Digital game distribution services. Video game digital distribution services

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Digital distribution or digital distribution- one of the modern methods of distributing legal electronic content through Internet channels without the use of material media. The advantage of digital distribution is that it is easy and quick to find and purchase copies of the required software.

Spreading

There are several options for distributing software over the Internet. In digital distribution, the main protocols are HTTP, P2P or FTP.

When purchased through Steam, the game is not tied to the computer, but to the user account. Simultaneous online connection from two computers using one account is not allowed.

Some games, primarily Valve games, require mandatory registration on Steam, including those distributed on discs. Even single-player games require an internet connection to activate them. After activating the license code indicated on the box, the user gets the opportunity to play the game itself and its modifications.

The peculiarity of Steam is that it is at the same time not only a distribution system, but also:

performs the role of DRM (protection against the launch of an illegal version of the game that requires Steam to be running, primarily all Valve games). Steam also blocks access from hacked Steam clients or from illegal copies of games to licensed servers.
automatically updates all games and repairs damaged games
contains a system of achievements in some games, which are saved not only on the computer, but also on the account itself.
is a master server for Valve games (performs the functions of searching for licensed servers and protection against cheaters (VAC) when playing on servers with prohibited cheats, blocking access to these servers when using cheats)
contains a chat that allows you to communicate even during the game and quickly find users added to your friends list if they are running the client. It also allows you to give a copy of the game to other users upon purchase or create guest invitations for them.
contains a built-in Internet browser that can be used while playing. Which turns out to be very useful if the player needs to find a hint or advice on the game.
allows you to run promotions with access to full versions of games for a certain period of time (usually several days).
allows you to update video card drivers (available only for AMD owners).

Credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, Discover, JCB)
Debit cards with Visa or Mastercard logo
Paysafecard
ClickandBuy
Beeline and MTS

Sales figures have not been disclosed.

GOG.com

The second most popular gaming service after Steam. It differs from the latter and other services in that it sells all games from the catalog without digital protection (DRM). Initially did not sell games to a specific company, like Steam and Origin, but released only classic video games from the 1980s to the mid-2000s. Later, after rebranding from Good Old Games to GOG.com, it began selling games from independent developers, as well as modern and relatively recent AAA projects that initially used DRM. Currently owned by the Polish company CD Project.

In general, after the rebranding, GOG.com has noticeably changed both externally (design) and functionally. International support has appeared in addition to the English language (in 2014, German and French sections and regions appeared with their own currencies and support, in 2015 - Russian and rubles, and in 2016, Brazil and the Portuguese language with reals were added to them). Polish and Spanish languages and currencies are also planned. There have been many game titles from regional developers that are not released on Steam, such as the Allods and Cursed Lands series from Niva l. Also, the ratio of Russified video games to games from the entire catalog is significantly higher than that of Steam and other international game distribution services. This happened thanks to the closer cooperation of most Russian localizers (for example, Akella) with CD Project rather than with Valve, and a better attitude towards classic game products released before 2010. In 2014, a client appeared, similar in properties to the Steam client, but for the GOG.com website and is still in open beta testing. The site has completely switched to the HTTPS protocol since 2016.

In addition to the games themselves, GOG.com offers various additional files for most of them, for example, original and translated game manuals scanned by the publisher, desktop wallpapers, avatars for forums and social networks, soundtracks in various formats from MP3 and OGG Vorbis to FLAC and WAV, and much more. It is downloaded similarly to video games from the site after purchase via HTTPS links on the account page or in the GOG Galaxy client. If you wish, you can enable automatic updates through the client, but you can also disable them and play purchased video games offline without activation, unlike Steam, where you need to log into the game at least once through your account to be able to play.

Until 2014 it supported its own bootloader, but after the release of GOG Galaxy it stopped updating.

In addition to video games, since 2014 it has been selling films, but, unlike Steam, where you can only, it allows you to download videos to your hard drive and watch offline in any quality up to 1080p. Separately installed English subtitles are available.

After the anniversary of the launch of the Russian language and the ruble, GOG.com released Cursed Lands, the Corsairs and Prince series, and also added 20 more official localizations to games in the catalog from Akella. In addition, I added pirate localizations from Fargus to Planescape: Torment, Sacrifice, Kingpin and MDK 2 in additional files (obviously through the same Akella, associated with the Fargus brand).

In the spring of 2016, the classic rating hits Baldur's Gate I, Baldur's Gate II and Icewind Dale of the CRPG genre were removed from the store catalog and were inserted with additional files for modern re-releases. These games are among the first in the GOG.com library, as well as exclusives to this service.

