PCGamer: Steam's Discovery update is making things worse for some indie developers

[Deleted member 42]

I find the kinds of posts saying 'that's how it it, sucks to be you' or other such ilk to be rather heartless and unnecessary, especially considering the algorithm was supposed to specifically focus on higher indie visibility. That's the point of the Steam Labs/extra discovery features as well.

If your livelihood got cut in half/in thirds because of an algorithm, when it was potentially supposed to assist it, I sincerely doubt you would say that. Some empathy in a general sense would definitely be useful. We should be able to talk about this without blaming people for things. Notice nobody is blaming Valve for anything, but hoping that they can find a happy medium with their gargantuan task for game discovery. It's not an attack.

 

[Arthands]

Its also making things better for some indie/AAA developers. I have read a developer saying how he saw lots of AAA games recommendation from the Steam's Discovery. Seems to be working great to shove the AAA games to the gamers who keep saying there isn't big games on Steam

 

[Hexa]

Kinda over indie devs bitching about Steam on Twitter. A lot of them come across as entitled twats tbh.

Click to shrink...

This is what I feel at this point. Valve genuinely fucks up from time to time like with the Steam summer sale and that rightfully should get called out, but most of the time it just feels like they need someone to blame for how no one is interested in their game and Valve is the only available target. There is a limited pool of money and attention from people buying games. Expecting Valve to increase that is unrealistic. Hence, increases in some games will always come at the expense of others. Focusing on already released games makes a lot of sense with all the games being released and is a good way to proceed.

 

[Ferrio]

I find the kinds of posts saying 'that's how it it, sucks to be you' or other such ilk to be rather heartless and unnecessary, especially considering the algorithm was supposed to specifically focus on higher indie visibility. That's the point of the Steam Labs/extra discovery features as well.

If your livelihood got cut in half/in thirds because of an algorithm, when it was potentially supposed to assist it, I sincerely doubt you would say that. Some empathy in a general sense would definitely be useful. We should be able to talk about this without blaming people for things. Notice nobody is blaming Valve for anything, but hoping that they can find a happy medium with their gargantuan task for game discovery. It's not an attack.

Click to shrink...

If they want empathy they can have it, but that isn't going to fix their problem. They just need to realize they can't depend on the random indie lottery that is today's market. Getting upset at the algorithm isn't the problem, them relying on the algorithm in the first place was.

 

[Deleted member 11214]

Its also making things better for some indie/AAA developers. I have read a developer saying how he saw lots of AAA games recommendation from the Steam's Discovery. Seems to be working great to shove the AAA games to the gamers who keep saying there isn't big games on Steam

Click to shrink...

Good thing he released on EGS

 

[Deleted member 42]

I have no idea why people are still talking about EGS in this thread. It has nothing to do with Steam changing their algorithm (something that was already long planned), and I haven't seen many devs, besides a select few I can count on one hand, bringing that up at all.

Stop bringing it up. Not everything is about that.

If they want empathy they can have it, but that isn't going to fix their problem. They just need to realize they can't depend on the random indie lottery that is today's market. Getting upset at the algorithm isn't the problem, relying on the algorithm in the first place was.

Click to shrink...

That's probably a discussion for another topic - At times Valve did tend to nudge devs towards leaning on the algorithm themselves.

Also, I've seen people saying this is like a guy eating crackers moment - someone said that these devs are just mad that Valve isn't making them the next Stardew Valley.

That isn't the case.

Some of them are worried because their visibility went from 20 wishlists to 0.

We're basically saying devs are being entitled and insulting them because they are worried they won't make their current wage, which is below the poverty line already.

 

[Deleted member 11214]

By comparison my Discovery Queue included a MP VR game, Kind Words, a NASCAR game, a Spiderweb Software game, Come On Baby!, a bad-looking Dragon Ball game and some bland-looking indies but nothing super shovelware-y.

Because I use it.

