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Will this be available over Steam?
Lady Eri
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If and when it comes out will we be able to get a disc copy, or only steam distribution?
Lady Eri on
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2. Methods of Distribution
Read the FAQ, dude.
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Unless they (they being the developers) don't want to spend the money and time on developing their own means of distribution, in which case Steam makes a good choice.
Aside from which, if they hope to see it in stores then they need a publisher and as such won't be able to depend purely on themselves for distribution anyway. WRT online distro I imagine that going the Steam route would be a lot less costly and problematic than creating your own secure delivery system, and you'd also reach far more users through Steams already large user-base. Especially now that Steamworks is available to all to use for free, you don't need to pay extra to Valve to make the game Steam compatible, you just need to sign up with them to publish it on there.
I'd also love to see this game on the PSP. It seems like it would be a great portable game.
I don't think one should ever care about anything Tycho says business wise because he signed away the rights to PA to a guy that ran away to Alaska
Not really. Khoo there fixed them all up. I'm just not going to count on Tycho's business sense for any predictions..
He hired you, after all.
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They'd probably have to give up a larger percentage to a traditional publisher.
Yeah, you're only planning on running off to *southern* Alaska, which is potentially closer.
Also, after buying some stuff on Steam last year, and enjoying the process immensely, I make my PC gaming purchase decisions almost solely based on whether it is available on Steam or not. I would love to see the game available in that store.
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From what I've understood from various sources.
Just putting a game on Steam: Valve gets 50%. Developers get whatever their publisher doesn't take, if a publisher is involved.
Putting a game on Steam + licensing the Source engine: Valve doesn't take anything.
Garry's Mod: Kinda a unique scenario as Valve gave him full access to the source engine license in exchange for 50% of the profit.
I'll go look for some sources on this stuff.
EDIT: Here's one about the "Buy the source engine, put it on Steam for free" Source: http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=130
I don't know, it may be in their best interest to use Steam, but I'm thinking it isn't.
This is an episodic game with a semi-regular release. It isn't necessarily a full game that needs to be put on a disc and sold in stores.
I suppose it really comes down to whether or not they think hosting would cost more than lost profits, or they'd make more profit through bigger exposure on Steam.
Since I don't know anything about the numbers involved, I'm making a guess that it would be more profitable to not use Steam in this case. However it may be a lot less headache to use Steam.
There are other things to consider here in addition to royalties like DRM, bandwidth and marketing costs.
DRM: PA has a lot of loyal readers, but it seems to me like a substantial portion of this audience are the same audience that pirates games.* You can't [easily] cook these things up on your own with little cost. Something like this either takes financial/time investment or they can outsource a number of ways (i.e. distributing on Steam or other portals.)
*Note! This isn't an attack on PA readers - just an assumption about the ages/habits of pirateers.
Bandwidth: Don't think I really need to get too deep into this. Games are getting big and big files cost $ to pump through the tubes of the internets to gamers at home.
Marketing: Luckily, PA has a lot of great PR going for them probably due to the efforts of people like Khoo and the down-to-earth factor of Mike & Jerry. This means that gaining exposure to the potential audience for this game is going to be relatively cheaper and easier because of that. Other sites like Telltale, for instance, never reach the full potential for exposure for their games because they host it themselves (well, and through GameTap, but you know what I'm saying). I'm guessing a link here and Press bumps on Kotaku, Joystiq, 1up, etc. should be enough of an initial push.
Of course there are other factors still, but it all boils down to the fact that distribution decisions are based off of many more things than straight up royalty share. By the way a 50% share is pretty damn good, even when you don't consider the fact that Valve shoulders the burden of the costs I just mentioned.
People pirate games, and although we put a lot of faith in the fans to not screw us over, we understand that no matter what, there will always be a tiny percentage of folks that will crack it. But we also know that no matter how hefty DRM is, people will crack it. So the question is why hinder the experience to those that ACTUALLY paid with some resource-hogging bloatware that is going to get cracked anyway?
So yeah, just wanted to point that out. It's designed to keep the honest people honest, that's all.
Khoo - In the utopian world in my head, I would imagine that more people would pay for this game simply out of respect. But yes, there will always be some...
And since this is a topic about Steam, my input on the subject is that if it's available on the release day through Steam, I will get it through steam. I like the way Steam works, and think it would be the best route for me to get it. But if it's not on Steam on day one, I will get it where it is available.
We released a game for 20$ and it was still pirated left and right. People who habitually pirate usually don't value games that much already, so in some ways it's a lost cause with those kind of peoples.
I would also be more likely to buy this if it were available on Steam on day one. All I can find in boxes at stores anymore is MMOs, ironically.