Back in the 1990s, and even before then, gamers were used to having to go out and purchase a physical copy of their new game. Some may even remember the time in which they came in a CD-ROM case, contrary to what we see today which is the somewhat larger DVD-ROM case. Even in the early part of the last decade, the idea of going to your local game shop was the norm and there was no desperate desire from people that this method should change.
Over in a corner of the internet however, several entrepreneurs decided to take the gaming market to the internet, and so Steam and shortly after, Direct2Drive were born. Of course there were other, small scale attempts of allowing gamers to buy and download their games from the comfort of their own homes, but these two continued to see an exponential growth in sales. The idea of being able to purchase a game online and download it seconds later in which you can later download again and again if need be, was too good for many to brush off as something that would pass.
Steam has been particularly popular, most definitely helped by the release of Valve"s own games on the platform and over time, it"s become the choice of many around the world. What perhaps put Steam ahead of the competition, was its integration of social features, being able to talk to your gaming friends while playing and having a profile that those on the Steam network could browse over, appealed to people. This development of what is essentially, a PC gaming hub, is what many had the unknown desire for and as such, it"s changed the way we think about buying our entertainment.
The appeal for many, is the ability to have their game library stored on multiple computers and the selection of daily deals that isn"t usually available so often in a store on the high street. But one essential part of a gamer"s chores is to ensure their games are kept up to date. Steam in particular has long allowed the ability to automatically update a game"s files to the latest version, meaning that gaming has just become a whole lot more convenient.
But why are companies such as Valve investing so much of their time into this type of platform? The reasons for this lies in the amount of money the online game seller gets compared to those that sell them in physical shops. Under the traditional method, it takes a number of months in which the money the shop makes actually gets put into their bank account because of the amount of people involved. However when it comes to online purchasing, this essentially takes out a lot of the middlemen, therefore meaning the money gets transferred a lot sooner and a higher profit margin due to lower production costs.
But this situation isn"t without its problems, many retailers have had trouble adapting to the changing market and several have abandoned the physical game copy model all together. Just recently even, a collection of shopping chains in the United Kingdom have started refusing to sell games which are integrated with Steam. The reasons behind this are complicated but the retailers feel as though they"re allowing the competition to sit on their own shelves. There is also the fact that a lot of the stronger chains are thinking of entering the digital distribution market, any way to block out the competition to customers is what some feel is the best route to success.
Let"s not forget that a lot of game publishers are now looking at the online gaming store model too, several companies such as EA Games and Activision already have online stores which allow gamers to download the files after they"ve made their purchase. With Steam, Direct2Drive and now Impulse amongst others allowing all of these games to come under one library however, it still offers the convenience that you cannot get by buying digital copies off individual websites.
How we use the internet now, for many was unpredictable 20 years ago, even 10 years ago. Under that basis, there isn"t a totally reliable way in which we can predict how the online gaming store will evolve over the next 10 years. What"s clear though, is that as more companies dip their hands into the market, there will be fiercer competition on all sides but this may mean a better deal for the gamer.
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