Asset flip

An asset flip is a type of shovelware in which a video game developer legally purchases pre-made assets and uses them to create numerous permutations of generic games and sell them at low prices.[1] While not technically illegal, they tend to be viewed by gamers as uncreative,[1] and as diverting attention from less popular high-quality titles. Asset flips have been noted to be a problem on many online distribution platforms, especially Steam.[2] The Nintendo Switch eShop has also been accused of allowing the sale of asset flips.[3]

Not to be confused with Property flip.

History

The asset flip game rose to prominence in the 2010s with the advent of pre-made royalty-free assets. The Unity store launched in 2010,[4] and Unity acknowledged the problem of "flips" in a 2015 blog post.[5] The term "asset flip" was coined by games journalist Jim Sterling around this time.[1]

In February 2017, developers Digital Homicide Studios were accused of creating asset flips by Sterling, who reviewed one of their games, The Slaughtering Grounds. In response, they sued Sterling for US$10 million, as well as anonymous Steam users for US$18 million. These lawsuits were dismissed, and the developer's games were removed from Steam for violating their terms of service.[6]

In September 2017, Steam removed 173 asset flip titles released by the studio Silicon Echo and associated accounts. 86 of those titles had been launched in the two months before the crackdown, accounting for approximately 10% of all games added to Steam in the period.[7] The games were constructed out of assets from the Unity store, and were released in bulk after the studio had found a means of circumventing the $100 listing fee using a bundle mechanic.[8] Valve released a statement addressing the move, stating: "this person was mass-shipping nearly-identical products on Steam that were impacting the store’s functionality and making it harder for players interested in finding fun games to play".[9]

In 2018, Steam declared, after pulling the school shooting game Active Shooter, that it would "allow everything" on its platform regardless of quality.[10] Valve engineer Erik Johnson later clarified that Steam would only remove "obvious troll" games, despite the contention of critics and gamers that asset flips are harmful to players, developers and Steam itself. The steadily increasing amount of asset flips on Steam, due to a loosening of inclusion criteria, led to what commentators called the "Steampocalypse", in which discoverability for most indie developers dropped precipitously regardless of game quality.[2]

2018 also saw the release of Asset Flip Simulator on Steam, a game designed to criticise the practice.[11]

Criticism

Some critics and developers, such as Bennett Foddy, have lamented the use of "asset flip" as a "catch-all" term, believing that some high-quality or experimental games that use a large amount of pre-made assets are unfairly labeled as "asset flips" by players, such as PUBG.[2]

References
  1. "Free speech or criminal harassment? Arizona game maker sues online commenters for $18M".
  2. Grubb, Jeff (2018-07-12). "In defense of asset flips on Steam". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on 2018-07-12. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  3. Craddock, Ryan (2020-05-11). "Nintendo Accused Of Hosting Asset Flip Game On Switch, And Fans Aren't Happy". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on 2020-05-11. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  4. "Unity Technologies Launches 3rd Party Marketplace 'Unity Asset Store' | Unity".
  5. "Asset Store: A force for creative goodness".
  6. D'Anastasio, Cecilia (2017-02-21). "Court Throws Out Digital Homicide's Case Against Critic Jim Sterling". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 2017-02-22. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  7. "Valve removes 173 'asset flipping games' from Steam".
  8. "After having 200 "fake games" pulled from Steam, Silicon Echo Studios are shutting down".
  9. "Valve removes nearly 200 cheap, 'fake' games from Steam (Update)". Polygon. 26 September 2017.
  10. Lucero II, Louis (2018-06-08). "Steam, After Pulling School Shooter Game, Says It Will Sell Nearly Everything". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-12-16.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. "'Asset Flip Simulator' Highlights a Huge Problem on Steam".
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