Sales figures have not been disclosed.

Direct2Drive

A digital distributor that distributes games according to a standard scheme, when the user pays for the game and receives a link to the distribution kit and an activation key.

The following payment options are supported:

Sales figures have not been disclosed.

GameTap

Digital distribution service by subscription through a special client. There are 3 types of users: guest, green and gold. The guest can play a small number of games (about 40) with mandatory display of advertising during the game. A user is considered “green” if he has registered on the site - then he is given the opportunity to play a little more games and he does not see advertising throughout the entire game, but only before it starts (a regular commercial). A “gold” account costs $9.95 per month (or $59.95 per year) - users have access to almost 1,000 games, without any advertising. It is possible to play only when the client is turned on and connected to the Internet.

In June 2007, GameTap signed a contract with Macromedia ActiveMark and created a section with downloadable games on the site.

Clients include: Activision, Atari, Intellivision Lives!, Midway, Namco, Sega, Taito, Eidos Interactive, G-Mode, Ubisoft, Codemasters, Vivendi Games, Konami, Capcom, Take-Two Interactive and SNK Playmore.

The following payment options are supported:

Only credit cards(monthly or annual subscription)

Sales figures have not been disclosed.

Russian services

Gama-Gama.ru

The store has been operating since 2009. The company's partners are the largest Russian (Akella, 1C, Novy Disk, etc.) and foreign game publishers.

Alawar.ru

The largest specialized resource for selling casual games on the RuNet, owned by the distributor and publisher Alawar Entertainment. More than 300 games from the world's leading developers are constantly on sale. It has an extensive partner network - more than 300 sites, for which it provides ready-made technological solutions for digital distribution of games. Payment is made via SMS payments, plastic card, electronic money or bank transfer.

You can learn more about the company’s activities from Alexander Lyskovsky about digital distribution.

Direct.COD (Netville)

The service appeared at the end of 2006, initially positioned as independent, not owned by any publisher, which it still remains.

The store catalog features more than 500 games from Electronic Arts, NCSoft, CCP Games, 1C, Akella, Buka, Novy Disk, Kalypso Media and other publishers. The store was a key partner for Electronic Arts and NCSoft (European office) in the Russian Federation and CIS countries until 2011, providing Russian users with access to early releases of the most anticipated games, bonuses for customers who placed pre-orders, as well as the opportunity to download distributions of all games in local traffic of regional operators in more than 25 cities of the Russian Federation. In partnership with dozens of the largest Russian providers, Netville has provided the ability to pay for games, including using subscribers’ personal accounts.

At the beginning of 2010, the store was the largest digital seller of PC games in the Russian Federation with a turnover of several million dollars a year.

Carries out not only B2C, but also B2B sales of games to other stores in the licensed territory. B2B buyers include: Yandex, Softkey, Fidel, Yuplay, Igromagaz and several dozen other stores.

Shop.Buka.ru

The store was created on December 5, 2012, owned by the Russian company “BUKA”. Distributes digital versions of games from the world's major publishers: Ubisoft, Deep Silver, Electronic Arts, Namco Bandai, Kalypso Media, 505 Games and many others. It has its own support service, an internal loyalty program and exclusive content.

Online publisher stores

Services for digital distribution of their games were created by other Russian game publishers: Akella, Russobit and Russobit. Their difference: early release of their own games, often with premium content.

Digital distribution with customer participation

In such networks there are no dedicated distribution servers, and each node (peer) is both a client and a server. Such an organization allows the network to remain operational with any number and any combination of available nodes.

UPLAY

The largest of the Russian digital distribution services, representing the largest catalog of games. Initially, the content distribution system was based on P2P, when, using a special client (or any torrent manager), the user downloads the game not only from the server, but also from other users who have already purchased this game. This approach significantly reduces the load on the server, thereby avoiding a decrease in the download speed of users, working based on the rules - the more they download, the faster the content is distributed. A little later, it became possible to download content via the regular HTTP protocol, using the capabilities of the browser or your favorite download manager. For payment you can use WebMoney, Yandex.Money, QIWI, SMS, credit cards of any banks, Beeline payments and other popular payment methods. The purchase process occurs as follows: the user replenishes his account, after which he buys the content he needs, in this case the money is automatically debited from the user’s personal account.

