LogFAQs > #902726628

adjl posted...

And that's without even getting into the effects this has on the ability of legitimate indie developers to make profitable games. Indie developers are already finding that their games are selling better in other stores than on Steam, simply because there's some degree of vetting going into those catalogues so every quality new game doesn't release alongside a hundred asset flips, brainless memes, and sub-functional products that barely qualify as "games." That's not a sustainable marketplace. Steam was once the prime market for indie games, but abandoning all pretense of quality control is going to kill that. Nobody's going to shop on Steam anymore.

Worth noting that this was the exact situation that led up to the Video Game Crash of '83. Tons of developers flooded the market with poorly made trash that didn't sell; retailers marked it down to bargain-bin prices to try and move what product they could; legitimate developers couldn't get their products seen as they were competing against underpriced trash; consumers quickly lost faith and interest in the system and left.

The system isn't wholly analogous, but the historical precedent for this sort of thing isn't a good one.
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