Stardock: Digital Distribution Will 'Save PC,' Say Publishers
Stardock's CEO, Brad Wardell, told Gamasutra that publishers believe digital distribution will save the PC games market.
Quote:
Like Valve, developer and publisher Stardock has a broad view of the PC gaming industry, being a company that sells not only its own games but also those of other publishers through digital distribution. Its Impulse service carries third-party games across numerous genres.
As a result, Stardock CEO Brad Wardell ends up having a lot of contact with other publishing executives, who tell him the growth of outlets like Steam and Impulse is making them take a closer look at the PC game arena.
"A lot of publishers are viewing digital distribution as the thing that is going to save PC," he told Gamasutra during a recent interview.
I wish I had a company that did nothing and every time I opened my mouth I was all over the news. I swear all Stardock can do is jerk themselves off when they talk.
Steam is great, I love the deals... I just think it's dumb how some games never drop in price, though... When they've already hit the "bargain bin" at the store, they're still full price on steam. Either way I do love digital distribution.
Yeah, those Stardock people are a bunch of do nothings. Can anyone name a good game they've made ?
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Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra
Ironclad Games is the developer that made Sins of a Solar Empire, Stardock published it. Stardock developed Galactic Civilizations I and II, which are both very good games.
Come on now, SOASE was great, but what else? Demigod? Puhhhleease!
I think the other guy had a valid point. You can't make one great game and tout your awesome cock size forever.
Stardock only published both those games. Ironclad developed SOASE and Gas Powered Games (Dungeon Siege, Supreme Commander) developed Demigod. The only games Stardock has developed thus far have been the Gal Civ games and the forthcoming Elemental: War of Magic.
But I don't see how that's relevant here, because they're not talking about Stardock's games. They're talking about the state of PC gaming and the role of digital distribution, which Stardock is very active in (IMO, Impulse is 2nd only to STEAM at the moment). How is anyone here "touting their cock size"?
Hopefully Steam won't be the future. I don't like having to ask for permission every time I want to play a game. And they're really not even my games anymore. If something happens and you get locked out of your account or it gets closed, watch out!
I don't have Steam installed anymore and never will. Steam only games like F.e.a.r. 2, DOW II, and Empire Total War will never see any of my money. Any digital distribution service that requires a connect to the internet every time I want to play a game, and that has complete control over 'my' games like Steam does, won't get any of my money either.
They is really only one major issue with digital distribution to solve, and that is the Internet connection required issue. If I paid for a SP game, I shouldn't need the internet to play the game. This is the big strike against steam. If I haven't logged in to steam in a while, I can't go into offline mode easily, and I'm locked out of my games.
I'm fine with authentication of my account to prove that I have the rights to play, but the process needs to be very fast and not go through bulky software. Launching a game through steam is sloooowwww. A one time check at install should be all that is needed. Plus, I'm already connected to the Internet because I am downloading the software. After this point, the game launches on its own, and not through the distribution platform. If changes to my system are detected, a reauthorization requiring the Internet or a PHONE can be performed. But once authorized, unless I change up my computer I should be able to run the game whenever I want.
@revoc - I'm sorry you had a bad experience with Steam. Personally, I love Steam. It's always been convenient and I often get extremely good deals on older titles. Additionally, they are starting to get more and more launch products which I dig because I used to have to preorder PC games in order to get my local game store to stock them.
They is really only one major issue with digital distribution to solve, and that is the Internet connection required issue. If I paid for a SP game, I shouldn't need the internet to play the game. This is the big strike against steam. If I haven't logged in to steam in a while, I can't go into offline mode easily, and I'm locked out of my games.
Digital distribution doesn't need to solve anything. There are plenty of services (Good Old Games, Impulse, Direct 2 Drive) that don't require authentication after you've purchased the game in order to play it. Really, it's mostly just STEAM that does this, though I think a lot of people really exaggerate the level of inconvenience that it causes. Like bean19, I find the convenience that STEAM offers more than makes up for (very) small risk of not being able play a game at any given moment.
Come on now, SOASE was great, but what else? Demigod? Puhhhleease!
I think the other guy had a valid point. You can't make one great game and tout your awesome cock size forever.
Gal Civs were also good, and Elemental looks interesting. So that's 3 games to their name that are good - hey it works for Blizzard . I didn't really notice any evidence that "all Stardock can do is jerk themselves off when they talk."
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Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra
I love steam myself but I agree it needs some modifications to make it better. One of the problems is that it hasn't updated its look or feel since steam came out, not to mention the site is horrible and doesn't have the most basic of things like a wishlist to save games you want to buy later.
Digital distribution doesn't need to solve anything. There are plenty of services (Good Old Games, Impulse, Direct 2 Drive) that don't require authentication after you've purchased the game in order to play it. Really, it's mostly just STEAM that does this, though I think a lot of people really exaggerate the level of inconvenience that it causes. Like bean19, I find the convenience that STEAM offers more than makes up for (very) small risk of not being able play a game at any given moment.
I'm under the impression that the library offered on steam is much wider than what is available through the other services. Nevertheless, steam is a major player in the digital distribution field, so its practices tend to get more notice than other services.
As for steam's offline mode, it has issues when running the same steam account on multiple computers. Only the most recently used computer can be run in offline mode, and only if you have logged in within the last 30 days. If you know you are going to be without internet this isn't an issue at all. But it is a problem for more long term situations, especially if you log in to the same steam account on multiple computers.
I'm under the impression that the library offered on steam is much wider than what is available through the other services. Nevertheless, steam is a major player in the digital distribution field, so its practices tend to get more notice than other services.
It certainly is (although I think D2D could probably give it a run for its money as far as breadth of mainstream content goes). I was simply trying to point out that STEAM's particular brand of digital distribution isn't the only game in town. Several commenters seem to be under the impression that saying digital distribution is the future is equivalent to saying mandatory online authentication is the future. They're two very separate and very different concepts, and the success or failure of one does not directly imply the future of the other.
I think a lot of people will be pleasantly surprised by Impulse Phase IV and Stardock's Ready to Play service.
This article didn't give the best overview of what Stardock is currently doing, but the information is available, and they are doing a lot.
I was playing around with the new version of Impulse yesterday and it is much cleaner, more responsive and intuitive than previous versions. The Ready to Play service will bring it close to parity with Steam's services.
. I didn't really notice any evidence that "all Stardock can do is jerk themselves off when they talk."