 

[TheTrain]

I have no idea why people are still talking about EGS in this thread. It has nothing to do with Steam changing their algorithm (something that was already long planned), and I haven't seen many devs, besides a select few I can count on one hand, bringing that up at all.

Stop bringing it up. Not everything is about that.



That's probably a discussion for another topic - At times Valve did tend to nudge devs towards leaning on the algorithm themselves.

Also, I've seen people saying this is like a guy eating crackers moment - someone said that these devs are just mad that Valve isn't making them the next Stardew Valley.

That isn't the case.

Some of them are worried because their visibility went from 20 wishlists to 0.

We're basically saying devs are being entitled and insulting them because they are worried they won't make their current wage, which is below the poverty line already.

Click to shrink...

That's probably something that should be discussed on another topic, but still.
I feel like that we should draw a line somewhere, because this is becoming ridicolous honestly. It's not like they are doing that job for charity, no one is forcing them to be an indie developer of some kind. As a customer I don't have to feel nothing about them, and it's basically the same from their perspective because be sure that you, me and all of the others playing videogames, are nothing more than a cash cow. (And this industry has already demonstrated that this is actually the right-way-of-thinking, just look at what these indie devs spout on twitter daily).
I feel - actually I don't know how to explain what i feel exactly - really bad when someone pictures them as a martyrs.
What is good for me, a customer, it's something that isn't probably good for *some* of the devs out there. What should I do?
Even for the company where I work the world isn't fair but no one shed a tear on it, because no one has to do. The only thing we can do is work as hard as we can and doing our best trying to understand the market where we are in, surely pointing the finger around us will not bring anything good.

 

[Jiffy Smooth]

By comparison my Discovery Queue included a MP VR game, Kind Words, a NASCAR game, a Spiderweb Software game, Come On Baby!, a bad-looking Dragon Ball game and some bland-looking indies but nothing super shovelware-y.

Because I use it.

Click to shrink...

I don't really use it, but I went through it now.

​

Blasphemous​

eFootball PES 2020​

Devil May Cry 5​

Green Hell​

Tropico 6​

CODE VEIN​

Children of Morta​

Celeste​

Unrailed!​

Lords Mobile​

WARRIORS OROCHI 4 - 無双OROCHI３​

Breathedge​

Seems like a fair mix?

Edit: Also, just in general, making a full-time living as a creator is really fucking hard these days, no matter the medium. Expecting any marketplace to prop up even a small indie studio indefinitely is sadly unrealistic.

 

[Dalik]

This algorithm update is actually a direct attack on the EGS and Tim.
Think about it. Games that aren't released yet aren't getting wishlisted as much.
Tim was using the wishlist rankings on Steam to nab games.
Now he can't grab those unreleased, highly wishlisted games anymore. A game needs to be released or close to release to start getting attention, and by that time exclusivity deals won't work anymore.
#BELIEVE

Click to shrink...

It's a little farfetched but I'm actually quite OK with this. Just go EGS if need to find every excuses to go then.
Can't have the cake and eat it too.

 

[MrHedin]

I find the kinds of posts saying 'that's how it it, sucks to be you' or other such ilk to be rather heartless and unnecessary, especially considering the algorithm was supposed to specifically focus on higher indie visibility. That's the point of the Steam Labs/extra discovery features as well.

If your livelihood got cut in half/in thirds because of an algorithm, when it was potentially supposed to assist it, I sincerely doubt you would say that. Some empathy in a general sense would definitely be useful. We should be able to talk about this without blaming people for things. Notice nobody is blaming Valve for anything, but hoping that they can find a happy medium with their gargantuan task for game discovery. It's not an attack.

Click to shrink...

Do we know that the algorithm isn't focusing on indies? It's seeming to deemphasize unreleased games but it's sounding like (and this is anecdotal evidence on all sides) that released games are getting some degree of a boost. I don't think we have enough data one way or another yet to know, it's going to take a few months for those unreleased games who had drops to release and see if anything happens then.

I don't think anyone is to blame, just unfortunately even the best intended changes like this has winners and losers.

