As Steam continues to leave the doors open to developers big and small, its marketplace has become less and less about discovery. Since Valve's storefront is no longer a golden ticket to success by any stretch, other companies can try to fill that void. Twitch is one such candidate, launching their digital storefront in Spring of last year and promoting it via regular free game giveaways to Twitch Prime subscribers. Now, an octet of indie devs will get an even greater boost as their games go head to head to compete for votes during the Indie Amplifier event.
From now to March 11th, Twitch will be featuring each of their eight selections in special streams. Viewers will be able to go to a special landing page and vote for their favorite, and the winner of that poll will be given away to all Twitch Prime subscribers on March 15th. The developer of the winning game will also get a $175,000 prize straight from Twitch.
As for which games are up for competition, it's an eclectic mix that ranges from devil fueled FPS to tactical samurai. The full list of competing games is presented below.
- Tomb of Annihilation (Dungeons and Dragons), from Bkom Studios
- Tumblestone, from Quantum Astorphysicists Guild
- Treadnauts, from Topstitch Games
- High Hell, from Devolver Digital
- I, Hope, from Double Plus Good Games
- Shadow Tactics, from Daedalic Games
- Kingsway, from Cartoon Interactive
- Steamworld Dig 2, from Image & Form
Quick Take
I'm glad to see a big company like Twitch putting their weight behind smaller games. This Indie Amplifier month reminds me of the Summer of Arcade events back during the heyday of Xbox Live Arcade. Just like most of those, all of the selections are well worth another look from the general public. I only wish that Twitch would push their digital games business a little bit more. It's been a year and folks still seem surprised whenever the concept of buying games on Twitch comes up. When they don't even have a link to the store on the homepage, you know it's not a real priority for the company, and that should change. Steam needs the competition.What are your thoughts on the Indie Amplifier event? Will you check out the games on stream, or do you already know which freebie to pick? Let us know in the comments below!
