Any plans to move Elemental to STEAM?

No, they don't.

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Did you ever kind of shake your head and do a double-take whilst reading a post?

I just did!

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I actually find this to be a legitimate question. At the moment, I suspect that Stardock will make no open moves to support other clients until Impulse has fully transferred over into Gamestop's control. The relationship between Gamestop and Stardock is beneficial beyond Impulse as well, so my guess would be that they remain Impulse exclusive for the time being. I also severely doubt they will do cross registering with Steam - very few games do this as it stands, and Stardock has taken a pretty anti-big corporation approach thus far.

That having been said, one of the big draws (to me) of Impulse was that it was privately owned and had superior policies in game sales. Now that Gamestop owns them, I don't feel the David and Goliath, support the little guy urge as much. While having a big company with big money to support a serious competitor to Steam is a good thing in the long run, at the moment I'm not holding out faith that Gamestop will retain Stardock's DRM and open platform attitude, and I'm interested in discussing what Stardock's approach to other DLC providers is longterm.

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To anyone who bought this game through Impulse. Can you cross-register Magicka? Since it makes you download and authenticate with Steam...can you re-download it via Steam?

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Stardock have negotiated a no-cost in their Elemental franchise when selling through impulse (they don't have to pay gamestop anything). To sell through steam, they would have to give up 30% of the profits. That, and Frogboy's long-standing wish to challenge the steam monopoly instead of support it, I would say seeing any Elemental game on Steam is highly unlikely.

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Tridus

Join Date 03/2008

+110

Quoting control-SEVEN,

reply 4

To anyone who bought this game through Impulse. Can you cross-register Magicka? Since it makes you download and authenticate with Steam...can you re-download it via Steam?

Once you register it on Steam (so you can play it), it's effectively indstinguishable from a Steam purchased version. So yes, you can redownload it from Steam.

In fact if they're doing it the way D2D does this, you would *only* download it from Steam. All they sell you is a product key.

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Tridus

Join Date 03/2008

+110

Quoting Heavenfall,

reply 5

Stardock have negotiated a no-cost in their Elemental franchise when selling through impulse (they don't have to pay gamestop anything). To sell through steam, they would have to give up 30% of the profits. That, and Frogboy's long-standing wish to challenge the steam monopoly instead of support it, I would say seeing any Elemental game on Steam is highly unlikely.

I also read there's an exclusivity window where they can't put anything on another service of 1 year.

After that? I wouldn't be surprised to see future as-yet unannounced games appearing on other DD services, if not necessarily Steam (though if they want to sell a lot of games Steam is the place to be).

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Quoting ,

quoting post

Now that Gamestop is the owner of the Impulse, I kind of lost my interest of having my games on it (I just do not believe that DRM polices will be the same with Gamestop ownership). Do you have plans to move Elemental to STEAM and offer free registration for those who has it through digital purchase on Impulse? Sorry if this has been answered already...

The only way you could do this is if Stardock suddenly decided to use Steamworks authentication for Elemental. If the game requires Steam running to be played, then if doesn't matter if you play it through Impulse or Steam, kinda like Magicka.

However, Elemental is a Stardock game and Stardock still stands behind it's GBOR for all their developed games. I think Steam technically violates the GBOR as written and besides, Stardock uses their own authentication software, so they don't have any need to release it for Steam. You probably will not get Elemental on Steam.

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DsRaider

Join Date 11/2008

+70

Elemental is designed around impulse reactor and seems to me to be the model and prototype for impulse reactor games, so I would guess NO.

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Alstein

Join Date 07/2004

+55

No way in hell it happens.

GalCiv III, I say there's a shot that gets offered on other platforms besides Impulse, though it will require Reactor as DRM. I'm ok with that if that happens, as long as I have an option to buy it somewhere that allows me to play it clientless. (Of course, whether I'm in the market for GCIII is determined by how FE does)

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Tridus

Join Date 03/2008

+110

Quoting onetimearoundcrow,

reply 8

The only way you could do this is if Stardock suddenly decided to use Steamworks authentication for Elemental. If the game requires Steam running to be played, then if doesn't matter if you play it through Impulse or Steam, kinda like Magicka.

However, Elemental is a Stardock game and Stardock still stands behind it's GBOR for all their developed games. I think Steam technically violates the GBOR as written and besides, Stardock uses their own authentication software, so they don't have any need to release it for Steam. You probably will not get Elemental on Steam.

... what?

You can buy Rift on Steam, and it doesn't use Steamworks (it doesn't really do anything with Steam, being a MMO). Batman: Arkham Asylum doesn't use Steamworks (it uses GFWL). Steamworks is not a requirement to sell stuff on Steam.

And one of the major selling points of Reactor is that it was meant to be embedded in the game so it doesn't require extra stuff to be installed and thus could be sold through Steam.

People want to see it on Steam because it's by far the #1 online store and has the best customer reach... and isn't owned by Gamestop.

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Heavenfall beat me to it. Stardock has made special deals with regards to publishing their games on Impulse. They would be stupid to not publish the games as Impulse exclusives.

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Island Dog

Join Date 06/2003

+1046

As it has been said, for the foreseeable future all Stardock products will remain on Impulse as they have been.

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/facepalm

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Quoting Island Dog,

reply 13

As it has been said, for the foreseeable future all Stardock products will remain on Impulse as they have been.

And thus begins a shadow of doubt.

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I think favouring the use of Impulse (after 1 year) will be relaxed somewhat now that Stardock no longer owns Impulse, but I don't think there will be a rush to put Stardock games on Steam in particular, regardless.

