The game actually looks really good, it's a shame you had to promote it this way.
Comment has been collapsed.
You're looking at it the wrong way.
The vast majority of Steam users do not engage in Greenlight at all. They dont pay attention to it, most are probably unaware of what it is in the first place. Take this game for example. 6900 people assumingly joined as they did the free key thing too. They helped get the game onto Steam where there are at this moment over 4 MILLION people actively using the service and there were almost 7 million active at today's (Sunday) peak. In actuality, if a free key when greenlit game even has 10000 members that get free keys, that is a drop in the bucket. If a game is good, it most likely will sell. If the game is on Steam that gets it exposed to 10s of millions of potential customers. The majority of Steam users are not power users like the majority that use SG/ST and these kind of sites. They're not keen on trading. They're not keen on bundles. They are literally clueless.
The "Free Key" to buy votes makes it extremely easy for games to get onto Steam quicker and start making money off of it. If its good, those that got it free help propel it by writing good reviews and making the community active. Compare that to just cold releasing it on Steam with no momentum at all and it sits there for a while before people catch on to it. 10000 freebies is nothing in the long run.
Comment has been collapsed.
I understand everything you said, and I know they make money even if they give away thousands of keys. What I'm saying is that it's stupid that they have to give away keys to make it through the Greenlight process. If a game is good, you just have to ask people to take a look at it, and decive by themselves, not say VOTE YES FOR A FREE GAME or anything like that.
This game is a great example in my opinion, it looks really appealing to me and I would have voted yes for it, even without the giveaway, just because it looks good to me. And if it was a No vote, then what? You as a game developer cant please everyone (and if you are expecting to, then dont be one. (I'm not speaking to YOU directly, but game devs in general))
Comment has been collapsed.
You're missing the bigger picture. "Just ask to take a look" doesn't always work. "Free key" ALWAYS works. If you offer it for free, then more people will look without hesitation and word gets spread fast. That's free marketing! There's a distinct reason why some developers choose to do it this way. The free key promotions get the game on Steam FASTER. There are some games that are probably very good that are still languishing waiting for people to vote b/c they don't have the time or knowledge to market it. There are dozen of amateur developers that have created great games that put the time in when they have it (weekenders). The sooner its on Steam, the sooner the game makes the developers money. There will always be much more that dont get it free than those that do.
Just getting on Greenlight doesn't mean people will take notice. Just asking doesn't always work. Yes, "free key for a vote" increases the amount of garbage that gets on Steam, but if a game is garbage people will review it and word will get spread that its not worth buying. Whereas if its good, its the other way around. The positive aspect of getting Greenlight quicker makes a developer more money sooner, whereas if it sits there waiting to be voted on.
Comment has been collapsed.
Seems like we'll never agree. Let's just end this here, no point in writing more if we dont understand eachother.
Comment has been collapsed.
steven.jintao@hotmail.com
I entered it and checked it out, seems pretty cool.
Comment has been collapsed.
Haha! You might want to remove that before your account gets spammed to oblivion :D
Comment has been collapsed.
This has really nothing to do with the topic but, free game
http://www.gog.com/redeem/GB67QFWB
Comment has been collapsed.
27 Comments - Last post 2 hours ago by jh82
8,438 Comments - Last post 2 hours ago by FranckCastle
82 Comments - Last post 3 hours ago by APocketfulofStars
127 Comments - Last post 4 hours ago by psyco752
5 Comments - Last post 8 hours ago by Golwar
41 Comments - Last post 9 hours ago by pawelt
1,367 Comments - Last post 1 day ago by thatotherone6
74 Comments - Last post 3 minutes ago by Alucardeus
66 Comments - Last post 1 hour ago by scorkla
54 Comments - Last post 1 hour ago by antidaz
39 Comments - Last post 1 hour ago by pizurk
527 Comments - Last post 1 hour ago by Dvn2010
79 Comments - Last post 2 hours ago by drstem
410 Comments - Last post 4 hours ago by GreyF0xx
Check it out here
:)
Comment has been collapsed.