More and more these days, anytime you see the word "digital distribution" in a sentence, chances are high you can also find "Stardock" nearby. Not that there's anything wrong with that -- Stardock CEO Brad Wardell usually has some pretty insightful things to say about the subject.
Talking with Gamasutra in an interview, Wardell made a comment that could be deemed as hyperbolic, but I actually find the statement to be accurate: "A lot of publishers are viewing digital distribution as the thing that is going to save PC."
Whether or not you think PC gaming has "died" is besides the point. It's obviously not flourishing like it once was -- the signs are right in front of our eyes, and have been for a while now. With retail shelves for PC games shrinking, digital distribution has done nothing but expand.
Wardell gave an estimate of how much of the PC market is made up of digital games. He believes it's around the 25% mark, and thinks that number could possibly double in as short as two years from now. I couldn't say how close to reality that number is, but I do know that digital distribution is here to stay, for better or worse.
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Contest:
8:30 PM on 09.10.2009
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Steam is the only reason I came back to PC gaming.
If digital distribution succeeds on any platform, it will be the PC, though. For most PC games, you only need the disc to install, so afterwards there's not much point in keeping the physical copy. And since it's so much data, a lot of games come with like 5 installation discs, which is just annoying. Places like GameStop realize don't really do Used PC Game sales (at least I've never seen a wide used pc game selection). 99/100 avid PC Gamers have the internet on their computer too. There's no question that DD is the best option for PC developers.
Valve's Steam for the new and competitive stuff.
CDProjekt's Good Old Games for the classics.
These are the holy trinity of digital download.
And Direct2Drive for when you can't login to Steam, heh.
I DO miss retail though =( barely anywhere near me stocks ANY PC games.
Give it time and we'll see how it plays out. Kudos to Valve and co.
There will always be SUPER hardcore and SUPER casual games for the PC. The PC, is afterall the best selling gaming device ;)
It's not DRM that has prevented the sale of used PC games, it's that almost every computer sold comes with a CD/DVD burner. Think about it: what if you could run a console game off the HD without the disk?
Anyway, the limited install BS is a fairly recent occurrence, and is already on it's way out thanks to (IMO) the roar of PC gamers everywhere.
True. But it's also issues like BF 2142, Unreal 3, Sins of a Solar Empire, Galactic Civ which require you to register your cd key in order to play online/get updates, etc effectively making your game worthless in the secondary market upon purchase.