This generation of console games has seen a spike in the amount of digital content available. Alongside downloadable content and digital exclusive games, such as those available through WiiWare and the Xbox Live Arcade, there has been an increase in full retail games available for download.
While still a new trend for consoles, computer gamers have enjoyed downloading their titles for many years. Services such as Direct2Drive and Impulse Driven allow gamers to download full copies of both modern and classic games. The development of such online platforms has allowed for the rise of a new way to experience the history of video games.
The undeniable leader of the digital distribution market is Steam. Officially launched in 2004, replacing World Opponent Network, the site quickly developed into the most popular gaming service on the Internet.
The service was developed by famed company Valve, the creators of the Half-Life series, and has continued to thrive under their watch.
President of the N.C. State Multiplayer Gaming Club emeritus Kyle Bolton, a senior in computer engineering, sees Steam’s ability to play the market as the key to its success.
“Valve knows how to plan their discounts,” Bolton said. “Just before the release of Civilization V, all the previous games and related material available on the service were put on sale in order to drive hype for the game.”
Another key feature boosting Steam’s popularity is the networking system put in place for users. The Community section of the service allows users to construct a friends list, join various themed groups and post on forums for every game.
Moreover, Steam has made a name for itself by always being a reliable platform for customers.
“It’s stable, to sum the service up in a single word,” Bolton said. “It’s a company that has made a vow to keep going as long as possible, bringing continued content and savings to customers.”
As it stands, with over 1,100 games available and a share of the digital distribution market estimated at around 70 percent, it certainly seems Steam is likely to remain in place for years to come.
While Steam has provided a consistent marketplace for new releases, the service Good Old Games (GOG) has taken a different approach. Developed by Polish company CD Projekt, GOG.com has been dedicated to releasing classic PC titles, many of which are no longer available commercially.
Though launched only two years ago, the service has made a great deal of progress in expanding its library with many titles never before released digitally. The service now boasts over 240 games from dozens of publishers, and is constantly working to add more titles.
Marcin Iwinski, co-founder of GOG, described how difficult getting the service off the ground was in a recent video post.
“The first year was tough,” Iwinski said, “as we were knocking on all different doors asking partners if they would like to team up with us. Of course, there was a lot of disbelief initially, but we made it happen.”
All games available on GOG are assured to run on modern computers and come pre-installed with any emulators or other programs necessary to run. Further, purchase of a game on GOG comes with unlimited downloads, a digital copy of the game manual and several bonus items, including wallpapers, avatars, and even game soundtracks.
Last month, GOG went offline, leaving many to worry that the site was shutting down permanently. This was furthered by an announcement that the service was indeed finished.
A few days later, however, the site re-launched, with the addition of several new features and highly requested titles.
“They probably pissed a lot of people off,” Bolton said. “But it was a brilliant means of raising hype. They certainly made up for it with the expansions to their library.”
Another major addition to the site is the GOGmix. Available to all users is the option to compile a list of titles that share a similar theme, recommending titles to fans of other games. New users can get an idea of what the service has to offer and what their fellow users enjoy playing.
Perhaps the only downside to GOG is the assumed limit to the number of games that can be put on the site. Guillaume Rambourg, the service’s managing director, was quoted explaining the theory on the few titles left to release.
“The thing is, I believe we are running after roughly 200 good old games,” Rambourg said. “Then I think the PC catalogue will be pretty much packed. There are only so many good old games.”
Still, the service is currently enjoying a high amount of publicity and popularity, and remains focused on bringing quality games to its fan base.
With easy accessibility and no worries of being unable to find a copy of what one is looking for, digital distribution is slowly becoming a more viable option, and continues to thrive for both PC and console gamers. As such services further develop, it will remain to be seen how they will affect retail releases of games. In the meantime, they simply supply another market for gamers to enjoy their hobby.