Best regards,
Steven.

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Alstein

Join Date 07/2004

+55

Quoting StevenAus,

reply 16

I think favouring the use of Impulse (after 1 year) will be relaxed somewhat now that Stardock no longer owns Impulse, but I don't think there will be a rush to put Stardock games on Steam in particular, regardless.

Best regards,
Steven.

If there's an exclusivity or beneficial treatment deal, I can't see Stardock abandoning Impulse. It's known that there is a one year exclusivity window. It's also known that there's at least some sort of window where Stardock isn't charged for putting games on Impulse (I hope that's a lifetime window)

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My concern remains that what if Gamestop suddenly changes the DRM policy, or suppose the service tanks under Gamtsopt's oversight, what is Stardock prepared to do for their customers who have bought games through Impulse?

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I would like to see Stardock products on Steam. As it stands now, Impulse is the only thing on the planet that rejects my Visa debit card when I try to make a purchase. It took it for Elemental, but nothing I have tried to buy since then, so I have gone to Steam for all my direct download purchases including many that are offered on Impulse.

Before anyone suggests it, I'm way too lazy to go through the customer service process with Impulse to get it working when on Steam the game I want usually costs the same or less with a few exceptions.

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Quoting Tridus,

reply 11

Quoting onetimearoundcrow,
reply 8

The only way you could do this is if Stardock suddenly decided to use Steamworks authentication for Elemental. If the game requires Steam running to be played, then if doesn't matter if you play it through Impulse or Steam, kinda like Magicka.

However, Elemental is a Stardock game and Stardock still stands behind it's GBOR for all their developed games. I think Steam technically violates the GBOR as written and besides, Stardock uses their own authentication software, so they don't have any need to release it for Steam. You probably will not get Elemental on Steam.

... what?

You can buy Rift on Steam, and it doesn't use Steamworks (it doesn't really do anything with Steam, being a MMO). Batman: Arkham Asylum doesn't use Steamworks (it uses GFWL). Steamworks is not a requirement to sell stuff on Steam.

And one of the major selling points of Reactor is that it was meant to be embedded in the game so it doesn't require extra stuff to be installed and thus could be sold through Steam.

People want to see it on Steam because it's by far the #1 online store and has the best customer reach... and isn't owned by Gamestop.

Um... I think you are confused about what I meant. Or perhaps I was confused about what I said.

I have games on Steam. In order to play them, I need to have Steam installed on my computer. If I uninstall Steam, I cannot play those games. That's what I'm talking about. For Impulse or D2D or most other DD services, that isn't true. You don't need to have a 3rd party program installed to run the game, the program you need is for downloading and installing the games, not running them. If I download all my Impulse games right now and then uninstall Impulse, I can still play those games. That's the difference I was trying to emphasize.

Maybe I shouldn't have said Steamworks. I don't know if that is the same thing as I am describing above. Sorry for the confusion.

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Alstein

Join Date 07/2004

+55

Quoting Mtn_Man,

reply 18

My concern remains that what if Gamestop suddenly changes the DRM policy, or suppose the service tanks under Gamtsopt's oversight, what is Stardock prepared to do for their customers who have bought games through Impulse?

I'm sure if that happens, it will be after stardock's exclusivity is up, and in that case, Stardock would move their stuff somewhere else. they are still selling Object Desktop DD's after all (or will be soon)

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Tridus

Join Date 03/2008

+110

Quoting onetimearoundcrow,

reply 20

I have games on Steam. In order to play them, I need to have Steam installed on my computer. If I uninstall Steam, I cannot play those games. That's what I'm talking about. For Impulse or D2D or most other DD services, that isn't true. You don't need to have a 3rd party program installed to run the game, the program you need is for downloading and installing the games, not running them. If I download all my Impulse games right now and then uninstall Impulse, I can still play those games. That's the difference I was trying to emphasize.

Maybe I shouldn't have said Steamworks. I don't know if that is the same thing as I am describing above. Sorry for the confusion.

Yeah, Steamworks is different. All Steam games require Steam in some form, but if you buy the game somewhere else you don't have to use Steam. Say, Oblivion retail does not require Steam, nor does the Impulse version. (The Steam version does, of course.)

Steamworks changes that. If a game is Steamworks enabled, *all* versions of it require Steam because Steamworks requires Steam. Fallout: New Vegas is a Steamworks game and any version of it you buy requires Steam. If you buy it at retail, it installs Steam. Magicka on Impulse is another example, it requires Steam.

So if for the purpose of discussion we ignore the contractual issues, they could put Elemental on Steam today and it wouldn't affect anybody who bought it from Impulse. All it'd do is allow people who prefer Steam the ability to buy it from their service of choice. If they made it use Steamworks on the other hand, everybody who has it now (including Impulse users) would need Steam to play it.

Big difference.

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Quoting Island Dog,

reply 13

As it has been said, for the foreseeable future all Stardock products will remain on Impulse as they have been.

Just to play devils advocate. This doesn't actually answer whether or not that Stardock games will be on STEAM. Games can be on both STEAM and impulse.

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What everyone else said. Impulse is for all stardock games, puzzle quest 2, Europa III and expansions, and Mass Effect 2, and steam is for everything else. On my PC at least.

I love it. Loading those two programs on my PC will auto-install all my games except for sims 3.

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Island Dog

Join Date 06/2003

+1046

Quoting Lord Xia,

reply 23

Just to play devils advocate. This doesn't actually answer whether or not that Stardock games will be on STEAM. Games can be on both STEAM and impulse.

And just to mix it up a bit more, maybe there's something else to throw into the mix.

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