Features of the UPLAY service:

Uses its own client to download content.
You can download content in different ways: with the UPLAY downloader (recommended), using any P2P client, as well as through the regular VPN protocol.
To distribute content, Dial Up technology (V.92 protocol) and FTP protocol are used.
The ability to receive a percentage of money from other users’ purchases using special “invite” links.
Free games are available, as well as various add-ons: demo versions, mods, videos, patches.
The ability to make friends, recommend games, sort games based on friends’ recommendations, etc.
Automatic notification of the user about the release of additions and updates to games he previously purchased.
API, support for achievements (like in Steam), the ability to embed achievements in your project via UPLAY.
Opportunity to buy games (Alawar, 1C, Buka, Akella, Electronic Arts, Activision, The Games Company, GFI/Russobit and others) in downloadable form.

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Closed services

Excerpt characterizing Digital distribution

And several years pass in which this man, alone on his island, plays a pathetic comedy in front of himself, petty intrigues and lies, justifying his actions when this justification is no longer needed, and shows the whole world what it was like what people took for strength when an invisible hand guided them.
The manager, having finished the drama and undressed the actor, showed him to us.
- Look what you believed! Here he is! Do you see now that it was not he, but I who moved you?
But, blinded by the power of the movement, people did not understand this for a long time.
The life of Alexander I, the person who stood at the head of the countermovement from east to west, is even more consistent and necessary.
What is needed for that person who, overshadowing others, would stand at the head of this movement from east to west?
What is needed is a sense of justice, participation in European affairs, but distant, not obscured by petty interests; what is needed is a predominance of moral heights over one’s comrades—the sovereigns of that time; a meek and attractive personality is needed; a personal insult against Napoleon is needed. And all this is in Alexander I; all this was prepared by countless so-called accidents of his entire past life: his upbringing, his liberal initiatives, his surrounding advisers, Austerlitz, Tilsit, and Erfurt.
During a people's war, this person is inactive, since he is not needed. But as soon as the need for a common European war arises, this person at that moment appears in his place and, uniting the European peoples, leads them to the goal.
The goal has been achieved. Since the last war of 1815, Alexander is at the height of possible human power. How does he use it?
Alexander I, the pacifier of Europe, a man who from his youth strove only for the good of his people, the first instigator of liberal innovations in his fatherland, now that he seems to have the greatest power and therefore the opportunity to do the good of his people, while Napoleon exile makes childish and deceitful plans about how he would make humanity happy if he had power, Alexander I, having fulfilled his calling and sensing the hand of God on himself, suddenly recognizes the insignificance of this imaginary power, turns away from it, transfers it into the hands of those despised by him and despised people and says only:
- “Not for us, not for us, but for your name!” I am a human being too, just like you; leave me to live as a human being and think about my soul and God.

Just as the sun and each atom of the ether is a ball, complete in itself and at the same time only an atom of a whole inaccessible to man due to the enormity of the whole, so each personality carries within itself its own goals and, at the same time, carries them in order to serve common goals inaccessible to man. .
A bee sitting on a flower stung a child. And the child is afraid of bees and says that the purpose of a bee is to sting people. The poet admires a bee digging into the calyx of a flower and says that the bee’s goal is to absorb the aroma of flowers. The beekeeper, noticing that the bee collects flower dust and brings it to the hive, says that the bee's goal is to collect honey. Another beekeeper, having studied the life of a swarm more closely, says that the bee collects dust to feed young bees and breed the queen, and that its goal is to procreate. The botanist notices that, by flying with the dust of a dioecious flower onto the pistil, the bee fertilizes it, and the botanist sees the bee’s purpose in this. Another, observing the migration of plants, sees that the bee promotes this migration, and this new observer can say that this is the purpose of the bee. But the final goal of the bee is not exhausted by either one, or the other, or the third goal, which the human mind is able to discover. The higher the human mind rises in the discovery of these goals, the more obvious to it is the inaccessibility of the final goal.
Man can only observe the correspondence between the life of a bee and other phenomena of life. The same goes for the goals of historical figures and peoples.

