GamersGate CEO: "We're Not Afraid of Steam"

[ultratog1028]

Honestly, have never heard of gamers gate. I think it is Steam that isn't afraid of them.

 

[Elementlmage]

"In fact, we know from the feedback we receive from customers, one of the reasons we have such great growth is because many gamers out there don't like Steam and see Gamersgate as a better alternative. Once digital sales are superior to physical sales, we believe Steam will have a harder time remaining number one."

I seem to recall a vary similar vein of flawed logic oft spouted on a little show called "Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares."

Gordon's response was always,"If people don't like your restaurant, they don't tell you; they just don't come back... How thick are you?"

 

[Vault101]

Honestly? He's being very, very bearish about Steam, and I think he's overstating things, to say the least. I'm not convinced that Gamersgate's approach will appeal as much as Steam's (or Direct2drive's or, in an ideal world, GOG's) once the casual PC gamers, and, honestly? I think most of said casual PC gamers have already been scooped up, by Steam or Facebook. Digital downloads will accelerate, but I think most of that acceleration will come from the console side since (short of GAME, GameStop et al. announcing that they're totally abandoning the PC games market wholesale) the vast majority of PC gamers now have some experience with digital distribution (even if it's only activating a Steamworks game or registering an EA game for re-downloads).

And isn't "integrated friends list, achievements and the like" some of the things that Xbox Live is praised for?

what? so are they acutally not going to stock PC games retail anymore? Isnt EB games owned by gamestop? thats not good.....

 

[Vault101]

Steam will always be the number 1, they were the first and committed to the PC when everyone else turned their backs on it in favour of consoles.

Exactly. Steam, to some degree, saved pc gaming. If it wasn't for Steam, there probably wouldn't be a PC market for GG to exploit.

I thourght PC gaming wasnt actually dying?

 

[Raregolddragon]

Hail Steam
Hail Gabe
Hail Dr.Freeman
Hail G man
Hail the insanely good sales!
Hail US!

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

from their technical faq:

"NOTE: Internet connection is required for performing the installation process. Installation cannot be made manually. It is done automatically and it requires internet connection to be performed properly."

DRM fail. I will never buy any game that requires a phone home to install.

Doesn't it mostly mean that in order to install your digitally distributed game you do in fact need a means to get online to download it?

No it means that the fully functional installer you download needs to phone home and get permission before it will run. Or the installer isn't fully functional and it needs to get pieces every time it runs.

The result is the name, you need to ask permission from a server somewhere before you can use your property.

 

[teh_gunslinger]

from their technical faq:

"NOTE: Internet connection is required for performing the installation process. Installation cannot be made manually. It is done automatically and it requires internet connection to be performed properly."

DRM fail. I will never buy any game that requires a phone home to install.

Doesn't it mostly mean that in order to install your digitally distributed game you do in fact need a means to get online to download it?

No it means that the fully functional installer you download needs to phone home and get permission before it will run. Or the installer isn't fully functional and it needs to get pieces every time it runs.

The result is the name, you need to ask permission from a server somewhere before you can use your property.

I don't know. I mean, I've been able to install my games from GamersGate while being offline. Only problem was with Dead Space 2, but that was due to EA including securom in it and needing to activate it.

As far as I have experienced, when I have downloaded a game from GG I've been able to do with it what I wanted.

 

[ark123]

Unless they sell the same games at half the price, they will be CRUSHED by Steam. We all love Valve. They are genuine Good Guys, and you don't find those easily in this industry.

 

[Delusibeta]

Honestly? He's being very, very bearish about Steam, and I think he's overstating things, to say the least. I'm not convinced that Gamersgate's approach will appeal as much as Steam's (or Direct2drive's or, in an ideal world, GOG's) once the casual PC gamers, and, honestly? I think most of said casual PC gamers have already been scooped up, by Steam or Facebook. Digital downloads will accelerate, but I think most of that acceleration will come from the console side since (short of GAME, GameStop et al. announcing that they're totally abandoning the PC games market wholesale) the vast majority of PC gamers now have some experience with digital distribution (even if it's only activating a Steamworks game or registering an EA game for re-downloads).

And isn't "integrated friends list, achievements and the like" some of the things that Xbox Live is praised for?

what? so are they acutally not going to stock PC games retail anymore? Isnt EB games owned by gamestop? thats not good.....

Talk about jumping to conclusions. I'm saying that digital distribution for PC games won't massively expand until Gamestop, GAME et al stop selling PC games wholesale. Until then, most of DD's expansion I'd expect to be on the console side.

 

[Vault101]

Honestly? He's being very, very bearish about Steam, and I think he's overstating things, to say the least. I'm not convinced that Gamersgate's approach will appeal as much as Steam's (or Direct2drive's or, in an ideal world, GOG's) once the casual PC gamers, and, honestly? I think most of said casual PC gamers have already been scooped up, by Steam or Facebook. Digital downloads will accelerate, but I think most of that acceleration will come from the console side since (short of GAME, GameStop et al. announcing that they're totally abandoning the PC games market wholesale) the vast majority of PC gamers now have some experience with digital distribution (even if it's only activating a Steamworks game or registering an EA game for re-downloads).

And isn't "integrated friends list, achievements and the like" some of the things that Xbox Live is praised for?

what? so are they acutally not going to stock PC games retail anymore? Isnt EB games owned by gamestop? thats not good.....

Talk about jumping to conclusions. I'm saying that digital distribution for PC games won't massively expand until Gamestop, GAME et al stop selling PC games wholesale. Until then, most of DD's expansion I'd expect to be on the console side.

sorry its just that online purchases arnt an option for me

 

[DTWolfwood]

How come no1 ever mentions the fact Steam auto patches all the games you have installed with it? I found that to the be single deciding factor in y i prefer steam over everything else.

Impulse autopatch their games too, but their client is crap

So Gamersgate, I ask you this, do you provide some means of getting the hassle out of my PC gaming experience with your enticing "client-free experience" or do i have to rip my hair out every time my PC game is out of date to play online? (assuming these games i speak of don't self patch like those games of old, i.e. battlefield, armed assault.) [hyperbole and exaggeration added for affect]

 

[Mr. Socky]

Gamersgate should merge with GoG.

I have games on just about every DD portal (except Direct2Drive), and as far as client-based systems go Steam is king -- but GoG is king on client-less systems. Combine GoG's backlibrary with Gamersgate current library and you might have a real competitor...

and anything is better than the ?A $tore or other half-assed publisher portals.

I've got stuff on pretty much everything but Gamersgate, and I'd have to agree with you. Steam is the most reliable, the easiest to use, the best catalogue, and the largest user base. First party services like EA's don't even compare, and while the rest of the website based DD services work fine, they just aren't as good as Steam. They would be wise to team up against the behemoth that is Valve.

 

[Jaded Scribe]

While I can see their point about the casual demographic, and I doubt Steam can force GamersGate out of business, I don't think anyone is going to unseat Steam anytime soon.

 

[Sovereignty]

I agree simply on the points that they can't stay atop forever. It just wont work. Once competition comes round things change.