Game Retailers Let Off Some Steam
Alleged Refusal to sell Steam titles in near future
It has been alleged that key games retailers will stop selling titles that integrate the popular steam service due to its supposed monopoly on the current games download market.
The service, run by developer Valve, serves up to 80% of the PC download sector, causing retailers to be wary of what they see will affect their own download distribution services once they get off the ground.
Titles such as Call of Duty and Fallout have Steam functionality built-in but the retailers are concerned that titles that carry this tech will steadily push users towards only buying games via Valve's online service.
Two unnamed major retailers in the UK have demanded that publishers remove the facility from their titles or they will not sell their games at all. The CEO of Gaikai, David Perry, added that Steam could evolve into the gaming equivalent of iTunes where it would control the distribution market as opposed to the current existing model. He added that “Steam has made it so easy for everyone and they have lots of users. But how long do you wait before you take control of your own digital strategy? Like with iTunes, at some point it’s going to be too late.”
Retailers just blowing off a lot of hot air or is Steam a genuine threat to their major interests and revenue stream? Any thoughts, feel free to post them down below.
Source: MCV
The service, run by developer Valve, serves up to 80% of the PC download sector, causing retailers to be wary of what they see will affect their own download distribution services once they get off the ground.
Titles such as Call of Duty and Fallout have Steam functionality built-in but the retailers are concerned that titles that carry this tech will steadily push users towards only buying games via Valve's online service.
Two unnamed major retailers in the UK have demanded that publishers remove the facility from their titles or they will not sell their games at all. The CEO of Gaikai, David Perry, added that Steam could evolve into the gaming equivalent of iTunes where it would control the distribution market as opposed to the current existing model. He added that “Steam has made it so easy for everyone and they have lots of users. But how long do you wait before you take control of your own digital strategy? Like with iTunes, at some point it’s going to be too late.”
Retailers just blowing off a lot of hot air or is Steam a genuine threat to their major interests and revenue stream? Any thoughts, feel free to post them down below.
Source: MCV
Companies:
Valve
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Comments
AndyJWS 11 Nov 2010 13:59
1/2
Sounds like the retailers prefer invasive DRM! And most are already undercutting Steam... SteamWorks is optional too, and makes for an easy cataloguing, so not sure what the point is other than to shoot themselves in the foot further with the PC market?
RobB 11 Nov 2010 16:11
2/2
I have no issues with steam at all. The best thing I like about steam is that IF my game disk either gets lost or damaged, I can just download the whole game from the servers and carry on playing. I never used to like steam but it has improved a lot over the years and I do prefer if games have steam on them as I then know if I lose or break my disk, least I wont have to buy the game again!