 

[Hamchan]

It seems like their pre-release attention is traded off to getting more attention at release and having a longer tail.

More chances for impulse purchases, more chances for people to try your game on a whim, rather than just wishlisting and forgetting about your game even when it releases.

It's a good change.

 

[Stixitnu]

Save us EGS

 

[Mentalist]

One thing I do think the algorithm for "more like this" should do is exclude games I already own or wishlisted. If I bought a game or placed it on my wishlist, then I am (by definition) aware of these games. "More like this" should be showing me games I haven't seen yet.

 

[Hailinel]

I legitimately can't tell the satirical posts blaming EGS bribes and similar nonsense from the sincere posts doing the exact same.

 

[RestEerie]

if an indie title ends up being not discovered, i can acknowledge that a part can be attributed to Steam's shitty algorithm. But another part could be.........may be...........that their game is just not that interesting?

I mean, i can only stomach so much pixel graphic platformer about the dev's personal psych. Or another xxxx simulator games.

 

[eonden]

Its also making things better for some indie/AAA developers. I have read a developer saying how he saw lots of AAA games recommendation from the Steam's Discovery. Seems to be working great to shove the AAA games to the gamers who keep saying there isn't big games on Steam

Click to shrink...

Discovery Queue algorithm was not changed tho. And Discovery Queue tends to show you big hitters you havent viewed first (for instance I get 0 AAA games in my discovery queues unless they just opened the page and I havent seen it). The fact he got recommended so many big games points towards him not really using Steam that much tbh.

The thing that was changed in the algorithm was the "more like this" games.

By comparison my Discovery Queue included a MP VR game, Kind Words, a NASCAR game, a Spiderweb Software game, Come On Baby!, a bad-looking Dragon Ball game and some bland-looking indies but nothing super shovelware-y.

Because I use it.

Click to shrink...

This.

 

[Deleted member 3294]

if an indie title ends up being not discovered, i can acknowledge that a part can be attributed to Steam's shitty algorithm. But another part could be.........may be...........that their game is just not that interesting?

I mean, i can only stomach so much pixel graphic platformer about the dev's personal psych. Or another xxxx simulator games.

Click to shrink...

The problem the developers are pointing out here isn't about the total amount of attention their games get, it's about the change in the amount of attention less well known games were already getting after a change to Steam's algorithms was made. This isn't about someone like you not giving a shit about these games.

Also, there's way more variety in indie games than you're giving credit for. Just check out itch.io.

 

[Rickenslacker]

Valve are in a tough spot with this because there is always someone that's going to get shafted by these changes that's going to criticize it, but they're trying. I'm of the opinion that a platform doesn't have to also be responsible for a game's marketing or visibility, and I don't use Steam discovery tools much myself because the amount there is massive, I already have a lot of games (too much, even), and looking at Steam's front page is already overwhelming in presentation.

Just looking through the general weekly sale has a ridiculous amount of stuff to browse through.

The criticisms are usually levied at Valve for this stuff, but there isn't a digital game storefront out there that has this solved. Consoles have the benefit of hitting restart every generation, but even the Switch's eShop has become a huge mess.

 

[Lavatein]

Any change is going to create some winners and some losers as the total number of eyes on the store isn't changing, and anyone who loses out is going to cause more of a fuss. The metric to determine whether this change is successful or not isn't to look at whether one indie game is getting more sales, it's to look at the total change in games getting wishlisted and sales generated across the entire store.

 

[Alexandros]

Any change is going to create some winners and some losers as the total number of eyes on the store isn't changing, and anyone who loses out is going to cause more of a fuss. The metric to determine whether this change is successful or not isn't to look at whether one indie game is getting more sales, it's to look at the total change in games getting wishlisted and sales generated across the entire store.

Click to shrink...

Well said.

 

[sredgrin]

Its also making things better for some indie/AAA developers. I have read a developer saying how he saw lots of AAA games recommendation from the Steam's Discovery. Seems to be working great to shove the AAA games to the gamers who keep saying there isn't big games on Steam

Click to shrink...

