When Steam’s Greenlight service first hit, it seemed to be the perfect avenue for aspiring game developers who wanted to break into the business. Several of the indie darlings we drool over now came to Valve’s digital service by way of Greenlight, and it was a nice alternative to the crowded and sometimes hostile kickstarter environment.

Though according to news coming out of the Steam Dev Says Event, it seems Gabe Newell is ready to clip its wings.

Valve’s head honcho quickly remarked that he wasn’t removing Greenlight due to lack of usefulness, but rather, a change brought on by evolving needs. Though we haven’t heard what, if anything, will replace it, you have to wonder what will eventually fill that void.

Greenlight isn’t without criticism though, and Valve surely is aware of that. Many indie developers have criticized it for being nothing more than a popularity contest and find it hard to get noticed amongst the bottomless crevasse of titles that clog the service up.

Amusingly, Steam’s “Early Access” system seems to have already filled that need, since it appears to have taken the spot in the development community that Greenlight was meant to.

Hopefully we’ll learn more as the Steam Dev Days event continues.