Valve has announced Steam Greenlight, a community-based website meant to provide indie developers with feedback and the opportunity to be selected by users for distribution on Steam. Unlike sites with a reviewing panel, it will be primarily the customers themselves that will determine the future of these indie titles.
Steam now has the ability to build upon the successful launch of Steam Workshop in October 2011, allowing users to leave (hopefully constructive) feedback on various titles. This will assist Valve to cope with the ever-growing number of submissions. So, yes, you heard them: Make the decisions for them! (I jest…)
Users are asked to contact the game developer and friends about submitting games or commenting on them. They can also flag or report games for content or spam.
Games that have a relatively high number of votes from the community overall, as well as considering other factors like the game's genre, will likely see their wares on Steam. In other words, it's not just about getting a specific number of votes, though getting a large quantity of up votes doesn't hurt in the slightest.
Developers can also post early concepts and builds, plus copious updates for sure. All submissions require a branding image, 1 video, 4 screenshots or images, and a written description of the game and estimated system requirements.
Steam Greenlight is slated for full release at the end of August.
