Island Dog

Join Date 06/2003

+1048

Retailers Objecting to Games Installing Steam?

Over the past couple of days, there has been quite a few rumors that big-name game retailers were going to cut down sales of titles such as Dawn of War II. The reason behind this was that executives didn’t like the fact that the game would install the Steam client, which includes their store. Let me point out again that this is a rumor, but it does bring up a good point.

Impulse Reactor is slated to be released this spring, and this will allow game developers to use the Impulse system, without the need of installing client software.

“However, the next version of Impulse Reactor, as Wardell revealed to Big Download in an exclusive phone interview Thursday, will also have a feature that will give developers a way to protect their game's IP without some of the issues that have plagued other DRM set-ups such as Steam or SecuROM (used in a number of Electronic Arts titles.)

As Wardell explained to us, developers who use the next version of Impulse Reactor can include a small DLL that will allow developers to use Stardock servers for registration and updates. For example people who install a game with Impulse Reactor for the first time might be asked for a CD Key and an email address. Once that's done the game is registered with Impulse Reactor servers.”

I don’t want to impose too much on Big Download, so head over there and check out the rest of the article.

Read more at Big Download.

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I read that Gamestop pulled DoW II because of Steam, but they're still selling Empire TW which, AFAIK, uses Steamworks. Considering Gamestop hardly sells PC games these days, I say screw 'em, but it is a shot across the bow. I'd hate for retailers to strong-arm publishers away from convenient systems like Steam and Impulse. Ignoring digital sales really worked for the music industry during the early 2000s.

Within 10 years, I don't see retail being the driving force in the videogame industry. Look forward to the inevitable liquidation sales at Gamecrap.

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WarlokLord

Join Date 09/2007

+19

Throttling back retail sales of a popular title will do nothing to counter the competition to retail posed by online sales. If anything, they will simply accelerate a gravitation towards online venues.

They might try hiring people who know something (anything...) about PC gaming, and actually devote some effort to in-store promotion/placement of PC releases. Up here in Saskatchewan the local outlets treat PC games as negligible tertiary things they just happen to have junked about, new releases being things they may or may not carry. Everything else is slavishly and absurdly devoted to consoles.

When you compare walking into an environment like that to the attentions displayed by an Impulse or a Steam arena, the latter retail arguments seem fairly persuasive...

This is sort of like a salesman giving you bad advice instead of giving you advice that may point you to another store. Sure, the salesman thwarts a sale at a competitor, but they also bullshit you, and bullshitters don`t inspire me to return to them for anything.

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Within 10 years, I don't see retail being the driving force in the videogame industry. Look forward to the inevitable liquidation sales at Gamecrap.

Unfortunately, if you look at Gamestop's end of the year numbers, they made a gigantic profit thanks largely in part to used console game sales. Even if they stop bothering with PC games completely, they make enough revenue on console games to come out pretty far on top.

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I'm a little confused... doesn't the article seem to imply that software that uses Impulse Reator II still requires Impulse to be installed when the game is first registered? Doesn't this only allow for Impulse to not be installed on subsequent installations to, say, other computers for instance?

Or what am I missing?

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There will be an Impulse component (the Impulse Reactor), but it will not require the Impulse client like the one we use now (that contains the store). The reactor stuff will be handled through the DLL, it sounds like, without needing to have the Impulse Client to add the game registration. The only thing the article isn't very clear on is how patching will work - will we need the client to patch the game, or will the DLL provide a means for a direct connection to SD servers through an in-game patcher?

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I have to agree with Annatar yet again.

Hell as long as consoles are a big market factor then B&M secondhand shops will rake in the cash. It is a good thing I'm a PC only guy.

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It sounds like the brick and mortor shops have started to take notice of the digital distribution platforms as competitors. They can keep selling the kiddies scratched up used console games for all I care. Being in a small town with the only place to buy PC games being Walmart, I'm glad to have access to games from Impulse and Steam. I can get games I otherwise wouldn't have access to(in a timely manner) and get them right away.

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Mythor

Join Date 03/2003

Retail establishments have been putting pressure on publishers to let them release games before the digital download is available for a while now.

I think they've realised that the gaming world is starting to make the shift away from the physical and more into the digital realm. It's not going to be all-digital any time soon but with Steam and Impulse and Direct2Drive and all the others covering the PC side and on the console side you have XBOX Live Marketplace and the PSN and Wii online stores...

They've got to hang onto their business as long as they can and putting pressure on publishers to not use Steam or Impulse is certainly one way to try and do that.

But digital downloads aren't going to go away. For one thing they let us buy games at 3am, a rare occurence with a bricks and mortar store.

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Quoting Annatar11,

reply 3

Within 10 years, I don't see retail being the driving force in the videogame industry. Look forward to the inevitable liquidation sales at Gamecrap.
Unfortunately, if you look at Gamestop's end of the year numbers, they made a gigantic profit thanks largely in part to used console game sales. Even if they stop bothering with PC games completely, they make enough revenue on console games to come out pretty far on top.

