GamersGate CEO Theo Bergquist wants the world to know that his company is not afraid of digital distribution giant Steam. In an interview with Industry Gamers, Bergquist said that Steam has hit "peak numbers" and that - at this point - it can only "lose market share." The European-centric digital distribution channel saw sales rise by 72 percent during the holiday shopping season.
"To be honest, we're not afraid of Steam," said Bergquist. "We think they are peaking now while the market is still very hardcore. In fact, we know from the feedback we receive from customers, one of the reasons we have such great growth is because many gamers out there don't like Steam and see GamersGate as a better alternative."
Of course, it does not hurt that - occasionally - PC gamers can get by release date region locking by buying the European version of some games. A prime example of that was Gothic 4, which was released in Europe first, then North America.
"Once digital sales are superior to physical sales, we believe Steam will have a harder time remaining #1," Bergquist continued. "We don't have any market breakdown of the overall numbers. Some people say Steam has 50 percent of the market, some say 80 percent, but we don't know. What we do know is that Steam's marketshare will shrink in the future and that GamersGate is well positioned as one of the digital distribution platforms that has strong momentum to gain marketshare."
Of course we have no data to ascertain how other digital distribution platforms such as Direct2Drive and Impulse take away from the market share GamersGate hopes to gain.
While Bergquist cautions that "you should never underestimate" the power of traditional retail, he also believes that 2011 will be the tipping point for digital distribution to overtake retail. When you throw proprietary distribution services such as PlayStation Network, Wii Shop Channel, Apple's App Stores, Android Marketplace, and Xbox Live into the mix, that way of thinking makes sense.
"I think 2011 will be a tipping point for digital downloads in which they should really take off. Digital distribution is no longer a business development project for publishers; it's an integral part of the sales organization. They look at the greater revenue split they can get from digital as compared to physical, and it's easy math to decide that they should focus on digital."
Source: Industry Gamers
Comments
Re: GamersGate: 'We're Not Afraid of Steam'
I use Steam because they have the best deals anywhere and I really only want to run one client to install and use my digitally licensed games. And I track deals on Steam, Direct2Drive, GamersGate, Impulse Driven, and GoG. I don't buy games that are not on sale. I tend to wait for the holidays to roll around and I can pick up well over a year's supply of games over the course of a couple weeks of insanity. Plus, Steam consistently has Midweek Madness and Weekend Free Play/Deals that are typically pretty good.
Anything not on sale on Steam is always overpriced. I just wait for it to get cheap and then hit sale prices along with everyone else and then jump on board.
What I wish for is the ability to transfer my digital licenses to whatever digital distribution platform I want to play my games through. That way I can use my favorite client for all my digital licenses AND I'll be more encouraged to buy my games from whoever is selling them for the least amount of money. It is in GamersGate's best interest to work out a deal with Steam to allow for digital license transfers. Who cares where you bought the license from as long as you legitimately own it?
- Left4Dead
Why are zombies always eating brains? I want to see zombies that eat toes for a living. Undead-related pun intended.
Re: GamersGate: 'We're Not Afraid of Steam'
So... Not afraid of Steam, ey?
So, how else would one explain that prices for the digital
versions of a games on Steam are on average 40% higher
than the physical disc version found in stores?
Even with the non-existing rights of the user, Steam has
millions of users. If Steam gave any sort of rights to their
customers, and made sure that the prices were fair, they
would wipe out any competition over-night.
That's how "not afraid" the competition is of Steam...
Re: GamersGate: 'We're Not Afraid of Steam'
yah lets see Steam ran $5 indie games packs with 4-5 games a peice during the holidays. I haven't seen any other game distribution system do anything close to that. And Steam lose market share? I doubt it. Maybe you'll see more people expanding out, but I really think that as time goes on the number of people that realise how nice steam is will just increase.
Re: GamersGate: 'We're Not Afraid of Steam'
I'm sorry, who/what is GamersGate, as I go and make another purchase on Steam? That's a lot of chest-thumping from Mr. Bergquist when he outright admits he can't back it up. Why, exactly, does he believe that Steam's marketshare will shrink?
The more likely scenario here is that Steam isn't afraid of GamersGate.
Re: GamersGate: 'We're Not Afraid of Steam'
Did it for the free publicity yo.
Re: GamersGate: 'We're Not Afraid of Steam'
Yeah, it may be free, but I'm not sure it's doing anything for them. After all, I have yet to go looking at their website to see what they offer, and I've fully embraced digital downloads for my PC gaming.
Re: GamersGate: 'We're Not Afraid of Steam'
Exactly what I was thinking. Never even heard of GamersGate, but whatever. If they have no fear, that's good. Because fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, etc.
Re: GamersGate: 'We're Not Afraid of Steam'
Ditto. I think I heard the name somewhere, but I really don't know of any companies other than Valve that can have a minimum of 2 super awesome sales twice a year. During the Holidays, I was able to buy 8 games for less than 100$. I doubt anyone can beat the deals offered on Steam.
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Living in Canada can be a very good thing, you know. We enjoy the universal healthcare and gun-free environment of an European country while getting all of our games released at the same time as in the US.
Living in Canada is awesome. We enjoy the universal healthcare and gun-free environment of a European country while getting all of our games released at the same time as the US.