50 More: Steam Greenlight Causes Another Game Pile-up

Valve have pushed another 50 games through the Steam Greenlight system, which by my count finally pushes us over the limit. There are now officially too many games. Please cease and desist all game manufacturing immediately. This is not a drill.

As always, Valve explained the way methods by which these particular fifty games were selected:

These titles were selected on the same criteria we have been using in the past: Votes in Greenlight give us a hugely valuable point of data in gauging community interest along with external factors such as press reviews, crowd-funding successes, performance on other similar platforms, and awards and contests to help form a more complete picture of community interest in each title.

This doesn't mean you can buy the games on Steam yet, just that they'll be getting a contract, a release manager, and will be able to release on the distribution platform when the game's are ready. Some of them are already available to buy elsewhere, so it shouldn't take too long for a few to appear. Catlateral Damage, RymdResa and No Photos, Please are amongst those accepted this time.

Steam Greenlight's problems are well-documented, though many of those qualms have been replaced a different kind of concern: that there are too many games. Notably, Jeff "Avadon" Vogel writing about the 'indie bubble' bursting as the market is flooded. I'm unconvinced.

But I do think the now constant influx of games, through Greenlight and Early Access and elsewhere, is changing the industry faster than anyone can keep up. It's hard to review a game when that game is likely to have changed significantly within a day/week/month of your words being published. It's hard to decide when to review a game when they're sold before they're finished. When is a game even "out" now? We've come to rely on platforms, shops and critics as filters, helping us to decide what games to ignore and which to pay attention to. The filters are now getting clogged, and some of the filters aren't even filters anymore. Some are taps.

It's still better than the alternative, which is fewer games, less to write about, less that's innovative and interesting, and fewer developers who can afford to eat. So, you know. Don't actually stop. Check out the full list and think back on the bad old days.