GamersGate CEO Thinks Buying Impulse Could Be the Wrong Move for GameStop

Logan Westbrook

Transform, Roll Out, Etc
Feb 21, 2008
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GamersGate CEO Thinks Buying Impulse Could Be the Wrong Move for GameStop

Impulse might be more of a turkey than a golden goose, says the digital distribution boss.

If GameStop is hoping to stave off obsolescence in an age of digital distribution, buying Stardock's Impulse [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/108904-GameStop-Buys-Impulse-Further-Invests-in-Digital-Distribution] platform might not have been the right way to go about it. That's the feelings of Theo Bergquist, the CEO of rival digital distribution platform, GamersGate, who offered a rather damning look at GameStop latest acquisition.

Bergquist said that despite appearing to have promise at the start, Impulse had not grown into the Steam-beating service that people had hoped. He referred to Impluse as Steam's "lesser talented stepchild," adding that it didn't have enough users or games, but had plenty of outdated technology. He thought that GameStop probably hadn't had to pay very much to acquire the service, if it had actually paid anything upfront at all. Despite this belief, he said that unless Impulse had some features that were essentially ready to go, GameStop might still have bought itself something of a lemon.

It wasn't all doom and gloom from Bergquist however. He thought that Impulse could very well benefit from GameStop's years of retail experience, as he felt that the service had long lacked a proper retail focus. If GameStop was smart, he said, it could grow the service into something to give Steam a run for its money. On the other hand, if it wasn't smart, GameStop might put itself in a position where starting from scratch on a digital distribution platform would have been a better idea.

This isn't the first time that Bergquist has had less than complementary things to say about his rivals. In February, he said [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/107625-GamersGate-CEO-Were-Not-Afraid-of-Steam] that GamersGate had nearly doubled its user base, a lot of which had to do with people's dissatisfaction with Steam. He also felt it would be GamersGate, and not Steam, that casual gamers would find more appealing when they started buying more games online.

Source: Industry Gamers [http://www.industrygamers.com/news/gamestop-struggling-to-avoid-becoming-the-next-blockbuster-says-gamersgate/]


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Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
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They could have made worse choices that Impulse.

They could have bought GamersGate.
 

Therumancer

Citation Needed
Nov 28, 2007
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Logan Westbrook said:
GamersGate CEO Thinks Buying Impulse Could Be the Wrong Move for GameStop

Impulse might be more of a turkey than a golden goose, says the digital distribution boss.

If GameStop is hoping to stave off obsolescence in an age of digital distribution, buying Stardock's Impulse [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/108904-GameStop-Buys-Impulse-Further-Invests-in-Digital-Distribution] platform might not have been the right way to go about it. That's the feelings of Theo Bergquist, the CEO of rival digital distribution platform, GamersGate, who offered a rather damning look at GameStop latest acquisition.

Bergquist said that despite appearing to have promise at the start, Impulse had not grown into the Steam-beating service that people had hoped. He referred to Impluse as Steam's "lesser talented stepchild," adding that it didn't have enough users or games, but had plenty of outdated technology. He thought that GameStop probably hadn't had to pay very much to acquire the service, if it had actually paid anything upfront at all. Despite this belief, he said that unless Impulse had some features that were essentially ready to go, GameStop might still have bought itself something of a lemon.

It wasn't all doom and gloom from Bergquist however. He thought that Impulse could very well benefit from GameStop's years of retail experience, as he felt that the service had long lacked a proper retail focus. If GameStop was smart, he said, it could grow the service into something to give Steam a run for its money. On the other hand, if it wasn't smart, GameStop might put itself in a position where starting from scratch on a digital distribution platform would have been a better idea.

This isn't the first time that Bergquist has had less than complementary things to say about his rivals. In February, he said [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/107625-GamersGate-CEO-Were-Not-Afraid-of-Steam] that GamersGate had nearly doubled its user base, a lot of which had to do with people's dissatisfaction with Steam. He also felt it would be GamersGate, and not Steam, that casual gamers would find more appealing when they started buying more games online.

Source: Industry Gamers [http://www.industrygamers.com/news/gamestop-struggling-to-avoid-becoming-the-next-blockbuster-says-gamersgate/]


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Gamersgate is nice for finding a lot of niche foreign titles from Russia and so on, but overall I think it's being optimistic in it's relative appeal compared to STEAM.

As far as impulse goes, all I can say is that we'll have to see what happens over time. I also wonder if Gamersgate has a case of "sour grapes" from not getting the offer/contract itself.

I don't much care for STEAM having monopoly, but for all the criticisms I can make, I can't argue with their periodic sales. Even with the risks in digital distribution, and my dislike for it, being able to try a lot of fairly new games for like $6-$10 is worth it.

Gamersgate is running some sales and deals now of it's own (and with greater frequency) but honestly I don't think a lot of their prices go low enough, especially for the games that would be worth buying or trying.
 

unacomn

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Mar 3, 2008
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As much as I like GamersGate, Bergquist is talking out of his behind. I posted a comment on the source site that went something like this, which just about shoots holes in what he said.