Ah yes, the coveted "There's no big games on Steam" market is now being satisfied, great point.

You guys seem to think they build their programs to settle petty forum arguments or something.

 

[Arebours]

i cant help but feel like gaming is the only industry where the indies complain about the digital storefront. theres millions of musicians and film makers on music and video streaming services but you never hear them complain about the storefront not bringing them customers. they just make good music/video, send out some samples around and do some local stuff to get their name out because they know the storefront is just a delivery service. its almost like these indies feel entitled.

Click to shrink...

Exactly this. Storefront curation doesn't make any sense, it's obviously not sustainable and too opaque to ever be fair. The answer is what we already are doing - self curation by word of mouth, reviews, forums like ERA and reddit, youtube videos and so on. What does this mean for indies? Well obviously it means that this isn't a storefront problem, but a marketing problem(like it always was)! John Blow spoke about this a few years ago. He has helped fund many indie games and according to him the one thing that breaks most of them is not the quality of the game but a lack of taking marketing seriously.

Even simple stuff like keeping a regular youtube devlog can make a huge difference in sales, it doesn't have to be expensive ads or traditional marketing like that. Not saying it's simple to do that well, but unless you have a special deal you are not going to be owed a privileged space in the store - aaand if you have that special deal then by definition you are not going to be representative for the indie-dev community.

 

[dex3108]

E-Bay didn't solve this issue, Amazon didn't solve this issue and Steam didn't solve this issue. And it will continue to be that way because they can't solve that issue no matter what they do.

 

[The_R3medy]

Every story like this that shows increased challenges for indie devs on Steam make me more and more understanding of Indie devs taking Epic's exclusivity money. Better to take the money upfront, tbh.

 

[dsk1210]

New release indies are seeing a jump, and that's what matters. They should be rewarded for following through with their Steam release.

Why increase visibility of unreleased games in the current climate where they advertise on Steam, and then jump to Epic once money's waved around?

I see no problem with this.

Click to shrink...

Precisely.

Will be interested to see how Epic try and deal with this in the future if they ever become popular enough, it's not an easy problem to solve.

 

[Arebours]

Every story like this that shows increased challenges for indie devs on Steam make me more and more understanding of Indie devs taking Epic's exclusivity money. Better to take the money upfront, tbh.

Click to shrink...

if you are offered a deal. Which won't happen for 99% of indies. So it's not actually helping "indies" but rather helping the people they for whatever reason feel like helping.

 

[NCR Ranger]

Indie devs' preferred algorithm:

If (me) = true,
If (you) = false

Click to shrink...

All these reports feel that way sometimes. I don't envy the people who have to deal with this because it seems some indie developers want the impossible. There are just too many games for everyone to get all the exposure they would like. As others have said any change is going to create different winners and losers.

 

[BrutalInsane]

It doesn't help that everyone and their grandma are making 'indie' games these days. Make a good product and people will buy it.

 

[spam musubi]

Recommendations is a zero sum game. You have a finite amount of slots to fill. When you increase impressions for someone, it is invariably going to decrease for someone else. There really is no solution that makes everyone happy. People's attention is a limited currency.

Also, the more AAA/AA games come out, it inherently squeezes out smaller games. As steam grows in terms of developers putting their stuff on there, the amount of slots to recommend items will stay pretty constant. You can only force-recommend so many unpopular titles. Not saying unpopular as a pejorative, just that there's less people buying them. And the less people buy something, the less an algorithm will have to recommend it based on.

Also, the more your catalog grows, the exponentially harder the recomendations problem becomes. At some point it starts to become mathematically infeasible to do the computations without dropping less popular titles.

 

[Catshade]

So it affect mainly unreleased indies and their daily wishlist stat? Is there data out there on how this wishlist stat translates into actual sales?

 

[Alexandros]

Every story like this that shows increased challenges for indie devs on Steam make me more and more understanding of Indie devs taking Epic's exclusivity money. Better to take the money upfront, tbh.

