Publishers Believe Digital Distribution Will Save PC, Says Stardock CEO

[Tom Goldman]

Publishers Believe Digital Distribution Will Save PC, Says Stardock CEO

Stardock CEO Brad Wardell talks to people - important people that believe digital distribution will reinvigorate the PC gaming market.

In many retail stores today, PC game sections are unfortunately shrinking, causing many developers and publishers to look away from the platform and towards the console space instead. However, according to Stardock CEO Brad Wardell, the incredible growth shown by digital distribution services such as Impulse [http://store.steampowered.com/] are causing those same developers and publishers to take another look at the PC.

Wardell told Gamasutra: "A lot of publishers are viewing digital distribution as the thing that is going to save PC." Retail may be turning its back on the PC, but consumers are flocking to digital distribution services in droves. Reports earlier this year showed 97% growth in Steam revenues, with a 56 percent increase for Direct2Drive. These are pretty big numbers that are only expected to grow even larger. Wardell believes that digital distribution will double its share of the total PC game market in the next year or two to around 50%.

I can't say I disagree. Steam has for some reason become a staple of my monthly buying habits, whether it be for the latest indie game, a sale on a classic title, or something more recent that I can't find in stores. Digital distribution just makes PC gaming a whole lot easier, too: not having to deal with discs, patches being installed automatically, simply clicking through a menu to choose what game I want to play, etc. Plus, now we know games can actually sell well through digital distribution platforms

But will there be room for everybody? Wardell believes so. He sees Impulse, Stardock's digital distribution platform, as a complement to other services like Steam. He says: "Steam and Impulse start out as competitors here, but we really have different long-term ideas on what we want to do, and they're not mutually exclusive," and he's not wrong. Impulse, Steam, Direct2Drive, Gog.com, and other digital distribution services all offer different methods of purchasing, social networking capabilities, and more. Just as different kinds of retail stores can thrive and compete with each other, so can digital stores now, and that's only a good thing for the consumer.

Source: Gamasutra [http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=24987]


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[Lord_Gremlin]

I personally like Steam. It keeps your game functional, repairs damaged files, automatically download and install updates... Even performs defragmentation. I think for this they deserve full retail price they usually ask on Steam (usually 49.99$).

 

[Sebenko]

Sure, I love Steam, I love PC.

Sounds good to me.

 

[archvile93]

I like steam, but I hope develpoers don't stop releasing at retail markets, because with my internet the installation can take up to a full day.

 

[Proteus214]

It's the easiest way for people to access games. The way that Steam has it set up is perfect. You get the game, descriptions, Meta Critic ratings, trailers, screenshots, and possibly demos all in one place. I'd like to see Gamestop offer some of those options while game shopping.

 

[Chaos Marine]

I have both Impulse, Steam and I've gotten a few titles from GoG and I'm immensely happy with all of them. Though For some reason Demigod seems to hate my system and refuses to boot up without me pressing and holding the return key so it starts it up like ten or twenty times but that's more of a config error I think as a friend of mine has near the exact same build as I do and suffers the same problem.

I just wish one of the services will get Chaos Gate, Final Liberation and System Shock and/or System Shock 2.

 

[Cryo84R]

But PC gaming is the only way to go, and PC gamers are the master race of gamers. How can the platform need saving?

 

[Gunner_Guardian]

Indeed steam is a really nice service. I don't think I've ever bought a PC game outside of steam ever since I got it.

 

[StigmataDiaboli]

Yeah it'll save PC gaming but ruin console gaming.

 

[tsb247]

I am a fan of digital distribution, but only as long as the retail market remains in tact. I dunno... I guess I am one of those weird people who actually likes to be able to hold a disk in their hand and know that they own it (well, the plastic disk anyway).

I use both Impulse and Steam, and I think they are ok, but I would hate to be limited to them for my software buying needs. I will always want the option to buy my games in the store on a disk.

 

[DRADIS C0ntact]

If it wasn't for Steam, I probably would have stopped gaming on the PC. The Gamestops in my town just don't make shelf space for PC games anymore.

 

[Amnestic]

I'm sorry, did I miss the part where PC gaming was dying? Were the massive queues for a fresh pristine copy of World of Warcraft (and then Burning Crusade (and then Wrath of the Lich King)) at my local retailers just people messsing around?

And then there's South Korea and Starcraft
and the thousands of copies of Oblivion and Fallout 3 which people adore...

PC gaming dying? ***** please.

 

[Tom Goldman]

So the PC market is the same as it's always been, huh? No, it's not dying, but it has changed.

 

[Last of the Chinchillas]

All of the "PC gaming is dying out" arguements are completely unfounded.

How much money did World of Warcraft make last year?

 

[Amnestic]

So the PC market is the same as it's always been, huh? No, it's not dying, but it has changed.

Well so has the Console market. Of course the markets have changed. Times change and the internet has given options that were previously unavailable. Save PC in the title implies that it's somehow under threat.

 

[Tom Goldman]

So the PC market is the same as it's always been, huh? No, it's not dying, but it has changed.

Well so has the Console market. Of course the markets have changed. Times change and the internet has given options that were previously unavailable. Save PC in the title implies that it's somehow under threat.

The fact that PC game sections in big retailers like GameStop are shrinking, to almost nothing in many cases, indicate that the market has shrunk. "Saving" the PC could mean to bring it back to its glory days or to make it a more viable platform for exclusives.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I was unaware the PC game market was suffering, but I gotta admit Digital Distribution is really convenient.

 

[Amnestic]

So the PC market is the same as it's always been, huh? No, it's not dying, but it has changed.

Well so has the Console market. Of course the markets have changed. Times change and the internet has given options that were previously unavailable. Save PC in the title implies that it's somehow under threat.

The fact that PC game sections in big retailers like GameStop are shrinking, to almost nothing in many cases, indicate that the market has shrunk. "Saving" the PC could mean to bring it back to its glory days or to make it a more viable platform for exclusives.

Perhaps that is more of an American thing, as browsing my local retailers (GAME, HMV and the like) in the UK and they still have a substantial PC gaming section. Certainly not almost nothing. Admittedly it has shrunk over the years, but I would posit that this is more to do with more consoles being available and popular now than ages past. Shop space hasn't increased, but the number of games and consoles has. A change in size is understandable, I would have thought.

As for your alternate interpretation of 'Saving', I'll concede that I may have misinterprted. I may have been slightly coloured by the number of threads over the months about the "Death of PC Gaming!"