"No school shooters": Robot Cache promises more curation than Steam
CEO says every game submitted will be reviewed for content on blockchain-based marketplace
Upcoming digital games retailer Robot Cache has pledged that it will keep its inventory free of the controversial and poor quality titles that have mired Steam's reputation in recent years.
Speaking to PCGamesInsider.biz, CEO Lee Jacobson said it was going to be much more careful than Valve about the type of games allowed on its storefront, stressing that the marketplace will be curated.
"There are going to be no school shooter games, nothing like that at all on Robot Cache," he told the site. "I wish I could tell you the exact approach about how we're going to do this but right now we're going to look at all the games. Every game that gets submitted will be reviewed for content."
His comments follow controversy around Steam from earlier this year. Valve's marketplace allowed a developer to release a 'school shooting simulator', even in the wake of the tragedy in Florida back in February.
Eventually, the company pulled this game (and the developer's entire catalogue) from sale - but only because the developer was deemed a "troll" with "a history of customer abuse, publishing copyrighted material, and user review manipulation."
The firm later clarified that it will allow anything on the store that isn't illegal or trolling, a position our own Brendan Sinclair called a "gutless attempt to dodge responsibility."
Robot Cache's Jacobson was also critical of Steam in his comments, and pledged to do better with his firm's own storefront.
"You can put anything you want on Steam - people can download Unity assets of two characters fighting, put that up for 99 cents and call that a game. We're not going to put that game on Robot Cache. I'm hoping we can learn and have a good curation process over time. I don't want people looking through 70,000 titles."
Robot Cache was announced earlier this year as the brainchild of veteran games developer Brian Fargo. It will be a blockchain-based platform using cryptocurrency for purchases and offers publishers 70 per cent of the proceeds.
We spoke to Fargo earlier this year about his hopes for the store.