The wedding of Natasha, who married Bezukhov in 13, was the last joyful event in the old Rostov family. That same year, Count Ilya Andreevich died, and, as always happens, with his death the old family fell apart.
The events of the last year: the fire of Moscow and the flight from it, the death of Prince Andrei and Natasha’s despair, the death of Petya, the grief of the Countess - all this, like blow after blow, fell on the head of the old count. He did not seem to understand and felt unable to understand the meaning of all these events and, morally bending his old head, as if he was expecting and asking for new blows that would finish him off. He seemed either frightened and confused, or unnaturally animated and adventurous.
Natasha's wedding occupied him for a while with its external side. He ordered lunches and dinners and, apparently, wanted to appear cheerful; but his joy was not communicated as before, but, on the contrary, aroused compassion in the people who knew and loved him.
After Pierre and his wife left, he became quiet and began to complain of melancholy. A few days later he fell ill and went to bed. From the first days of his illness, despite the doctors' consolations, he realized that he would not get up. The Countess, without undressing, spent two weeks in a chair at his head. Every time she gave him medicine, he sobbed and silently kissed her hand. On the last day, he sobbed and asked for forgiveness from his wife and in absentia from his son for the ruin of his estate - the main guilt that he felt for himself. Having received communion and special rites, he died quietly, and the next day a crowd of acquaintances who had come to pay their last respects to the deceased filled the Rostovs’ rented apartment. All these acquaintances, who had dined and danced with him so many times, who had laughed at him so many times, now all with the same feeling of inner reproach and tenderness, as if justifying themselves to someone, said: “Yes, be that as it may, there was a most wonderful Human. You won’t meet such people these days... And who doesn’t have their own weaknesses?..”
It was at a time when the count’s affairs were so confused that it was impossible to imagine how it would all end if it continued for another year, he unexpectedly died.
Nicholas was with the Russian troops in Paris when news of his father's death came to him. He immediately resigned and, without waiting for it, took a vacation and came to Moscow. The state of financial affairs a month after the count's death became completely clear, surprising everyone with the enormity of the amount of various small debts, the existence of which no one suspected. There were twice as many debts as estates.
Relatives and friends advised Nikolai to refuse the inheritance. But Nikolai saw the refusal of the inheritance as an expression of reproach to the sacred memory of his father and therefore did not want to hear about the refusal and accepted the inheritance with the obligation to pay debts.
The creditors, who had been silent for so long, being bound during the count's lifetime by the vague but powerful influence that his dissolute kindness had on them, suddenly filed for collection. A competition arose, as always happens, to see who would get it first, and the very people who, like Mitenka and others, had non-cash bills of exchange - gifts, now became the most demanding creditors. Nicholas was given neither time nor rest, and those who, apparently, pitied the old man, who was the culprit of their loss (if there were losses), now mercilessly attacked the young heir, who was obviously innocent before them, who voluntarily took upon himself to pay.
None of Nikolai's proposed turns succeeded; the estate was auctioned off at half price, and half of the debts still remained unpaid. Nikolai took the thirty thousand offered to him by his son-in-law Bezukhov to pay that part of the debts that he recognized as monetary, real debts. And in order not to be thrown into a hole for the remaining debts, which the creditors threatened him with, he again entered the service.
It was impossible to go to the army, where he was in the first vacancy of a regimental commander, because the mother was now holding on to her son as the last bait of life; and therefore, despite the reluctance to remain in Moscow in the circle of people who knew him before, despite his aversion to civil service, he took a position in the civil service in Moscow and, taking off his beloved uniform, settled with his mother and Sonya in a small apartment, on Sivtsev Vrazhek.
Natasha and Pierre lived at this time in St. Petersburg, without a clear idea of Nicholas' situation. Nikolai, having borrowed money from his son-in-law, tried to hide his plight from him. Nikolai's position was especially bad because with his one thousand two hundred rubles salary he not only had to support himself, Sonya and his mother, but he had to support his mother so that she would not notice that they were poor. The countess could not understand the possibility of life without the conditions of luxury familiar to her from childhood and constantly, not understanding how difficult it was for her son, she demanded either a carriage, which they did not have, in order to send for a friend, or expensive food for herself and wine for son, then money to give a surprise gift to Natasha, Sonya and the same Nikolai.
Sonya ran the household, looked after her aunt, read aloud to her, endured her whims and hidden dislike, and helped Nikolai hide from the old countess the state of need in which they were. Nikolai felt an unpaid debt of gratitude to Sonya for everything she did for his mother, admired her patience and devotion, but tried to distance himself from her.
In his soul he seemed to reproach her for the fact that she was too perfect, and for the fact that there was nothing to reproach her for. She had everything for which people are valued; but there was little that would make him love her. And he felt that the more he appreciated, the less he loved her. He took her at her word, in her letter, with which she gave him freedom, and now he behaved with her as if everything that had happened between them had long been forgotten and could not in any case be repeated.
Nikolai's situation became worse and worse. The idea of saving from my salary turned out to be a dream. Not only did he not put it off, but, while satisfying his mother’s demands, he owed little things. He saw no way out of his situation. The thought of marrying a rich heiress, who was offered to him by his relatives, was disgusting to him. Another way out of his situation - the death of his mother - never occurred to him. He wanted nothing, hoped for nothing; and in the very depths of his soul he experienced a gloomy and stern pleasure in uncomplainingly enduring his situation. He tried to avoid former acquaintances with their condolences and offers of insulting help, avoided all distraction and entertainment, even at home he did nothing except lay out cards with his mother, silently walk around the room and smoke pipe after pipe. He seemed to diligently maintain within himself that gloomy mood of spirit in which alone he felt able to bear his situation.

