Valve tells developers: Stop exchanging game keys for Greenlight votes

Valve is telling developers to stop exchanging copies of their games for votes on Steam Greenlight as this ‘does not accurately reflect customer interest’.

In a statement on the Steam Greenlight developers page, as spotted by Steam Database, the firm said it makes its job of deciding which games customers would actually buy and play on Steam more difficult.

It stated that developers who use this successfully then encourage more to use similar tactics to get noticed. It added: “we don’t think that is healthy for the system or really what customers want”.

“We understand that running contests or giving away copies of your game can be viewed as a form of marketing," read a statement. "But for the purposes of Greenlight, we don’t think that giving away copies of your game in exchange for votes accurately reflects genuine customer interest.

“This is something we continue to take into account when evaluating titles to be greenlit. The result is that it may take significantly longer for your title to get greenlit, as it is much more work for us to try and understand customer interest in a title that has collected some unknown number of votes in this manner.”