Steam is one of the few powers in the game industry that everyone seems to love. Smaller multi-platform developers routinely report that Steam is their biggest money maker, and diehard fans of the service will tell you flat out that it’s the only place they’ll buy games on PC. It sometimes seems like there are only two types of people — those who who love Steam, and those who just haven’t signed up for it yet.
It’s looking like there may be at least one person who exists outside those two categories, at least for the moment. Renegade Kid president and Sup, Holmes? alumni Jools Watcham (episode 10) recently had his critically acclaimed 3DS eShop title Mutant Mudds rejected from the Steam storefront. Why didn’t they want the game? Reportedly, Jools was told that “Steam was not a good fit for distribution” and that was it. No request to fix specific bugs. No constructive criticism. Just a “No Thank You” and that’s that.
There are a lot worse games than Mutant Mudds on Steam, which makes me wonder if there is something else going on here. Is Valve unhappy with the fact that the game was on the 3DS first? Do they hate the idea of another bespectacled scientist hero taking charge on their storefront, while their own nerdy hero remains in permanent limbo? I’ve reached out to Valve for comment. Hopefully they’ll give us some answers.
In the meantime, Jools is planning to resubmit to Steam, and is reportedly interested in shopping the game around to other services like Good Old Games and GamersGate. You PC owners will get Mutant Mudds eventually. Trust me, it’ll be worth the wait. The soundtrack alone is worth the price of the admission.
3DS INDIE HIT ‘MUTANT MUDDS’ REJECTED BY STEAM – ARE VALVE DOING ENOUGH? [IndieGameMag]