Click to shrink...

The problem is that the overwhelming majority of developers taking Epic's exclusivity money are already well established or not lacking in exposure. The developers relying on Valve's algorithm would never get offered a deal by Epic or they would never pass through Epic's 'curation'. It is a well established fact that Epic is targeting Steam's most wishlisted games for exclusivity deals.

 

[Deleted member 11413]

i cant help but feel like gaming is the only industry where the indies complain about the digital storefront. theres millions of musicians and film makers on music and video streaming services but you never hear them complain about the storefront not bringing them customers. they just make good music/video, send out some samples around and do some local stuff to get their name out because they know the storefront is just a delivery service. its almost like these indies feel entitled.

Click to shrink...

No, you just only hear about it from games because you post here. Artists are always feuding with digital platforms over sales/cut/plays/views etc.

 

[sredgrin]

The problem is that the overwhelming majority of developers taking Epic's exclusivity money are already well established or not lacking in exposure. The developers relying on Valve's algorithm would never get offered a deal by Epic or they would never pass through Epic's 'curation'. It is a well established fact that Epic is targeting Steam's most wishlisted games for exclusivity deals.

Click to shrink...

I don't really agree with this anymore. The first few months, sure. But have you heard of the Sojourn, the next one? Was Falcon Age gonna make bank? Bee Simulator? Kine? Readyset Heroes?

Only established dev in there is the Readyset Heroes one, and all are lacking in exposure.

 

[Alexandros]

I don't really agree with this anymore. The first few months, sure. But have you heard of the Sojourn, the next one? Was Falcon Age gonna make bank? Bee Simulator? Kine? Readyset Heroes?

Only established dev in there is the Readyset Heroes one, and all are lacking in exposure.

Click to shrink...

What criteria do you use to determine that they are lacking in exposure?

 

[Pixieking]

Every story like this that shows increased challenges for indie devs on Steam make me more and more understanding of Indie devs taking Epic's exclusivity money. Better to take the money upfront, tbh.

Click to shrink...

I mean, aside from the point Alexandros made above, exclusivity deals are short-term fixes. Sure, indie devs get guaranteed bucks, but they don't necessarily get sales. And sales are what will drive the long-term success of a company over multiple titles. So any fix that doesn't also deal with a) increasing development costs across the board, b) the protracted development time that is inherent to game dev and c) long-term survival of all games developers through increased sales is not a fix.

This is why (apologies in advance BronsonLee) people would be more favorable to Epic buying dev studios than just buying exclusives - because buying a studio ensures long-term survival of a company, whereas buying an exclusive means little for that company's next game, unless they're lucky enough for that to be bought as exclusive too.

 

[sredgrin]

What criteria do you use to determine that they are lacking in exposure?

Click to shrink...

Presence in trade shows, media articles, youtube videos, even threads here or other forums.

Or, if you want to do some "swopping in on Steam" thing, Kine had a whopping 4 threads in it's steam subforum over several months. It was certainly not getting any real exposure.

 

[Turin Turambar]

How did people find out about games before Steam existed? It seems some developers have forgotten the ancient ways.

Click to shrink...

Before steam existing? Before Steam most of this people wouldn't be indie devs, but 'normal' devs. Most games were done by signing up with a publisher, and the publisher would take care of the marketing and retail release.

 

[Alexandros]

Presence in trade shows, media articles, even threads here or other forums.

Or, if you want to do some "steam wishlists" thing, Kine had a whopping 4 threads in it's steam subforum. It was certainly not getting any real exposure.

Click to shrink...

Well I visited Sojourn's Steam page, specifically the news section. This is the second news item:

https://steamcommunity.com/games/794960/announcements/detail/1810915403216275258

I would argue that this game is not lacking in exposure compared to the vast majority of indie developers. I'll look into the other games you mentioned once I'm in front of a PC.

 

[R.T Straker]

Shocking article from PCGamer.

It's not like this was the first of it's kind, and they're def not sponsored by Epic.

