Game maker Garry Newman believes that Valve should add as many games to Steam as it can.
Steam is releasing a lot of games this year. In fact, just looking at the numbers, the digital download service has already added more new software in the first 20 weeks of 2014 than it did in the entirety of 2013. This, for some, is a situation that’s both untenable and, ultimately, unsustainable. Some have gone so far to call for fewer Steam releases and a larger focus on controlling quality rather than encouraging quantity. According to Garry Newman, the creator of Rust and Garry’s Mod, however, the very concept of cutting down on new Steam releases is “insane.”
According to Newman, the problem isn’t rooted in Steam releasing too many games but rather, in good developers not doing enough to help their works stand apart from the crowd. “The focus should be on the users, not the developers. Users getting the choice of thousands of games is a good thing,” said Newman. “The attitude that Valve should only allow X games a month on Steam is insane. Why would you limit it? Have you released a game and it isn’t selling? Make it better. Do some marketing.”
Newmann would go on to express that it’s not Valve’s responsibility to step and control overcrowding. “Steam is a digital distribution platform; they put your game on their store and allow people to buy it. Any extra exposure you get by being featured should be seen as an extra-unexpected bonus. It shouldn’t be relied on to sell your game.”
Of course, some would likely make the argument that the potential problems with Steam’s current release practiced aren’t just a matter of good developers having their products lost in the shuffle. Rather, you could argue that Steam itself risks degrading its user base by cultivating a cesspool of bad games that customers have to wade through to find anything good.
Source: MCV
