It looks like Electronic Arts wants to go head-to-head with Steam - or at least save some money by avoiding Valve's digital distribution platform altogether. This morning the company dusted off its Origin label (you know, the company founded by Richard Garriott) as the name of a new digital distribution service. EA is calling Origin a "direct-to-consumer gaming platform where consumers can find, purchase and download all the best content from EA." Origin launches today with more than 150 games. In the months ahead, Origin will be the place to purchase and download exclusive limited edition copies of EA games, including Battlefield 3 and FIFA 12, and content from EA Partners including Alice: Madness Returns and 38 Studios' Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Later this year, digital downloads of Star Wars: The Old Republic will be available exclusively on Origin.

In an interview with MCV, UK retail research firm Chart-Track takes a shot at Steam's recent statement that it would not cooperate with research firms in providing data on sales. Last month Steam’s Jason Holtman told MCV that the digital distribution platform considers the idea of tracking it sales data is "old" and that it "isn't super important for a company to know how well everyone else is doing."

Today Chart-Track's managing director John Pinder fired back at the PC download giant in a letter to MCV, saying that holding back data would be a "backwards step for the games industry."

"Is Jason Holtman really advocating a return to the ‘90s, when key retailers refused to pool their data, claiming it was better to supply sales direct to publishers?," asked Pinder in its letter to MCV.

According to Forecasting & Analyzing Digital Entertainment (FADE), Steam raked in under $200 million USD in revenues through the first quarter of 2011 and Sega's strategy game Total War: Shogun lead all titles in terms of gross revenues through March.

Portal 2 saw significant pre-order traffic through the end of March, and was already the third best-selling title of the year through March, according to FADE. FADE added that it believes Portal 2 will be an integral part of advancing Steam's growth through the rest of 2011.

Multiple titles were offered on sale with significant discounts throughout Q1. FADE noted that most titles seeing price reductions of 65 percent or more realized more than 50,000 downloads during the sale, which have led many developers to offer high quality titles on sale to consumers.

Valve says that it will not be cooperating with various sales tracking firms who want access to internal data from its digital distribution service. Speaking to MCV, Steam’s Jason Holtman said that sharing the data would be counterintuitive if released publicly and that retaining it for developers and publishers only is the best option.

"The idea of a chart is old," said Holtman. "It came from people trying to aggregate disaggregated information. What we provide to partners is much more rapid and perfected information."

Valve provides publishers and developers with hourly updates of download figures. This allows those partners to measure the effectiveness of things like in marketing pushes and special offers. Releasing that data on a monthly basis would be a mistake, according to Holtman.

According to Stardock CEO (the company that used to own Impulse before it sold off its digital distribution platform to GameStop) Brad Wardell, Steam is holding up Valve's ability to develop its various game properties in a timely fashion. Wardell made his comments in a recent interview with IndustryGamers. In Wardell's opinion, the resources needed to continually operate and manage a digital distribution platform as massive as Steam has led to a slowdown in Valve's game development capabilities over the years.

"Even though Valve is in Seattle, where you can get developers everywhere, [Steam's] had an effect on their own development schedule," Wardell told IndustryGamers. "There's not been a new Half-Life in a long time; a lot of people have complained about that."

Steam Guard, Valve’s new account security system announced last week at the Game Developers Conference, is in beta beginning today. The new account security system is available to anyone who is willing to take it for a test run. To take part in the beta, you will have to verify your email with steam, which allows you to tie your Steam account to your computer. If you want to use your Steam account on another computer, you'll have to get a verification code, which will be sent to your email address on file.

The sign-up for the Steam Guard beta is available via the beta participation section in your Steam account settings.

Any attempts to login for the first time on a computer elsewhere will need a verification code, which will be sent to your email address. To access the beta, select Steam Guard from the beta participation section in your Steam account settings.

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."

Darryl Still, international publishing director for PC publisher 1C, writes an editorial in response to an MCVUK report ("Retailers blow off Steam") where brick and mortar games retailers in the UK said that they might ban games that have support for Steam built into them.