Real talk now, I don't know how can some people take them seriously in this day and age. This is just one example from many that they've put out this year.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/d045dm/pcgamers_best_cpu_for_gaming_2019_article_ignores/

Spoiler

Every link is an affiliate link

''Some online stores give us a small cut if you buy something through one of our links. Read our affiliate policy for more info.''

The Intel CPU's cost more, meaning they get more for every Intel product sold via this article, incentivising putting them at the top

It's disgusting

 

[eonden]

I don't really agree with this anymore. The first few months, sure. But have you heard of the Sojourn, the next one? Was Falcon Age gonna make bank? Bee Simulator? Kine? Readyset Heroes?

Only established dev in there is the Readyset Heroes one, and all are lacking in exposure.

Click to shrink...

If your games are able to make it to E3 big screen, you are already stablished (Bee Sim and Sojourn even before EGS). All of them (who had a Steam page) were also quite up in the "Steam wishlist" list which means that yeah, they werent lacking as much exposure as the games affected by this stuff.
Falcon Age was heavily promoted by PS-VR.

Presence in trade shows, media articles, youtube videos, even threads here or other forums.

Or, if you want to do some "swopping in on Steam" thing, Kine had a whopping 4 threads in it's steam subforum over several months. It was certainly not getting any real exposure.

Click to shrink...

Kine page was closed during the majority of its reveal run (from before it was announced as EGS exclusive!), so looking at the 4 threads during several months when several months include a long period where it was not online is a bit of nonesense.

Your example is a post with 24 thumbs up and 1 comment?

Is "having a steam page" the only criteria for exposure?

Click to shrink...

Maybe you should read the page instead of just skimming through it. He is clearly pointing out that the game was one of the GDC winners, and they had the backing of a publisher for indies (Icebeg Interactive)


But seriously, lets just stop with this stupid conversation about EGS and Steam.

 

[sredgrin]

Well I visited Sojourn's Steam page, specifically the news section. This is the second news item:

https://steamcommunity.com/games/794960/announcements/detail/1810915403216275258

I would argue that this game is not lacking in exposure compared to the vast majority of indie developers. I'll look into the other games you mentioned once I'm in front of a PC.

Click to shrink...

Your example is a post with 24 thumbs up and 1 comment?

 

[Alexandros]

Your example is a post with 24 thumbs up and 1 comment?

Click to shrink...

The post itself wasn't what I was pointing to. The article says that the game won an award by Gamasutra and that it would be showcased at a booth at GDC.

Falcon Age got an article on the mainstream tech site The Verge:

https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/11/18306140/falcon-age-game-ps4-psvr-outerloop-vr-virtual-reality

 

[Turin Turambar]

I don't really use it, but I went through it now.

​

Blasphemous​

eFootball PES 2020​

Devil May Cry 5​

Green Hell​

Tropico 6​

CODE VEIN​

Children of Morta​

Celeste​

Unrailed!​

Lords Mobile​

WARRIORS OROCHI 4 - 無双OROCHI３​

Breathedge​

Seems like a fair mix?

Edit: Also, just in general, making a full-time living as a creator is really fucking hard these days, no matter the medium. Expecting any marketplace to prop up even a small indie studio indefinitely is sadly unrealistic.

Click to shrink...

Now I'm curious of what my list is! I don't use it as you

Greefall
Blasphemous
Gears 5
Remnant
Resident Evil 2
Spyro
PES2020
Destiny 2
Total war 3 Kingdoms
Final Fantaxy XII
Cyberpunk 2077
CodeVein

So... Steam has no idea what I like, lol. I have 1100 games in Steam and most are indies, it seems it doesn't really use that as a data point.

 

[sredgrin]

If your games are able to make it to E3 big screen, you are already stablished (Bee Sim and Sojourn even before EGS). All of them (who had a Steam page) were also quite up in the "Steam wishlist" list which means that yeah, they werent lacking as much exposure as the games affected by this stuff.
Falcon Age was heavily promoted by PS-VR.


