Personally I think it's a slippery slope to go on Steam. Steam represents corporate proprietary economy, what to me is like the opposite of the free software philosophy. If you mingle with them, they change you rather than you change them.
I think the purity of this game is endlessly more important than the amount of players. Quality is endlessly more important than quantity. It's better to be a relatively lonely precious gem than to be a rusty metal among millions of rusty metals.
A flashing gemstone of good quality will surely always attract some people, and then it will be the right people, those who can truly appreciate it.