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[Oleg Klishin]

This question bothers me for quiet some time. I've played a number of free games on Steam and they were pretty interesting: Super Crate Box (the best you can get), You Have to Win the Game, Depression Quest, The Plan, Floating Point, The Expendabros etc.

They all are completely free without any microtransactions. I wonder how they are getting there and why we don't see more of these. Looks like most of the developers have other projects they sell and don't drag those little ones through Greenlight.

I mean I think it's a great option to put out the game you don't feel like asking money for. You'll definitely get a TON of feedback, get your name out there, and get some experience publishing on Steam. I can't gather any info on this because google only shows me "download for free!" links, not "WHY Super Crate Box is free". I feel that game alone had already made a great name for Vlambeer.

For example, I'd gladly put my first 30-min long game free on Steam to get name, publicity and real platform release experience. To test the ground I can say. Do I have to go through Greenlight with this? Do I get other expenses maintaining the game except Greenlight fee?

I'm interested to see opinions on this.

[ｂ∀ ｋｋｕｓａ]

yep you need to go through greenlight and you don't get any expense beside greenlight fee. I'm not sure about this, but i'm pretty sure there is something written about it on the greenlight faq.
edit:

I have a free game – can I still submit it to Steam Greenlight?
Yes, you can submit your free game to Steam Greenlight. Note that once your game has been Greenlit and you are preparing for release, any in-game transactions or subscriptions available to Steam customers must be purchasable only by the Steam Wallet.

I think that the reason not a lot of people are doing this is that it's time consuming. making the free game, greenlight process, bug free release. If you don't do it well it will just tarnish your brand .
Greenlight process (number of positive votes) might differ from regular projects.

Dodge Roll also did that with Fork Parker's Holiday Profit Hike and their next game isn't free.