Valve just changed the way Steam user reviews work - and it's certainly set the cat among the pigeons.
In May, Valve updated Steam so that it highlighted recent reviews on games. The thinking behind this change was sound: it wanted to better show the current state of a game, many of which evolve quickly as developers issue updates.
Now, though, Valve is changing the default review score that shows up at the top of each product page - the one developers and potential customers put so much stock in - so that it does not include reviews written by those who obtained the product through a Steam key.
What this means is that reviews penned by those who got a game after backing it on Kickstarter, for example, or via a developer's website, do not affect the Steam user review score.
Again, the thinking behind this change is sound. Valve knows that some developers were gaming the system - that is, they were giving keys to friends or shadey paid services in exchange for positive reviews.
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The upshot is that while Steam keys will remain free for developers to give out or sell through other online or retail stores, Valve has deemed it too easy for these keys to end up being used in ways that artificially inflate review scores.You'd think that news of Valve actually fixing something that's wrong with Steam would be welcome, but reaction so far is decidedly mixed.
Por ejemplo, consider Kotaku's take on this development:
It’s understandable that Valve would go after this kind of behavior, but many developers are worried that this is less of a surgical strike and more of a carpet bombing. Kickstarers, especially, stand to take a big hit in the reviews department, and reviews have a huge impact in terms of who buys games and in smaller, more intangible ways dictated by Steam’s discoverability algorithms.
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Sure enough, in a statement to Gamasutra, Valve said, “We are hearing lots of positive response to this update, and some criticisms. Like all updates we issue to our games and services, we will be monitoring the community reaction and incorporating that feedback into the next set of changes we make to improve the service for everyone.”
Still, it’s a rough situation for many. Sure, Valve will probably refine the system over time, but some developers stand to lose sales and standing right now. I can understand their ire.
I am not a developer, nor am I trying to stay in the good books of any game developers in order to ensure that I continue to have "access," in the way that most larger gaming media sites often seem to be. I am just a consumer of games, and as a consumer of games, all I can say to Valve's latest move is, "It's about damn time, Gabe."
Yes, the issue of how to properly deal with Kickstarted games is something that Valve should be partnering with Kickstarter to get sorted, but my feeling is that Kickstarter is meant to do just that: kick-start the development of a game that never would have been made otherwise. If you're relying entirely on your Kickstarter backers to market the game through word-of-mouth and Steam user reviews, and doing no other promotion of your own, then you're doing it wrong and deserve to fail. It's that simple.
Learn to establish a social media presence that isn't limited to just your Kickstarter backers, learn to reach out to popular Twitch streamers and YouTubers and other reviewers with free codes that they can use to try your game and post reviews in places other than Steam. It's not easy to get the likes of Totalbiscuit to plug your game, but if your game is the sort of thing that you know he finds interesting, maybe email him a code to try it out, and do the same for other potentially influential online personalities. There's a reason that these people are called influencers, after all, and the handful of sales that you'll miss out on by trying to get their attention will not be the difference between your game breaking even or not.
At least, it shouldn't be. Not if you've learned anything at all about how to business during the process of starting up your videogame development business.
No, this sort of thing is not fun, and it's not why you decided to make a game, but it is a business that you're trying to build, and a very competitive industry that you're trying to break into. Making a game, actually finishing something, is certainly an accomplishment, but the game part is only the first part of the task; the other part is the business part, and if you're wanting to make money making games, then you're going to have to dirty yourself with a bit of the business side of things in the process. Deal with it. Or do something else.
Totalbiscuit, Jim Sterling, Extra Credits, and others have all done videos on the subject of marketing your game once you've made one, and you should be studying up on that, if you have a game that's close to completion, rather than relying your Kickstarter backers to market the game for you. They've already done their part -- they funded the game's development, and probably helped play-test it (having paid for the privilege of being an unpaid playtester, remember) along the way. Their work is done; everything else is on you, as the developer.
So, yeah, Valve pulling their heads out of their VR assholes to finally fix something that's clearly wrong with Steam? That's a good thing for consumers, which is good for the industry overall, in the long run. It's a win, and I'll take it.
Now, Gabe... about Half-Life 3...