Kine page was closed during the majority of its reveal run (from before it was announced as EGS exclusive!), so looking at the 4 threads during several months when several months include a long period where it was not online is a bit of nonesense.


Maybe you should read the page instead of just skimming through it. He is clearly pointing out that the game was one of the GDC winners, and they had the backing of a publisher for indies (Icebeg Interactive)


But seriously, lets just stop with this stupid conversation about EGS and Steam.

Click to shrink...

It won an award from Gamasutra's editors, it wasn't an award winner of GDC. You know how many games that "winner of GDC" would apply to if every award from every site was counted?

https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/337302/Here_are_your_Best_in_Play_winners_for_GDC_Play_2019.php

Like, do you think all those games in that list have decent exposure? I'd argue that entire list of games would be lucky to sell more than 10k copies. Some of those trailers have sub 1k views.

 

[Kareha]

Are these indie devs doing any form of marketing to make their games stand out from the crowd? If they can't afford the marketing why are they making the game in the first place, it shouldn't be Valve's job to do the marketing for them.

Plus, it's PC Gamer with yet another "Let's write another Valve hit job piece".

 

[Deleted member 5596]

I think indie devs need to realise that marketing is not Steam's job.

Click to shrink...

Most indie devs has no money for marketing and still will be easily surpassed by other indie devs/publishers with way more money that them. While obviously you can't just sit down and wait for algorithms to do the job for you and devs has to be proactive in creating buzz for their game, that doesn't mean Valve can just wash their hands out of the problem of a massively overloaded store. They should improve it, not just for devs but also for them to stay afloat in a more competitive market.

That said I think is obvious that change is the discovery algorithm is going to affect people and favor others. I think is too early for start throwing stones at Valve, because we basically have presumptions from some affected devs, without knowing exactly their wishlisting numbers (maybe the algorithm saw that those particular games got enough wishlists for being unreleased games) or other important data.

In any case, algorithms like in Steam, YouTube or Spotify are skewed on one way or another and that's the nature of it.

 

[Deleted member 3294]

The post itself wasn't what I was pointing to. The article says that the game won an award by Gamasutra and that it would be showcased at a booth at GDC.

Click to shrink...

If you think GDC is a place where it'd get much attention from the general public, then I don't get the idea that you even know what GDC is an acronym for. It's called Game Developers Conference for a reason. It's an event specifically for people in the game industry, it's not something like PAX or Gamescom where it's meant for the general public. It's more for networking, learning stuff, and meeting up with other game devs than doing PR.

 

[Nome]

This is why (apologies in advance BronsonLee) people would be more favorable to Epic buying dev studios than just buying exclusives - because buying a studio ensures long-term survival of a company, whereas buying an exclusive means little for that company's next game, unless they're lucky enough for that to be bought as exclusive too.

Click to shrink...

Buying studios, especially indies, absolutely does not ensure long-term survival. It's also incredibly stupid as a business tactic.

 

[sredgrin]

The post itself wasn't what I was pointing to. The article says that the game won an award by Gamasutra and that it would be showcased at a booth at GDC.

Falcon Age got an article on the mainstream tech site The Verge:

https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/11/18306140/falcon-age-game-ps4-psvr-outerloop-vr-virtual-reality

Click to shrink...

If a game had decent exposure, it would be getting more engagement than a single comment (which is begging for trading cards and achievements). GDC features hundreds of games, some of which are barely functioning prototypes (some of which were awarded the same honor as the one you reference).

I'm not arguing these games are getting 0 exposure, I am arguing it is minimal and not reaching very many people. A 6 month late port of a VR focused game like Falcon Age was always going to struggle, no matter how many cute birb gifs Playstation posted on twitter many moons ago, especially after it didn't seem to make much waves on the PS4 in the first place.

There's also obviously varying levels of this stuff. Getting your game in a Nintendo Direct is a lot more valuable than being in Kinda Funny's montage of 60 games in 60 minutes.