Activision’s shooter includes mandatory installation of Valve’s Steamworks, which the game uses for stuff like installation, DRM and save-game management. Something Direct2Drive (which is owned by website IGN) are having none of, telling us, “We don’t believe games should force the user to install a Trojan Horse.” That “Trojan Horse” being the inclusion of Steam’s commercial marketplace.
D2D also told Kotaku that, having evaluated some Steamworks titles earlier in the year (such as Empire: Total War and Dawn of War II) and finding the forced inclusion of Steam’s storefront (offering automatic competition to D2D’s own services) not to their liking, told publishers that they’d stop selling games bundled in such a manner until Valve “decoupled its retail marketplace” from Steam’s other services.
To be clear, D2D’s beef is not with Activision, it’s with Steam, and to prove there’s no bad blood between the retailer and mega-publisher, $US5 coupons will soon be offered on select Activision titles to make up for it.
Direct2Drive Tussles With Valve By Declining To Sell Steamworks-Powered MW2 [Gamasutra]
Prof. Ake
November 6, 2009 at 2:54 PM
lol more like they just know that a majority of consumers on the pc platform will be getting it from steam, rather than D2D, and putting i up will more likely than not end up being a loss for them, rather than a profit.
Report PermalinkEl Phantasmogoro
November 6, 2009 at 3:11 PM
Wow! Thanks for that completely nonsensical reply!
How could it possibly be a loss? The overheads on online distribution are miniscule.
Why would they want to force people to install software for their direct competitors?
You are an idiot. Where is this promised banhammer for morons?
Report PermalinkBilly Boy
November 6, 2009 at 5:57 PM
I think what he means is that they’re making excuses like this instead of just pointing out the truth (the truth being that more people will get this from steam, rather than direct to drive)
Report PermalinkBilly Boy
November 6, 2009 at 6:00 PM
also calm down, stupid comments don’t get banned (although we all think they should), but overly aggressive and condescending posts are more likely to get banned
Report PermalinkAsdasd
November 6, 2009 at 6:15 PM
Your post shows conflicting views.
They would lose money because Steam is a game distribution platform? Once people find out that Steam is better, which they may be curious of because they just installed it, they would probably switch over.
But you also say that they wouldn’t want to put Steam up.
Where is this banhammer for morons?
Report PermalinkAkra
November 6, 2009 at 3:48 PM
They have a point, basically this system installs a competitors store front onto your PC, which gives steam an monopoly on all PC purchases of MW2
Report PermalinkMr Waffle
November 6, 2009 at 4:48 PM
I’m surprised Activision aren’t getting into the fray, bogging their games down with all sorts of online nonsense like EA have done with Dragon Age: Origins. I suppose they haven’t figured out a way to make money out of it yet…
Report PermalinkSam Dammers
November 6, 2009 at 5:57 PM
D2D have a point here. But im a steamie so doesnt both me lol.
Report PermalinkI AM ME
November 6, 2009 at 6:01 PM
I just got my copy of MW2 for 360 does anyone else have it yet and wants to play?
Report Permalinkalinos
November 6, 2009 at 7:19 PM
MR waffle what fo youi mean there not getting into the fray wat do you think IWnet is
sure Cod 6 is on steam and uses IWnet but they knew they were gonna piss people off let them adjust to this game and then the next set of games will run through there own account and then you watch youll need to pay EA 5 bucks a month to play online ACtivison 20(theyll assume your playing WoW) and Ubisoft 5 dollars every Publisher will have there own system soon enough as soon as Physical media is out of the way theyll start which is where we run into the problem of them going ok well CoD 9′s out now shut down CoD 7′s MP
They can terminate your favourite MP just so youll be forced to buy the new one, which is where the biggest problem with IWnet lies
Report PermalinkSnacuum
November 7, 2009 at 12:34 AM
The only games I have that use steam are valve titles, and the only reason I let them get away with it is because they own steam. I hate steam, and digital distribution. It’s inclusion in MW2 is another nail in the coffin for it for me.
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