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Paranautical Activity allegedly blocked from Steam release due to Greenlight conflict

Paranautical Activity allegedly blocked from Steam release due to Greenlight conflict


After securing a publisher for its first-person shooter Paranautical Activity, indie developer Code Avarice claims that it has been blocked from a direct Steam release due to a conflict with a previously launched Steam Greenlight campaign.

Code Avarice submitted Paranautical Activity to Steam Greenlight in August last year, and later entered talks with Adult Swim Games to assist with promotion and publishing. Code Avarice's Mike Maulbeck claims that Adult Swim's recent attempt to directly publish the game through Steam was turned down because Valve "didn't want to send the message that indies can seek out publishers to bypass Steam Greenlight."

Maulbeck elaborates in the interview above, saying, "We just assumed that we would need Greenlight because everybody has to go through Greenlight now."

Maulbeck continues: "Now we're just dead in the water. We've got a Greenlight campaign that we haven't touched in months, and we have to resurrect it from the ashes, because that's our only option at this point.

"We can totally back out [of Adult Swim's publishing agreement] now if we want to," Maulbeck said. "We haven't officially decided if we want to go with them, but the fact that we have to get onto Steam [ourselves] is a real bummer."

Addressing the situation, Valve's Doug Lombardi told Gamasutra, "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."