GamersGate CEO Theo Bergquist believes his company will soon dominate the digital distribution landscape while Steam will struggle to maintain its position.
As online distribution becomes the norm for PC gamers, Bergquist said to Industry Gamers that Valve's digital store will suffer by limiting itself only to the hardcore audience. “To be honest, we’re not afraid of Steam. We think they are peaking now... Once digital sales are superior to physical sales, we believe Steam will have a harder time remaining #1.
“Steam’s marketshare will shrink in the future and … GamersGate is well positioned as one of the digital distribution platforms that has strong momentum to gain marketshare.” Bergquist added that customer satisfaction will be a key factor in its growth - noting that a lot of feedback it receives relates to gamers preferring GamersGate over Steam.
Sales at the Paradox Interactive-founded store shot up by 72 per cent over the holiday season, and some publishing partners saw rises of up to 120 per cent. GamersGate's competition is fierce however, with Direct2Drive, Impulse, retail indie sites and publishers' own outlets all wanting a piece of the pie.
Bergquist rolled off a number of reasons why he thinks GamersGate could prevail - "premium customer support, a client-free experience, a robust reward program, and a DRM-friendly policy." Will it topple Steam? Only time will tell...
As online distribution becomes the norm for PC gamers, Bergquist said to Industry Gamers that Valve's digital store will suffer by limiting itself only to the hardcore audience. “To be honest, we’re not afraid of Steam. We think they are peaking now... Once digital sales are superior to physical sales, we believe Steam will have a harder time remaining #1.
“Steam’s marketshare will shrink in the future and … GamersGate is well positioned as one of the digital distribution platforms that has strong momentum to gain marketshare.” Bergquist added that customer satisfaction will be a key factor in its growth - noting that a lot of feedback it receives relates to gamers preferring GamersGate over Steam.
Sales at the Paradox Interactive-founded store shot up by 72 per cent over the holiday season, and some publishing partners saw rises of up to 120 per cent. GamersGate's competition is fierce however, with Direct2Drive, Impulse, retail indie sites and publishers' own outlets all wanting a piece of the pie.
Bergquist rolled off a number of reasons why he thinks GamersGate could prevail - "premium customer support, a client-free experience, a robust reward program, and a DRM-friendly policy." Will it topple Steam? Only time will tell...
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Comments
irritant 8 Feb 2011 11:33
1/5
He's bound to be right. I'm almost 100% certain that if Valve noticed that Steam was losing any market share (and let's be honest, they probably don't even bother checking) then they'd just sit back and say "oh well, it was nice while it lasted".
They definitely won't be looking at what consumers like about other services and then modifying their own service. Oh no. Definitely not. That'd just be crazy.
They definitely won't be looking at what consumers like about other services and then modifying their own service. Oh no. Definitely not. That'd just be crazy.
me 8 Feb 2011 12:38
2/5
Ha, once one of these controlling Goliaths goes bust and people can't get or use their paid for games anymore, they will soon wake up to what I have been saying all along. Any service built on selling you games they have to then indefinitely manage/serve up to you for free, is just not realistic.
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lolz 8 Feb 2011 13:56
3/5
wasn't Ragdoll Kungfu first released on Steam?
Is that "hardcore"?
Is that "hardcore"?
irritant 8 Feb 2011 14:01
4/5
Yeah, all those Popcap games that are on there too.
I personally cannot find a single fault with the Steam service and I cannot see it going bust any time soon. Some of the other services might, but sooner or later, we're all going to have to be downloading our software when the likes of Game go bust.
I personally cannot find a single fault with the Steam service and I cannot see it going bust any time soon. Some of the other services might, but sooner or later, we're all going to have to be downloading our software when the likes of Game go bust.
Diesel 8 Feb 2011 21:03
5/5
As long as Valve keeps making their own games that can only run on Steam (TF2, L4D, etc.) they will always be the leader.
Steam is the leader because Valve makes good games. This is something the other digital distributors don't seem to understand. If you want to be as popular as Steam than you need to make popular multiplayer games that encourage people to use your services and distributor.
Steam is the leader because Valve makes good games. This is something the other digital distributors don't seem to understand. If you want to be as popular as Steam than you need to make popular multiplayer games that encourage people to use your services and distributor.