keeveek: I thought it would discourage people who have nothing even remotely close to the release. And they wouldn't have to rush anything, because they would release their alpha or beta build on alpha fund after greenlight as well.

I don't vote on things I might want to buy in next 3 years - I vote on a thought what I would like to play today. I'm pissed at people from Black Mesa project for example, they submitted themselves to greenlight and when they got accepted - they decided they will not release unless it's finished what would take another few years? So why the hell they submitted in the first place?

The same with Project Zomboid. They know on what stage of development their game is, and yet they decided to go on greenlight. When got accepted, they said it will take few YEARS to release? What the hell...

It pisses me off. It's not kickstarter. I'm not voting on a promise of a game, I'm voting on actual games that can of course be still in development, but not on a sketchboard.

misfire200: Not too mention PZ and KSP have great communities and the developers are great at taking and implementing feedback.

bansama: It's not really that Western pubs hate Japan. It's more that certain big-name Japanese pubs hate the PC. Some are known to have purchased PC distribution rights in the past solely to prevent games being released. A lot those rights have since expired and the games are now available (although very expensive).

It also doesn't help that most such services don't have anyone on their staff who speaks Japanese. Most Japanese devs/publishers don't have people on their staff who speak English.

amok: still, that is 35 games which may not have been give a steam release without Greenlight.

timppu: I always thought there is quite a lot of PC gaming in Japan, but 99% of it is hentai, Rapelay and such. Maybe that's why parents don't want to buy PCs for their video-gaming children?

keeveek: I have an impression (might be wrong) that less indies are being released on steam after greenlight.

Gonchi: Didn't the Expedition: Conquistador guys have a Greenlight campaign going when they signed up with bitComposser?

Nicole28: Just curious, but does anyone have any kind of greater insight as to why some games get to bypass Steam greenlight, whilst others are forced to go through the process?

I mean, certainly, the triple AAA's will probably have special deals in place behind the scenes, and well.. games on the totally opposite end of the scale are perhaps destined to be on greenlight.

But the lines seem blurry for mid-level games. I noticed a few get to sweep past greenlight and get on Steam without having ever released any prior games before that. Whilst the rest need to stay in the greenlight queue.

A few ideas I've seen are, if you've got the backing of a publisher, you get to mostly go straight on Steam.

Other than, what gives and why? Yes, Steam can do what they want. I'm personally curious on the why and the determining criteria, especially on quality factors.

Pheace: I guess I don't really see the problem here. Do you really want Indie games all over to start knocking on Publisher's doors to get a deal that allows them to circumvent having to get their game Greenlighted? If Steam allowed that they'd be indrectly pushing all Indie developers into publisher deals they may not really want to be a part of, and possibly don't have to at all if they manage to get greenlighted.

Nicole28: No, no. That is actually a gross misunderstanding of how publishing works. Publishers are not charity angels for game developers, indie or otherwise. They are in the business of making money. Even if all the indies in the universe were to hammer down their doors, publishers will only accept games that they believe will turn them a profit.

Pheace: Of course. But where's the risk for them here? The game is there, the game is done, all they need to do is offer a percentage deal for getting them into Steam which basically already fulfills their publishing obligations right there.