Steam game developers speak out: Valve maximizes profit, minimal responsibility (Part 1)

Not long ago, there was a time when every PC developer wanted to be on Steam. Once they have their name on this platform (if they somehow get in touch with Valve and impress with their products), that is the golden ticket to bring in huge revenue and go to success.

Now, those days are over, according to 20 game developers who participated in the talk. Obviously selling games on Steam has never been easier, only a few “lucky” titles are favored by valve’s mysterious algorithm, promoting them right on the Steam front, or popular enough to represent Representative from Valve personally supported. Other developers? Be self-reliant!

For many game developers on steam, these two different ways of serving customers and this mysterious algorithm have created a culture of “part Steam for celebrities, part Steam for leftovers” leading to the displeasure, anger, and confusion that come from everyone.

ORIGINAL STORY FEMALE

Polygon began receiving emails from developers voicing their concerns about Steam. Polygon has spoken with 20 different developers over the past several months, from small studios to established “AAA indie” studios, to understand what makes so many developers so eager to get on. Steam became cautious and grumpy again.

Few developers are willing to voice criticism. A studio that fears being rejected by Valve. Like the community creators in the Steam Workshop who live in fear that Valve could cut off their source of income at any moment, the developers on Steam know who holds the power.

Here’s what they had to say

PROBLEMS WITH STEAM REVIEW

It’s been almost 5 years since Steam introduced the review system (Steam Review). Since then, there have been millions of reviews across the Steam sites, which has spawned new game journalists.

Steam users are pleased with this way of sharing feelings – easy and convenient – ​​and Valve also enjoys the success of the system that encourages users to invest time and effort in supporting Steam’s ecosystem. . Valve has never had to pay anything and still get users to work for free. Remember, Valve is the company that Gabe Newell himself describes as “the company’s “fundamental per-capita profit ahead of Google and Apple.”

However, for some developers, a 5-year Steam review can be seen as a nightmare.

“The way Steam treats reviews is really brutal and like stabbing the developers in the back,” shared a developer with more than 500 reviews on his latest game. “I’m afraid to talk about this because I’m afraid gamers will know they have more power than they think.”

Steam’s automated system will change the font color on the store page from blue (“Positive” – positive) to brown (“Mixed” – negative) if it receives too many negative reviews. Before writing this article, the author believed that to move from “Positive” to “Mixed” the rating was in the middle, 50%.

But actually, you need to get at least 70% of the recommended rating (recommended to buy the game) to get a positive rating. This makes it very easy for negative reviews (“maybe three, four, or five” for games with few reviews) to push the text color from green to brown. This change means a drop in revenue, according to the developers shared in this article.

Players have a lot of power, but that’s not a bad thing if people just use the review system just to review the game. However, the system is used for other purposes. It makes developers headache, having to stick with Valve’s bug system.

REVIEW IS THE NEW SUPPORT MEANS

The Steam rating system is often also a place to ask for support, when users ask for help with computer compatibility, up to lost passwords. This creates huge “reviews” problems in the true sense of the word, as developers have too few tools to make things more efficient.

“If a gamer has a problem on the forum, I don’t have any tools to help them other than replying publicly on the forum,” one developer said. “This is not a good way to support. I couldn’t find any information about their account, their computer, nothing. So, what players do, is use the review system for support. I can’t count how many reviews talk about issues that have nothing to do with the quality of the game. Forgot password? Let the Negative Review already. Blue screen of death? Negative reviews are always like that. They are obviously support related issues.

“What we have is a review system,” the developers say. “There is no support management system or any way to distribute the work. Or if it is, I don’t know where it is. We try to push people to use our own support, to be able to manage from there, but it’s really hard. I try to private message them to fix the problem and dig deeper, but it’s very rare for players to check messages and responses.”

Other developers use forums to urge people to switch to Discord, or third-party channels for good support. Steam is often seen as the worst way to interact with customers.

“I opened a game bug channel on the Steam forums, but I didn’t get notifications about it, so I had to keep checking,” Yetz, developer of RPG Nepenthe, shared via email.

