Steam Reviews – Have Valve Just Given the Middle Finger to Indie Developers?

So today, Valve have made rather important change to how their review system works within Steam: the recent and overall score that’s displayed on a game’s front page will now only take into account reviews left by those who actually purchased their game via Steam. That effectively means that the opinion of anyone who obtained or bought the game and redeemed it with a key is now rendered pretty much null and void.

It’s a rather sweeping change and one that many will welcome given the rise of rumblings that some developers give away keys in exchange for positive review scores, but is it really the best way to deal with the issue? Let’s face it, whilst the old system makes certain unscrupulous practices a piece of cake, the new system doesn’t negate them entirely. What’s to stop developers simply buying their own games or providing the funds to others to do so and leave positive review scores? Obviously there are financial implications, but when an initial raft of positive reviews can mean the difference between the commercial success or failure of a new and relatively unknown title, it’s probably worth it.

With a huge number of players obtaining their game keys outside of Steam, from traditional retail, humble bundles, Kickstarter or review code, for example, excluding their scores seems a little extreme – almost discriminatory in fact. Why exactly is their view less valid? Why tar everyone with the same brush? Sure, you can still read their reviews on the game’s page if you really want to, but that all-important score at the top is what really counts to a developer. It probably shouldn’t, but it really does.

Maybe though, the change is for the better. Maybe it will only affect those developers that have been up to no good, exposing their games for what they really are. That would be good, right? The problem is that I find that hard to believe. Why? Because of Early Access and the fact that games are now hugely changeable, with often only one patch transforming an unplayable mess into something rather good. By enabling developers to release their games in an unfinished state via Early Access, Valve effectively gave the greenlight for consumers to pay for unfinished experiences. Whilst some gamers are responsible and may review the games as such, others may be not quite so discerning.

To be honest, I’m not a fan of the Early Access model at all, although I can see the benefits to indie developers. I’d rather games be released when they are complete, preferably when they’re polished and free of bugs too, but let’s face it, that’s never going to happen – and not through the fault of small indie developers with limited resources either. As it is now though, any developer that is unfortunate (or silly) enough to release their game in an unfavourable state may find Steam’s new review system to be utterly devastating.

A glut of negative reviews at launch will surely hurt initial success, and whilst in the past a combo of discounted sales post-launch from third party sites and the handout of review keys with no strings attached could be useful to turn the tide after a game-changing update or patch, this will now be impossible. The plight of the small indie developer is to get their game noticed, and more importantly, get their game viewed as being good. That task may have just become insurmountable for some, whether they deserve it or not.