"Impulse was it's[Stardock]main money maker, but being a small company, it required more resources to expand properly than the company had, namely, people with skill, the company already having to reallocate from other project to support Impulse. The service wasn't in danger of closing. Also, games are not what made Stardock successful, it was the software side.
And yes, Impulse has yet unreleased technology, namely Impulse::Reactor, that does just about everything Steam does, but without a cumbersome client."

I can't say that I was thrilled to hear that Impulse got nabbed by GameStop, but he's just spewing stuff to get attention.
 

teknoarcanist

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Jun 9, 2008
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Would you call it an....impulse buy?

BADUMTSH.

Obviously Gamestop needs to buy Onlive, which has an absolutely amazing service, but a terribly unfortunate line-up of games.

"Want to buy this game several months after it's been out? No? What if we knock the price to fifty percent? Still no? ..........okay."
 

uguito-93

This space for rent
Jul 16, 2009
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whats with game related companies these days? its like no one can do or say anything without one of their rivals attempting to tear apart everything they say/do.

I kindly direct you all to the latest Critical Miss
 
Apr 28, 2008
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Impulse doesn't need to be running to play the games you bought on it. It is this feature that makes it a bit better than Steam in my eyes. Of course now its owned by Gamestop, and not the decent guys at Stardock, I doubt this will continue.
 

Gnoupi

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Mar 14, 2011
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Some of the arguments from Gamersgate on this article really sound like basic jealousy.

"She picked a really stupid guy anyway"
"For sure he was desperate, to go with her"
"I don't care anyway, I wasn't interested at all"

While the library on Impulse never took off as much as Steam, the client itself is really pleasant, with the advantage of Steam (easy to have up to date games) without having to run it, to play the game. You only need it to install and update.
 

beema

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Aug 19, 2009
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I expect to see GameStop extend its evil tendrils of greed in to the digital industry and ruining it for everyone as well. Hopefully this guy is right, but somehow I doubt it.

Seriously though, what's with all these moronic press statements by people at game companies lately? It's like they are all taking the political-ad-campaign route of trash-talking their competitors and thinking that will somehow make them do better. All it does is make them look low class.
 

PunkRex

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Feb 19, 2010
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teknoarcanist said:
Would you call it an....impulse buy?

BADUMTSH.

Obviously Gamestop needs to buy Onlive, which has an absolutely amazing service, but a terribly unfortunate line-up of games.

"Want to buy this game several months after it's been out? No? What if we knock the price to fifty percent? Still no? ..........okay."
I live in the UK and have no clue what Gamergate even is, all we got over here is GAME the big cooperate money grinder it is and Gamestation, the one with the "offensive" posters and cheaper prices.

"It sounds like this guys just talking *puts on sun glasses*... on impulse"
YYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!
 

The.Bard

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Jan 7, 2011
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Until Gamergate or Impulse ever get a famous musician to write and record a song for their service, I think this argument is moot.

And don't tell me Peter Gabriel wrote Steam before Steam came out. That's just plain silly. Why would he call the song "Steam" if Steam hadn't been created? So stop slurping your bottle of moonshine and get on the truth train, grampaw! The lyrics prove it all:

Oh yeah, I need steam
Feel the steam all around me
Ah you're turning up the heat
When I start to dream aloud
See you move your hands and feet
Won't you step into this cloud of steam
This steam
 

Reduced_Silver

New member
Mar 4, 2011
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I really wanted to support impulse as I liked the Sins series of games. However, being in the UK, almost every time I wanted to buy a game from them rather than Steam, it would say 'sorry, not available in your region'.

How can I support that?
 

thenumberthirteen

Unlucky for some
Dec 19, 2007
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well I've only ever bough one thing off of Impulse, and that wasn't even a game (it was a program called Deskscapes that gives you cool animated wallpapers).

I mean Steam is the king of the market, but at least they're putting money in the sector that's going to see some growth rather than PC retail games.
 

Veloxe

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Oct 5, 2010
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"Yes, our competitors don't know what they are doing. We do, you should invest with us, cause we're awesome. No no no, don't listen to the other people, they don't know what they are talking about. I am the only one here who can be trusted. Trust me. TRUST ME!!!!!"

I know that a business wants to have as big a market share as possible and when a competitor gets merged into a much larger entity one might feel a little inept in comparison but come on, he's just talking out his ass now to try and make it seem like GamersGate is the best thing since virtual sliced bread.
 

The Random One

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May 29, 2008
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Yeah, I bet a guy's responses to an industry behemoth buying one of his direct rivals are going to be full of nuggets of wisdom.

I hope he's right though. But I don't... think that.

Captcha: perfidious ustare. That's the name of my new suburban rap band.
 

Sartan0

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Apr 5, 2010
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This is rich. You might as well ask Steve Jobs what he thinks of Microsoft or a droid phone. Or better yet, flash. ;)
 

GonzoGamer

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Apr 9, 2008
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What's he surprised about.
Gamestop always buys cheap then overcharges as the middle man.