Green Man Gaming’s strike at Valve and Steam: First two studios sign to its Loaded publishing label

One of the handful of companies competing with Steam in the PC game-distribution space is turning to publishing.

The United Kingdom-based Green Man Gaming, which sells PC games, revealed the first two studios and games to join the Green Man Loaded publishing label. Developers Pocket Games and Burnt Fuse plan to release their next products in the first quarter of 2015 in partnership with Green Man Gaming. As part of their publishing agreement, Green Man Gaming provides the two developers with the opportunity to get financing to finish their projects, access to a sales and marketing team, and the chance to test the games in beta. Green Man Loaded also promises to always let developers maintain ownership of their intellectual property.

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“Our first mission when we launched Green Man Loaded was to find talented and creative developers to work with,” Green Man Loaded executive vice president Gary Rowe said. “The impressive skill, enthusiasm, and vision of the Pocket Games Inc, and Burnt Fuse teams easily convinced me that they would be the perfect partners to kick off our label. I’m thrilled to announce they are the first studios we will be supporting, and we can’t wait to bring these games to a worldwide audience.”

Pocket Games’ IdolHands is a strategy god game (think the classic Populous) in which you help your people take over the world. Burnt Fuse’s Keebles is a physics puzzler where you must overcome obstacles by building specific kinds of vehicles.

With Steam overflowing with dozens of new games every month, it could benefit smaller studios like Pocket Games and Burnt Fuse to partner closely with an alternative like Green Man Gaming.

“Its an incredibly exciting opportunity for us to see IdolHands as one of Green Man Loaded’s launch titles through their new venture,” Pocket Games chief executive David Lovatt said. “We believe that the opportunity they are affording developers and players alike is great news for fans of PC Gaming.”

“The wealth of industry experience that the Green Man Loaded team brings to a small indie developer like us is invaluable,” Burnt Fuse programming head Gavin Gregson said. “And we’re honored to have been selected to be part of their initial lineup.”