How Steam works against small games – How To Market A Game

How Steam works against small games – How To Market A Game

The Steam algorithm actively works against ... small games with short pre-launch marketing periods. The algorithm is purposely trained to suppress games that are made and launched in rapid succession.

Curation and discovery are tough problems for game storefronts. The easier it is for legit games to get onto a store and be seen by customers, the easier it is for asset flips, shovelware, and outright scams to do the same thing.

In this writeup, Chris Zukowski discusses several of the current trade-offs being made by the Steam store to combat the flood of fake or low quality games that came with Steam Direct replacing Steam Greenlight. It’s clear that the same barriers which make those games less viable on Steam also make small-scale, low-budget, but legit games less viable as well. It’s less clear whether there’s a better solution.