In his editorial for MCV, Still talks about how his company had the foresight to see three years ago that owning the digital rights to the games it publishes was important. At that time 1C decided that it needed to secure the digital rights to all the games it publishes. That decision has been very lucrative for the company.

But the most important take-away from this editorial is that 1C makes more money via digital distribution than it does at traditional retail, and the experience, turn-around time and costs of doing business are much more reasonable.

September proved to be a good month for three independent game developers: Zeboyd Games, Carpefulgur, and Mojang. Let us start with the elephant in the room that is Minecraft. It has been widely reported that the developer of Minecraft, Markus 'Notch' Persson, has made $3,787,748 off his game to date - and it is only in alpha! The game is DRM-free, and Persson does not care all that much about piracy. Obviously, that position has not hurt sales.

Persson has reportedly had job offers from Bungie and Valve (he declined) and is now focusing on opening up his own development studio. Here's what Persson told GI.biz:

Steam Wallet, Steam's new in-game currency solution, is now live and the first game to support it is Team Fortress 2. Team Fortress 2 players can jump into the Team Fortress 2 Mann Co. Store within the game and make purchases. Steam Wallet users can add money in denominations of $5, $10, $25, $50, or $100 dollars using PayPal and most major credit cards.

Here is more from the announcement:

Piracy is the subject of note in the third part of a massive interview with Valve Software's Gabe Newell and Erik Johnson over at PC Gamer.

When asked about piracy rates on Steam Newell said that that they are so low that Valve does spend any time thinking about it:

Relic revealed via its blog that the party is over for Games for Windows and its upcoming Warhammer 40,000 titles. The general consensus among PC gamers is that GFW support in earlier Warhammer 40K games was more of a hindrance than a help when it came to playing multiplayer.

Nevertheless, the horror seems to be abating: the upcoming Dawn of War II: Retribution will only use Valve's Steamworks. THQ and developer Relic seem to prefer Steamworks because it provides Steam community features such as groups, achievements, and Steam chat. THQ said that, in addition to Steamworks support, it is working on new matchmaking and ranking built specifically for Retribution.

The bad news is that Relic has changed the game from a regular expansion to standalone, which means that Dawn of War II owners are stuck with Games for Windows. Here is more on the decision to make the game a standalone expansion:

Valve's Steam Wallet, a new payment method tied into the popular digital distribution platform, is now in beta. Instead of charging your credit or debit card multiple times, Steam Wallet allows users to simply put larger amounts of virtual cash into a wallet that can be used later to buy games and other content from Steam. While the concept certainly isn't new - PlayStation Store does it and Microsoft's virtual currency can be bought in large blocks - it's an interesting idea that gives consumers a bit more flexibility when it comes to buying games.

It would not be surprising to see Steam start selling "Steam Cards" as MMO's and consoles do now at retail. Steam Wallet could be the beginning of that.

Source: Shacknews

If you were one of the many Modern Warfare 2 players on Steam who received an erroneous message that you were using a cheat and were suddenly banned, then you will be happy to hear that you are now entitled to a free copy of Left 4 Dead 2. The erroneously banned accounts, the result of a glitch related to Valve's Punk Buster anti-cheating software, have been made whole again and company president Gabe Newell has sent an apology letter to all of those affected.

In that apology letter, Newell told the 12,000 some-odd banned account holders that it was Valve's mistake and the he was sorry for the frustration it caused players. He went on to explain what happened on Valve's end to cause this error in the first place:

"The problem was that Steam would fail a signature check between the disk version of a DLL and a latent memory version," he said. "This was caused by a combination of conditions occurring while Steam was updating the disk image of a game."

Newell also clarified that the error wasn't something restricted to Modern Warfare 2, and that Steam is setup in a way that allows Valve to identify and reverse erroneous bans.

