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[Cyan Leader]

We all heard this question a million times when recommending this game to others. "Why isn't this game on Steam?". While I understand Alex's stance on it since he's worried about negative reactions from people disliking EA games with few updates, I legit believe this stance is hurting the game more than it is helping at this point. Take Sseth's wave, for example. I'm sure it has been great for the game, but I can't help but wonder how many people that would have bought the game due that video didn't since it's not available on a platform that they can purchase things on, and are now just using the "trial" option. I made this argument before on the Epic Games thread but I'll make it here again, the number of people that rely on Steam's international payment solutions to purchase games is not insignificant. 

Moreover, the game is far more complete now than it was before. These types of games have proven to be successful on Steam even if they seldom receive updates, granted they are good. I can think of no better game to compare to than with Factorio. It is still in EA, very rarely gets content updates (though frequent bugfixes) and it's sitting at 98% positive reviews due to people's trust in the development team.

Finally, what people want these days is not necessary constant updates, but communication. Alex has proven to be very active on both Twitter and here, and the blog posts are more than enough proof for people to know that the game is being worked on. Just link the blog posts to the Steam community and the reputation will be fine.

It's time to reconsider.

[[HN]]

It would SURE help its growth, but really, if the devs works on it on their spare time and aren't in a rush, it's probably safer for them to stay out of steam and make an explosive entrance on steam when it's ready and complete rather than wasting its moment in the spotlight as a early access unfinished game that will bet a way harder time to grab the spotlight again when it's going to get out of EA.

[Cyan Leader]

Starsector is Alex's full time job.

Being on Steam won't make the future updates magically unpopular. I remember quite well how drastically Terraria's numbers shot up every time it got a major update, since those were teased and elaborated on for months, very similarly to how its done with the blogs here.

[[HN]]

You have a point when it comes to the parallel with Terraria...

The difference tho is that the days where EA games on steam got a lot of spotlight are long gone, you get less exposure for a shorter amount of time, but its also true that the game is way over the "playable state" right now and could easy pass as complete.

That said, a lot of exposure isn't always a good thing, especially when you are a small team working on the game without people dealing with the PR stuff, it takes a decent amount of time to deal with all that stuff.

I'm not saying that adding the game to steam would be a bad idea, just that I can totally understand why they wouldn't until "it's done", especially if they aren't living under a damp bridge in the mean time (but it's that's the case, than just put the game on steam and go buy a better bridge already!).

[Cyan Leader]

The difference tho is that the days where EA games on steam got a lot of spotlight are long gone, you get less exposure for a shorter amount of time

Steam exposure is not even what I'm arguing for in this thread. It's mainly the fact that people are already becoming more and more interested in the game but the purchase method is turning people off. Ergo, the current stance is hampering the game's growth.

especially when you are a small team working on the game without people dealing with the PR stuff, it takes a decent amount of time to deal with all that stuff.

I don't follow. The "PR stuff" would be just business as usual. Alex is already a lot more communicative than most gamedevs on Steam.

[Komoriri]

Hello I am from the new-wave of users currently getting into the game.

The ancient incredible weird distribution on that insanely terrible BMT site nearly made me skip buying into the game and just pirate it from somewhere. I can assure you a few of my friends were not able to complete their purchase in said platform and are still using non valid versions of the game to play. You are truly, deliberately shooting yourself in the foot with not registering to widely known distribution platforms. ESPECIALLY now that a review gave you the huge influx of interest. Out of a business perspective there couldn't be a better time to finally do that step.

Bad decisions can hurt the finest passion project.

[[HN]]

Steam exposure is not even for what I'm arguing for in this thread. It's mainly the fact that people are already becoming more and more interested in the game but the purchase method is turning people off. Ergo, the current stance is hampering the game's growth.

Hmm... possible yeah. The thing looks awful, but it's still really easy to use tho and if someone is really interested I don't think the thing is bad enough to turn them off.

I don't follow. The "PR stuff" would be just business as usual. Alex is already a lot more communicative than most gamedevs on Steam.

It's a question of scale. Communicating with a small group of people dedicated enough to find them off platform is way easier than having to deal with the MASSIVE tide of (moronic) people you can have on steam.

[mxyzptlk]

Hello I am from the new-wave of users currently getting into the game.

The ancient incredible weird distribution on that insanely terrible BMT site nearly made me skip buying into the game and just pirate it from somewhere. I can assure you a few of my friends were not able to complete their purchase in said platform and are still using non valid versions of the game to play. You are truly, deliberately shooting yourself in the foot with not registering to widely known distribution platforms. ESPECIALLY now that a review gave you the huge influx of interest. Out of a business perspective there couldn't be a better time to finally do that step.

Bad decisions can hurt the finest passion project.

I agree with this guy, also, ive mentioned about Starsector in X4 Foundation Steam Forum and saw some users saying that Starsector is a amazing game that they just discovered because i mentioned him.

