Valve announces Steam Greenlight

Today Valve announced a new platform feature they are implementing by the end of August - Steam Greenlight. Building on the success of their community and Steam Workshop implementation, Greenlight lets Steam users choose what games will become available on the platform - allowing developers the chance to pitch their games directly to users instead of to Valve.

For a game to make it onto Steam it won't need a set number of votes - instead Valve will determine which titles get published by their interest compared to other titles in the system. Developers can submit their game as a playable title, but they can also submit their work during its earlier stages - getting feedback from the community and building up interest.

It all sounds pretty cool, giving customers a chance to push through titles they really want and giving developers a wider platform for their work. Why have Valve taken this route though? According to Valve's Anna Sweet:

“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.”

It isn't fun? Well thanks for the opportunity Valve! In all seriousness though, it sounds like a great idea to me - you can read more details about it on the official website. What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!