Gamestop makes most of its money from used console game sales, yes. The one thing publishers hate more than ANYTHING is the second-hand market. I expect next gen consoles to have bigger and better digital distribution services. On the PC side, millions of people willingly surrender the ability to resell and/or transfer games in exchange for various services. Publishers see this and would kill to have the same thing happen on the console side. MS, Sony, and Nintendo more than anyone, since they'd receive more $/game sold digitally.

Consoles utterly depend on retail sales at the moment, so a digital distribution "revolution" isn't happening anytime soon. Once digital sales reach a critical mass, you can start playing hardball with retailers. Until then, they've got you by the balls.

I don't expect physical copies to vanish, but digital distribution is a long-term threat to Gamestop's business model.

If Big Media's resistance to digital distro is any indication, GS will go down kicking and screaming.

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I'll probably always buy my games from Retailers but will use Steam or Impulse to run them so this is kinda bad...maybe if I get a credit card I may buy games online but until then....all I can say is...hmmm.

-Phalnax Krassius

Sergeant, Sniper of the 1st Spec Ops Division

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Will Dawn of War 2 be Steam dependant for patching and multiplayer and the like? In essense just like all of Valves games.

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psychoak

Join Date 07/2007

+225

Retailers pulling stupid shit is why I don't buy hardly anything from them these days. They're suffering another form of the same idiocy the game industry as a whole is. The retail chains are just steadily getting rid of any reasons to shop at them by making it a waste of time with no advantages, like being able to return software that doesn't work. It's the mentality that lost sales happen in a vacuum and any actions to counter them wont have adverse effects.

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Alstein

Join Date 07/2004

+55

This shouldn't be a worry for Stardock, as I doubt the Stardock demographic would be crushed by the game not being carried at Gamestop, they'd just go get it through Impulse, and the people new who would be interested in it generally don't buy a lot of used console games. I do think the future is Direct Download services, but we're 5-10 years off from that being more then a small percentage (10-20%) of game sales due to poor American internet.

What could really hurt Stardock is if bandwidth caps become universal. If Stardock has any lobbyist types, I'd be placing the resources there.

Not saying this as anti-console, I own a 360 myself- as that's the only way I can play some games, but I'd rather play them on PC.

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Quoting Tamren,

reply 11

Will Dawn of War 2 be Steam dependant for patching and multiplayer and the like? In essense just like all of Valves games.

hehe it uses GFWL for matchmaking and patches. So the game is tied into Steam and GFWL...

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Der... well thats even worse. Ah well I probably won't have enough time to master the gameplay enough for multiplayer but singleplayer at least should be a blast.

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Eh doesn't bother me. I rarely buy games at retail anymore. If I do, it's from wal mart. All gamestop cares about is consoles, so let them have em.

I'm perfectly fine with buying all of my games from Steam, Impulse, and good ol Wal Mart if the game isn't available on Steam or Impulse.

And yes you CAN love both Steam and Impulse.

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And yes you CAN love both Steam and Impulse

Heretic! Witch! Burn at the stake!

Mmm.. steak..

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WarlokLord

Join Date 09/2007

+19

Quoting Serik55,

reply 14

Quoting Tamren,
reply 11
Will Dawn of War 2 be Steam dependant for patching and multiplayer and the like? In essense just like all of Valves games.

hehe it uses GFWL for matchmaking and patches. So the game is tied into Steam and GFWL...

Offering the game via Steam, needing Steam running, and yet wanting Games For Windows LIVE to handle multiplayer is a bit of a head-scratcher decision to me which Relic ought not have made. A recipe for complexity, I think (and errors...).

Yep - I`m looking forward to seeing the singleplayer campaign.

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So, all flavors of DoW II will then require both Steam AND GfWL to play online? It's GTA IV for the PC again.

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Yeah, GFWL is a huge piece of crap. Trying to get the latest DLC (console land, ahoy!) for Fallout 3 via GFWL is a real pain in the rear.

Just use Steam and/or Impulse and forget MS's attempt to force console-style B.S. on PC users.

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Yep, Im considering giving that impulse reactor a look. I'm an aspiring indie game developer, ya know.

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AFAIK the retail version of Dawn of War 2 will only require steam to activate and then will no longer be required to run.

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The last time I used GfWL in game, it still had the A and B buttons for a controller - someone was too lazy to change them to okay and cancel/go back. It also refused to connect while Xfire was running, turning off Xfire let me log into my profile in game. The only plus side of the situation was that Universe at War was a gift.

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To be fair, GFWL improved a ton since its implementation in Universe at War I don't know about connection issues, but in FO3 at least it doesn't look all that bad.

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Quoting Annatar11,

reply 24

To be fair, GFWL improved a ton since its implementation in Universe at War I don't know about connection issues, but in FO3 at least it doesn't look all that bad.

Well the first GFWL game we'll have on Impulse will probably be Juiced 2. I've been playing it on Xbox 360 recently, but I am curious to see how it works on PC.

I have yet to play a GFWL game, and there's really not that many out there. Check out this list ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Games_for_Windows_titles ) of Games For Windows games. The ones with green checkmarks have the LIVE portion also. As you can see, unfortunately only a small percentage go the extra mile and implement the LIVE features.

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