The PC version of Kane & Lynch 2 will use Steameworks for DRM, according to Eidos. A PC demo of the sequel that managed to get Giant Bomb founder Jeff Gerstmann fired when he worked at Gamespot is also available at a 10 percent discount via the Steam discount program. Because the game supports Steamworks don't expect to find it on Stardock's Impulse if that's your distribution platform of choice - Stardock won't support any game going forward that requires the use of third-party software.

Kane & Lynch 2 , like other games that use Steamworks, requires the use of the Steam client, which provides DRM protection, along with multiplayer matchmaking, achievements, stats, and leaderboards. The game will be released on August 17 in North America and on August 20 in Europe. The game will be available on those dates for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Source: Shacknews

Although not necessarily fitting for the pages of Game Politics, everyone enjoys getting something for free, and beginning today Valve is offering a brand new game - along with its course code - with no strings attached. The game is a top down cooperative shooter called Alien Swarm. Valve will also be releasing all the source code for the Steamworks-integrated title as part of a SDK update also to be released today.

The game was originally being developed by Black Cat, but after Valve hired the entire team to work on Portal 2 and Left 4 Dead series, development on the Source Engine based shooter game slowed to a crawl, with Black Cat working on it in its spare time.

You can learn more about the game by visiting www.alienswarm.comSteamPowered.com or by firing up your Steam client.

CrunchGear has an interesting editorial penned by an admitted fan of pirated games who sings the praises of Steam. Naturally the author wishes to remain anonymous so that he doesn't get in trouble, but this also allows him to be honest about his activity.

In the article he acknowledges that he has a lot of excuses that may or may not be fictitious; games costs too much money, he'd have to drive to the store or wait for a game to come in the mail, he'd have to make sure he didn't lose his retail disc code or he'd always have to have his disc in a drive for some games. But he acknowledges that all of these excuses are not really appropriate and that Steam handles games best. In fact of the few games he has paid for both he got from Steam - Team Fortress 2 and Half-Life 2:

An interesting opinion piece on Tom's Hardware imagines what would happen if Blizzard decided to compete with Valve's Steam via Battle.net. Forget for a minute the fact that Blizzard has always maintained that it does not have any plans to do anything with Battle.net other than serve up its own content or that it has said emphatically that Battle.Net is different than Steam; imagine what would happen if the company decided to start serving up third-party content like Steam does.

With a rumored 25 - 30 million users worldwide (at the same level as Steam at 25 million), a 62 percent stake in the MMO market, 4600 employees, plans to integrate the service with Facebook and Real ID (identifies players in Battle.net by using real names), it is easy to see why Blizzard's service would be a serious challenge to Steam if it decided to start serving up games other than StarCraft, Diablo, Warcraft or World of Warcraft.

Are you a Mac or PC? Do you use Steam? Well the results of Valve’s annual hardware survey reveal that some Apple models outgun Windows-based PCs in a number of areas. While a majority of Windows PCs have 2GB or 3GB of memory, 53 percent of Macs sport 4GB of RAM. The survey also found that 17 percent of Windows PCs used a single CPU, while over 90 percent of Macs running Steam utilized a dual-core. As for internet connectivity, 65 percent of Mac gamers reported download speeds over 2Mbit compared to under half of Windows PCs.

But PC gamers shouldn't feel too bad because in one of the most important areas for gaming - graphics cards - Mac computers were found to be severely lacking; 32.5 percent of Macs featured decent graphics capabilities, while the top six Windows GPUs reported were all found to be capable of handling most games.

Source: Engadget

A pretty dramatic statement for sure, but GAMESbrief (a games business blog with a decent reputation by most accounts) lays out the case against Steam for what "it might do" in the future if it becomes a monopoly in the PC games digital distribution space. The author prefaces his points by noting that Steam is not currently a monopoly and that it has done a good job of helping to keep the PC games market alive.

The points made in the story "Five reasons why Steam will destroy the PC games industry" are a response to feedback received from the book "How to Publish a Game," when it was suggested that "it made sense for a developer making PC games to work hard to get on all the distribution platforms (not just Steam, but GamersGate, Metaboli, Direct2Drive and so on)."