So, idk, but i think that Steam isnt needed, but ofc... Theres a "marketing" that could be made. That review is one of biggest example of this.

[Cyan Leader]

It's a question of scale. Communicating with a small group of people dedicated enough to find them off platform is way easier than having to deal with the MASSIVE tide of (moronic) people you can have on steam.

You're making this a bigger deal than it is. Alex already communicates just fine regardless if the game has 10k active players or 100k. Please tell me what successful EA games on Steam such as Black Mesa, Risk of Rain 2, Factorio or Pavlov are doing that Alex isn't already doing.

[Komoriri]

It's a question of scale. Communicating with a small group of people dedicated enough to find them off platform is way easier than having to deal with the MASSIVE tide of (moronic) people you can have on steam.

You're making this a bigger deal than it is. Alex already communicates just fine regardless if the game has 10k active players or 100k. Please tell me what successful EA games on Steam such as Black Mesa, Risk of Rain 2, Factorio or Pavlov are doing that Alex isn't already doing.

They are on Steam to begin with. 

[Alex]

Yeah, I need to think about this. Thank you for the thoughts, feedback, and concern! It wouldn't be super quick anyway (a bunch to do, the waiting period, etc), so it'll also be interesting to see where this current burst settles out.

especially when you are a small team working on the game without people dealing with the PR stuff, it takes a decent amount of time to deal with all that stuff.

I don't follow. The "PR stuff" would be just business as usual. Alex is already a lot more communicative than most gamedevs on Steam.

(I'll just say, I haven't done anything other than emails, twitter, and assorted tech support for two days. I'm certainly not complaining at all! It's the best possible reason for being super busy. But if Steam did lead to scaling things up on a consistent basis, I would have to be less individually-communicative just to have any time to make forward progress on the game, or, like, do anything else. It's not a reason not to go on Steam, though, that's... just what "success" necessarily looks like, I think.

And, of course, I wouldn't expect "being on Steam" to have anything like the effect of Sseth's video. So it's really a spectrum as far as time being spent on things. I guess this is kind of a tangential point to what you guys are talking about.

So, to bring it back around, that's an interesting point as far as "updates" vs "being communicative".)

[Megas]

The ancient incredible weird distribution on that insanely terrible BMT site nearly made me skip buying into the game...

The "ancient incredible weird distribution" is exactly why I got Starfarer/Starsector over SPAZ when SPAZ was more impressive (or at least more arcade-like shmup) than Starfarer.  If Starsector had online activation or required online account with a third-party like nearly every other modern game, I would have never bought my key.

I wish more games could be purchased the old-fashioned way.  These days, I have weened off of most games because I dislike modern business with games.  I refuse to buy games if I must have a Steam account or other third-party to activate.

[Komoriri]

The ancient incredible weird distribution on that insanely terrible BMT site nearly made me skip buying into the game...

The "ancient incredible weird distribution" is exactly why I got Starfarer/Starsector over SPAZ when SPAZ was more impressive (or at least more arcade-like shmup) than Starfarer.  If Starsector had online activation or required online account with a third-party like nearly every other modern game, I would have never bought my key.

I wish more games could be purchased the old-fashioned way.  These days, I have weened off of most games because I dislike modern business with games.  I refuse to buy games if I must have a Steam account or other third-party to activate.

Steam is only a distribution platform and offers basic DRM to developers that want to make use of it. There are a lot of DRM free games on steam that you can take, copy and move around freely and boot - even without steam started - on steam. It's an individual choice of the developer and publisher. But even then, there are other shops offering truly consistent DRM free solutions like GoG where you don't even need an account or launcher besides for buying the game in the first place.

The old fashioned way, as in physical release, is simply not possible for independent game projects with online stores being the only alternative. I don't know why you would fight that as the alternative would be not having a lot of smaller games at all. There is a lot more competition and big names but Steam.

[Cosmitz]

As someone that has touched on the gaming industry a bit, being on any platform requires a lot more upkeep than just running it through the site alone, and that may be more upkeep that Alex would want to do on his own. Sure, he can expand with a dedicated PR/marketing person, but that is a new person to manage and integrate.

However, i will say that it's 2019 and there have to be better, more integrated, and more easily accessible and usable solutions than BMT Micro. I've seen a lot of people not managing to finish orders or buy the game. That's a straight big 'no-no' when it comes to seeing the game as an actual 'successful' product now. The demands upon it become bigger than just the game being fun and not buggy, but the whole experience being as transparent and flawless as possible.

As for 'the game isn't finished'... i've said it before and i'll say it again, each fully hotfixed version of Starsector/farer from .51 onwards can stand on its own as a playable game and experience. I'm amazed at how well it has always been handled and how each game is 'enough' on its own. By this point, if the game launched and it said each new patch is a 'content patch' i don't think anyone would think any different.

[SCC]

I support Alex's decision to hold off releasing the game on major storefronts, and I also appreciate that you can buy the game permanently, no strings attached, no third party programs required. You can make the first impression only once and all that.