As most know, Steam is a very closed shop indeed. Even before the current gen consoles' "more open" policies, you could always get a contact at MS or Sony to try and get on their kit. They'd often say no, but you could at least have that conversation. Even when you got that no, it was a dignified experience where you felt like a grown-up talking to the big boys.
But getting to talk to someone at Steam as an outsider is not so easy so you're left with the popularity contest that is the Greenlight process.
So. We had a mobile game that we'd taken the time to make work nicely on PC. Steam is pretty much the only game in town so we had to get on it to make any decent sales. We couldn't win that popularity contest on PC because what fanbase we do have all come from mobile. The only realistic answer for us was to put our dearly held indie status to one side and find a publisher with a backstage pass.
Enter Cosmi. Once part of THQ. We spoke at length, they promised presence in Walmart (lie), Target (lie) and Steam (result). Yes, we got what we wanted. Walmart's budget aisle would've been nice, but we wanted Steam and they got us Steam so all is well.
Until they stopped paying us. We're currently owed about £15K with a quarter to come. I'm assuming they went bust seeing as they're not responding to my queries/cajolling/threats. And as an overseas company we've probably not heard from a liquidator about our debt. Or something. I can't bring myself to find out as it'll only piss me off if I see they're still trading. We're not getting our cash either way.
So anyway. We got our first ever game on Steam. It's there right now.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/216670/
AND WE STILL CAN'T EARN FROM IT.
This could only happen to me!
EDIT: News just in. We've now spoken with a representative from Valve and they were perfectly reasonable about the situation. A resolution is on the cards... :)
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