Crystal Dynamics, a division of Square Enix Europe, has told CVG that it plans to use Steam DRM on the PC version of its Tomb Raider sequel, Lara Croft: Guardian of Light. The PC version of the game will be an exclusive on Steam in the United States, according to Global brand manager Karl Stewart.

Stewart also says that pirates seem to enjoy copying Tomb Raider games more than other franchises because the series is so popular. More below:

"We've gone down the road of implementing Steam DRM where we've committed to the US being an exclusive and we're going to make a decision as to whether or not we'll use different distribution channels," said Global brand manager Karl Stewart. "But I think for now, because it's online and it's got leader boards, Steam offers us the best opportunity to hit a broad audience with that type of game."

Lara Croft: Guardian of Light will be released sometime this year on PC and Xbox Live Arcade.

Source: CVG

According to a Tom's Hardware story, it appears that someone at Rockstar used a no-CD crack to expedite the game's release on Steam. According to the report, citing a Steam forum post, someone at Rockstar used a No-CD crack from cracking group MYTH to remove the DRM and make it easy to be distributed via Steam. No confirmation that that is the case at this point, save what was found in the game's executable.

"Seems Rockstar got a little lazy and used this crack instead of recompilling (sic) their executable without DRM," reads the post, which also shows an ASCII signature from the now defunct cracking group MYTH.

One analyst’s check into the hiring ads of online retailer Amazon leads him to believe that the company is preparing its own digital delivery service for games.

Via MCVUK we hear from Lazard Capital Analyst Colin Sebastian, who wrote, “Our periodic checks of job postings uncovered a search by Amazon in the video game category to help implement a new digital distribution platform.”

The analyst said that Amazon has about 1,250 open positions, with 511 of those centering on software development.

Sebastion continued:

As in other segments of digital media, we expect Amazon to pursue new opportunities as an aggregator of online games, similar to Steam (PC), BigPoint (browser) and others.

Since the company already has the infrastructure to deliver digital content, we believe that increased selection and a focus on the user experience will be key factors in gaining further market share.

EA's popular squad-based shooter Battlefield: Bad Company 2 recently received a patch to remove the much-maligned SecuROM DRM.

Sounds great right? Well, hold off on the celebration, because there's a bit of a caveat. The patch, which comes with a number of bug fixes and interface changes, will only remove SecuROM for Steam users. Retail owners of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 are still out of luck, at least for the time being.  Steam users will find themselves using Valve's internal DRM, which is a significant improvement.

A reddit user has created a striking visual representation of what *could* happen if net neutrality laws are shot down.

The image is based tiered pricing plans that some cable and Internet companies currently offer (lending, perhaps, an increased measure of reality to the illustration) and imagines, for example, websites such as Hulu and YouTube as part of a "Hollywood Tier," available for $10 over the price paid for basic Internet service.

More relevant here is the rendering of a “Playground” tier that includes Valve’s Steam platform, World of Warcraft, Gametap, Electronic Arts and Real Arcade, offered for a $5 surcharge. Yikes!

As part of a plan to bolster its digital distribution offerings, GameStop may look to acquire or invest in an established company or service already involved in the sector.

At a recent analyst meeting, the videogame retailer outlined three ways to accelerate its digital distribution plans reports IndustryGamers: Increase in-store sales of online point cards, expand GameStop’s current digital distribution platform and make a strategic investment in or acquire a current provider of online games.

In an opinion piece in its newsletter, GamesIndustry speculates which companies/services make sense for GameStop to acquire. Metaboli, which purchased GameTap last year, might be one logical answer, as the French-based company would provide double the pay off for GameStop, offering a way into the European market in addition to its digital catalog of games.

