Steam gives Greenlight project a red light

Valve has stopped a game from being published on Steam due to the project having an active Greenlight page, claims Mike Maulbeck of Code Avarice.

Paranautical Activity had appeared on the community voting portal before getting a potential publishing deal with Adult Swim, which was expected to see the game released on the digital distribution platform.

But now the studio claims that Valve won’t let the title appear without first passing the Greenlight phase, as the company "didn’t want to send the message that indies can seek out publishers to bypass Steam Greenlight.”

The above quote is softened in a video explaining the situation, where Valve is quoted as saying that indies “shouldn’t seek out publishers to get around the Greenlight system.”

As the studio was mainly seeking a publisher to get on Steam, the deal, which the video said could have cost the developers 40 per cent of the profit, might be off.

The result is that Paranautical Activity is back to square one, having to focus its efforts on a long abandoned Greenlight campaign.

Valve’s Doug Lombardi told Gamasutra that his company didn’t want indies splitting their royalties just to get on Steam.

"We review Greenlight votes, reviews, and a variety of factors in the Greenlight process,”

“However our message to indies regarding publishers is do it for your own reasons, but do not split your royalties with a publisher expecting an automatic ‘Yes’ on Greenlight.”