“I usually take care of my players, because the fan base is still too small to make friends,” added Yitz. “Most users realize that quickly, and I usually fix it using the Discord chat channel. Steam has very little support in this area.”

NOT EVERYTHING IS BAD

“Sometimes the review system is used to ask for support, but the vast majority of reviews we receive are genuine,” said Paul Turbett of Black Lab Games. This studio has just released the game Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock with very positive reviews.

“We come across reviews about what players like or don’t like about our game,” explains Turbett. “The likes they like are great endorsements, and the things they don’t like were all helpful in helping us decide to update the game.”

Defiant Development’s Morgan Jaffit, which successfully launched and supported the Hand of Fate and Hand of Fate 2 games, is also happy to add his name to the Steam defense list.

“I wish [hệ thống review] there’s a popup saying “if it’s a bug report, please send it to the developer first” because it makes it easier to track down,” says Jaffit. “But that’s because I like fixing user problems. , not because I’m annoyed with the negative reviews. A review is considered fair when it sums up ‘how satisfied players are with the product they buy, compared to other games on Steam’, which is why users refer to the rating scale.”

Even developers who speak out positively about the system admit that they have to deal with silly, often sarcastic reviews.

So what happens when a developer wants to deal with a review? Do you believe there is no system that does that?

STEAM PUSHING RESPONSIBILITY TO FEMALE DEVELOPERS

Developers can try to find a way to take down negative reviews, but the process is shrouded in mystery, with no clear guidelines for developers or publishers.

“Valve doesn’t do anything with negative reviews, but it can be used to ask for support,” said one developer. “Valve gives users no tools to get support! So users know negative reviews attract attention, because they know developers don’t want negative reviews. Valve won’t do anything with jokes, even though it’s very clear. […] I used to flag negative reviews when someone said they didn’t recommend this game because our online service has its own End-user License Agreement.”

This is a serious problem for some developers.

“I bookmark them. But was rejected by Valve. Then I emailed my Steam rep with the same list. A Steam representative said ‘it’s your responsibility to ensure open communication and proper self-evaluation of your game, and then you won’t have any more problems with negative reviews.’ Really? Here is the answer? This guy gave a negative rating because I didn’t give him a name with ‘FUCK’ in my name. How is this a failure to properly appreciate my game?”

Steam reps often tell developers that “many of the top 10 games on Steam also get negative reviews” as a way to reassure developers – from the developers perspective, they laugh at the answer. this word.

“Those are games with media advertising budgets,” one developer replied when asked. “They engage users in other ways that have nothing to do with Steam. Those games are not in my world.”

FORCE DISCOUNT, OR APPLY “LOCAL PRICE”

Anyone selling their game on Steam can count on it to be sold in all markets around the world: Steam’s platform is global. Steam will take care of each region’s currency, allowing developers to focus on game development.

However, everything has its price. What many developers don’t know is that Steam’s own discounts on their games in other markets – selling games at Euros, Rubles, Won, etc. – can be anywhere from 30% to 60% cheaper than with the base price in USD. The discount is really huge, and it’s one of those things that many developers don’t notice.

If you are a developer, you can check this information in the “Store Packages, Pricing & Releae Dates” section by clicking the dollar/pound icon on the right, next to your package. From there, you can compare the numbers Valve uses for its currency tables and spot the difference.

This heavy discount policy is documented in Steam’s documentation. Valve writes that it will “set strategic pricing based on Valve’s experience and the company may set prices based on exchange rates and other factors.”

Of all the developers Polygon spoke to, only Defiant’s Jaffit knew that this is Valve’s way of doing “strategic pricing,” and pointed to the right place for this information in Valve’s documentation.

“It’s not that Steam invents local pricing on its own,” explains Jaffit. “In our experience, it comes down to more sales. With 10,000 games on Steam, there’s no ‘obvious’ way, and while I think default pricing is a good starting point for any developer, they should at least know what they are, to be able to do it themselves. I tailor their product.”