"I am actually a big believer that competition is always good for the consumer," insists EA's European boss Uwe Intat. Anyone could create their own digital storefront and pocket the distribution fee that is standard through outlets like Steam - or pass the savings on to consumers."ĮA itself argues that not only does it have a right to get involved, but that the arrival of Origin on the download scene is actually a boon for the industry at large "In a digital environment, however, the barriers to create a distribution outlet are much smaller. Publishers have accepted that, mostly because they can't do it themselves," explains EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich. "In the traditional physical retail distribution channel, a publisher has to give up 35 per cent of the top-line price in order for the retailer to get their margin for distribution, in addition to the overhead and production costs to manage a physically distributed item. With a hefty percentage of a game's asking price being skimmed off by Valve, who can blame Riccitiello for wanting to strike out on his own? As digital delivery increasingly becomes the industry standard for PC, it's natural for slow-on-the-uptake publishers to want to make up some ground and wrestle control of their games back from third parties. Like it or not, EA's Origin store could prove but a taste of things to come, and it may well be single-publisher stores such as these that eat into Steam's bottom line rather than more conventional competition. Making Steam membership mandatory for Counter Strike back in 2003 gave the platform a vital bump start. Of course, the jury is still out on whether forthcoming BioWare MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic is that killer app, but its absence from Steam is undoubtedly a blow for Valve. And sure enough, this is where EA's Origin initiative comes in. Attempting to replicate that honey trap is another possible angle of attack.
Tying a must-have game exclusively to the platform worked wonders for the developer with Counter-Strike. The other key factor in Valve's success is content. They want to keep it simple - download and play - and they care more about price and selection, rewards and support, things Gamersgate are focusing on." "The next generation of digital buyers are not hardcore gamers, they are more casual consumers in the sense that they don't care about all the overlay features in a platform, they don't want to download a client, and they don't see the point of being locked in.
Gamersgate says to download steam client Pc#
"On the other hand, if Steam has five million paying customers and there are 90 million PC players in the US, it's easy to see who you should go chasing for. "Steam has pretty much locked in the hardcore market," he admits. That leaves a huge swathe of the world's gaming population up for grabs, says Theodore Bergquist, CEO of Steam rival Gamersgate. Steam's dark, slick aesthetic is largely geared towards the male, core-orientated user. However, there is certainly one area where competitors might be able to find a little elbowroom. It's sort of a self-fulfilling situation - since everyone is there, that's where everyone goes." Right now most things that they want are on Steam. People don't have a terribly large emotional attachment to where they're clicking to buy their stuff. That's a way things could change - if they do something that horribly annoys its customers. "I think Steam benefits from being an agnostic platform - they push other people's games as much as they do their own.
Gamersgate says to download steam client skin#
He tells Eurogamer that their best hopes probably lie in Valve slipping on a proverbial banana skin and doing something to alienate its userbase. And with Steam hardly pillaging gamers' wallets as it is, that's a bar many will be unable, or unwilling, to crawl under.īlizzard veteran and current Runic Games boss Max Schaefer doesn't provide much more in the way of comfort for any would-be usurpers. Not only will a competitor need to court publishers by offering them a bigger cut of the back-end, but they'll also have to pass on some meaningful savings to customers.
Indeed, when asked what he'd do if wanted to mount a serious challenge, Get Games boss Graeme Struthers cheerfully concedes, "If I really wanted to take on Steam I'd have to go and find a colossal amount of money and buy them." If anyone does have the stomach to properly take on Valve, they'll likely have to have very deep pockets.
0 kommentar(er)
