The Market For Computer & Video Games
EVERY BUYER EVERY BRANCH EVERY WEEK Issue 613 Friday November 12th 2010 £3.25 Retailers blow off Steam
‘We will refuse to sell Steam games’ blast High Street giants Digital distributors losing customers to giant rival by Christopher Dring
THE WORLD’S biggest digital distribution platform for games is under attack. MCVunderstands that key retailers will drop titles that integrate the popular Steam service as fears mount that the service has a ‘monopoly’ on the download market. Insiders say Steam, run by US studio Valve, serves a massive 80 per cent of the PC download sector. And retailers preparing their own rival platforms don’t want that share to grow any more. Some of the biggest PC games – such as Call of Duty and Fallout– use Steam. But retailers are concerned that selling games with the tech built-in pushes users towards only buying games via Valve going forward. At least two major retailers will demand that publishers remove Steam from their games – or they will not sell them in any form. “If we have a digital service, then I don’t want to start selling a rival in-store,” said the digital boss at one of the biggest UK games retailers. “Publishers are creating a monster – we are telling suppliers to stop using Steam in their games.”
Fallout: New Vegas is one of the latest games to use Steam, but if retailers had their way it’d be one of the last, as well
Publishers are creating a
monster. We will tell suppliers to stop using Steam in their games.
“
The head of sales at a big- name digital service provider agreed: “At the moment the big digital distributors need to stock games with Steam. But the power resides with bricks and mortar retailers, they can refuse to stock these titles. Publishers are hesitant, but retail must put pressure on them.” Gaikai CEO
David Perry told MCVSteam could become the games- equivilent
of iTunes, where it dictates the terms of the market, not the other way around: “Steam has made it so easy for everyone and they have lots of users. But how long do you wait before you take control of your own digital strategy? Like with iTunes, at some point it’s going to be too late.”
‘VALVE MONOPOLY IS KILLING PC MARKET’
STEAM’S grip on the PC download sector has made the market far too competitive to bother with, rivals warn. MCVunderstands that at least two big-name digital retailers are facing financial difficulties as they struggle to compete. They are now calling on publishers to develop Steam-free SKUs – as Sports Interactive did with Football Manager 2011 – so that they can maintain their audience. “Publishers don’t give a shit, they don’t care what happens to the customer. Which is the crucial point, because Steam do,” commented the director at a fledgling Steam rival. “I’ve fought hard for my customer, and never before have I had to give my customers away. Steam is killing the PC market and it is no wonder digital retailers are failing. “Steam is locking down the market.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92