helps people find games that they want to play even with the large influx of new games, as published by CNET.
