You know how you often hear from indie devs that their games wasn't quite up to par and couldn't make it to Steam? Other times you notice how you see games that make it onto Steam that makes you question if someone was smoking a toke from a pink unicorn pipe? Well, instead of leaving gamers to buy what Valve's product purveyors would have you to buy, Valve has instead decided to implement the Steam Greenlight so that you can choose what comes to Steam and what doesn't.
Anna Sweet, at Valve (I don't know her actual position as Valve isn't heavy on self-promoting positions), stated in the press release that...
"Making the call to publish or not publish a title isn't fun," ... "Many times opinions vary and our internal jury is hung on a decision. But with the introduction of the Steam Workshop we realized an opportunity to enlist the community's help as we review certain titles and, hopefully, increase the volume and quality of creative submissions."
I like this idea. Valve seems to be the only company right now that seems to make decisions based on empowering consumers as opposed to restricting them or taking away consumer rights. I understand that a lot of people still hate Steam's cumbersome offline mode, and hopefully Valve gets around to making it more convenient, but otherwise the company has been making all the right moves especially with the Source Filmmaker and their continued support of the modding community with their Steam Workshop.
The Steam Greenlight, in conjunction with the Steam Workshop, will empower Steam users to effectively offer feedback and rate upcoming indie releases so that consumers are choosing what they want to buy. I really love this idea.
The Steam Greenlight will officially go live on August 30th. Need more info? Feel free to visit the Official Website.
