Wheel Make It publisher 2 Left Thumbs aired frustrations with Valve after its new co-op game hit just 15 peak concurrent players amid a launch delayed by apparent complications with Steam's approval pipeline.
"We were assured by Steam that missing our launch - as a result of the tidal wave of AI-slop that destroyed their review queue - would not affect the usual mechanisms of launch visibility," the publisher wrote on Sunday. "I beg to differ... 11,000+ wishlists and this is what our launch turned into."
Today's SteamDB figures affirm 2 Left Thumbs' complaint: a 24-hour peak of 15 players, and three players right now. Wheel Make It currently has 11 user reviews (90% positive, anyway).
As Valve admits Steam has an AI slop and cloning problem, I've seen other developers anecdotally report that the store's review process seems to be taking longer than usual, especially during and around Steam Next Fest events flooded with AI-aided games. We're only a few weeks out from the October Next Fest, which set records in a concerning way.
Another developer, Komi Games, shared a similar story a few days ago. The dev claims it submitted its game Infested DX for review on October 9, received a reply from Valve on October 21 requesting a small change that was immediately made and turned around, but "have not gotten a follow-up and have no choice but to wait until they acknowledge and approve the change."
There are some assumptions at play here, and it's unclear exactly how much the rise in AI-aided games has slowed Steam's review pipeline, but I don't doubt that the added volume has been a burden. (Open marketplace Itch.io also said, on October 31, that "the number of game pages being created per day has doubled in the past 2 months," seemingly boosted by AI.) "I have to assume Steam's review system was backed WAY up filtering through 1000s of AI slop games," 2 Left Thumbs said on October 25. "But we're now releasing from a disadvantaged position, without a public date on the page or pre-release momentum."
A game launching on Steam and reaching very few players isn't strange. That probably happens at least 1,000 times a month, and even that is conservative. 2 Left Thumbs specifically skewers Valve for failing to approve Wheel Make It quickly enough for it to meet its intended launch date. The game was meant to launch on October 12, wasn't approved until October 25, and ultimately came out on November 1.
هەفتانە هەرسکردنەکان، چیرۆکەکانی ئەو کۆمەڵگایانەی کە خۆشت دەوێن و زۆر شتی تر
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.gamesradar.com/games/publisher-shakes-fist-at-valve-for-delaying-their-game-as-it-reaches-just-15-players-on-steam-despite-11-000-wishlists-tim-sweeney-liking-this-is-very-unexpected-and-genuinely-hilarious