The other acquisition possibility? GamesIndustry writes:

Unconfirmed industry scuttlebutt suggests that Zenimax - the parent company of Bethesda, which made headlines back in June when it acquired legendary PC studio id Software - is still on the acquisition trail, and has been making eyes at Half-Life creators Valve across the bar. Whether Bethesda, a hybrid developer / publisher itself, would want to keep Steam on board, or spin it out to a third party, is unclear - as are many other aspects of a potential deal…

Tripwire Interactive President John Gibson has penned an opinion piece defending Valve Software and its Steam digital distribution service against comments made by Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford last week.

Pitchford had termed Valve’s dual role as developer and distributor a “conflict of interest.” Gibson, whose company has released titles like Red Orchestra and Killing Floor on Steam, told Gamasutra, “I can say with certainty that if it weren't for Steam, there would be no Tripwire Interactive right now.”

Gibson initially approached traditional distributors for Tripwire Games, but was “shocked at how terrible their proposals were.” Valve’s approach was different:

When we got the contract from Valve, we were amazed at how much better the deal was from what we were getting from the standard publishers. Even our lawyer was surprised at how straightforward the contract was. Valve's contract was the first one we had seen that didn’t have any land mines in it.

While he notes that there could be a conflict of interest stemming from Valve’s two roles, Gibson said that Valve’s angle is “Our game is good, and so is yours, so let's both make some money together.”

In closing, as a final acknowledgment to Valve, Gibson referenced his company’s success:

Ask the Tripwire Interactive employees if they feel exploited, as they move into their new offices paid for by the money the company has made on Steam. Or me, as I drive away from the company that was built from the royalties we made on Steam, in my sports car paid for by the royalties we make on Steam, to the home that I pay for with the royalties we make on Steam.

Developer Derek Smart (Battlecruiser 300AD) also backed Valve and Steam in a comment posted on the ShackNews.

Maximum PC has an interview up today with Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford, in which he discusses Borderlands (natch), DRM, digital delivery and Valve’s Steam platform.

While noting that he personally trusts Valve, Pitchford stated, “As a guy in this industry though, I don’t trust Valve.” What does he think of Valve’s dual role as a game developer and proprietor of Steam? “There’s so much conflict of interest there that it’s horrid.”

When asked if Valve should spin off Steam into a separate entity, Pitchford replied:

It would be much better if Steam was its own business. I love Valve games, and I do business with the company. But, I’m just saying, Steam isn’t the answer. Steam helps us as customers, but it’s also a money grab, and Valve is exploiting a lot of people in a way that’s not totally fair. Valve is taking a larger share than it should for the service its providing.

Pitchford on DRM:

…False negatives are a disaster for everyone. I’d much rather have a false positive, and allow thieves to play, than prevent a paying customer from playing my game. The industry has destroyed a lot of good will with DRM problems.

America's Army, the only video game in recent memory to generate a full-blown protest march, is getting an upgrade to v3.0; the new version will be carried by Valve's Steam service.

A press release issued by America's Army's P.R. consultant this morning announced that AA3 will be available as a free Steam download beginning on June 17th. In addition to Steam, fans can download the new version from other locations listed on the AA3 site.

Of the game's availability on Steam, Marsha Berry, senior executive producer for America's Army said:

We are very excited to work with Valve to distribute AA3 on Steam as it gives us access to great distribution technology as well as a tremendous user base. Additionally, we have incorporated Steamworks features such as Achievements and Steam Cloud to create a richer experience for Steam users.

 

Our relationship with Steam will broaden our reach to a new community and it offers our current players a great new way to get the America's Army game and keep it updated. Players will also be able to download AA3 using the America's Army Deploy Client from the Deploy network of providers listed on the America's Army download site.

PC gamers, if you've received an authentic-looking e-mail offer from Steam for a free download of Far Cry 2, don't click through.

The ad is not legit and the link does not go to Steam, but rather to the perhaps aptly-named ripway.com.

Here at GP we received two of these offers yesterday, and several members of the Joystiq crew received them as well.

We've notified Steam and we trust that they are taking the appropriate measures to shut down this apparent scam.