At the beginning of winter, Princess Marya arrived in Moscow. From city rumors, she learned about the position of the Rostovs and how “the son sacrificed himself for his mother,” as they said in the city.
“I didn’t expect anything else from him,” Princess Marya said to herself, feeling a joyful confirmation of her love for him. Remembering her friendly and almost family relations with the whole family, she considered it her duty to go to them. But, remembering her relationship with Nikolai in Voronezh, she was afraid of this. Having made a great effort on herself, however, a few weeks after her arrival in the city, she came to the Rostovs.
Nikolai was the first to meet her, since the countess could only be reached through his room. At the first glance at her, Nikolai’s face, instead of the expression of joy that Princess Marya expected to see on him, took on an expression of coldness, dryness and pride that the princess had never seen before. Nikolai asked about her health, took her to her mother and, after sitting for about five minutes, left the room.
When the princess left the countess, Nikolai met her again and especially solemnly and dryly escorted her to the hall. He did not answer a word to her remarks about the countess's health. “What do you care? Leave me alone,” his gaze said.
- What's going on? What does she want? I can’t stand these ladies and all these pleasantries! - he said out loud in front of Sonya, apparently unable to contain his annoyance, after the princess’s carriage drove away from the house.
– Oh, how can you say that, Nicolas! – Sonya said, barely hiding her joy. “She’s so kind, and maman loves her so much.”
Nikolai did not answer anything and would like not to say anything more about the princess. But since her visit, the old countess spoke about her several times every day.
The Countess praised her, demanded that her son go to see her, expressed a desire to see her more often, but at the same time she always became out of sorts when she spoke about her.
Nikolai tried to remain silent when his mother spoke about the princess, but his silence irritated the countess.
“She is a very worthy and wonderful girl,” she said, “and you need to go see her.” Still, you will see someone; otherwise you are bored, I think, with us.
- Yes, I don’t want it at all, mamma.
“I wanted to see it, but now I don’t want to.” I really don’t understand you, my dear. Either you're bored, or suddenly you don't want to see anyone.
- Yes, I didn’t say that I was bored.
- Of course, you yourself said that you don’t even want to see her. She is a very worthy girl and you have always liked her; and now suddenly there are some reasons. They hide everything from me.
- Not at all, mummy.
- If I asked you to do something unpleasant, otherwise I ask you to go and pay a visit. It seems that politeness also requires... I asked you and now I no longer interfere when you have secrets from your mother.
- Yes, I will go if you want.
- I don't care; I wish for you.
Nikolai sighed, biting his mustache, and laid out the cards, trying to divert his mother’s attention to another subject.
On the second, third and fourth day the same conversation was repeated.
After her visit to the Rostovs and that unexpected, cold reception given to her by Nikolai, Princess Marya admitted to herself that she was right in not wanting to go first to the Rostovs.
“I didn’t expect anything different,” she told herself, calling on her pride to help. “I don’t care about him, and I just wanted to see the old woman who was always kind to me and to whom I owe a lot.”
But she could not calm down with these thoughts: a feeling similar to remorse tormented her when she remembered her visit. Despite the fact that she firmly decided not to go to the Rostovs anymore and to forget all this, she constantly felt in an uncertain position. And when she asked herself what it was that tormented her, she had to admit that it was her relationship with Rostov. His cold, polite tone did not stem from his feelings for her (she knew this), but this tone hid something. This was something she needed to explain; and until then she felt that she could not be at peace.
In the middle of winter, she was sitting in the classroom, watching her nephew’s lessons, when they came to report to her about Rostov’s arrival. With a firm decision not to give away her secret and not to show her embarrassment, she invited M lle Bourienne and went out into the living room with her.
At the first glance at Nikolai's face, she saw that he had come only to fulfill the duty of courtesy, and she decided to firmly adhere to the very tone in which he would address her.
They started talking about the countess's health, about mutual acquaintances, about the latest news of the war, and when the ten minutes required by decency had passed, after which a guest can get up, Nikolai stood up, saying goodbye.
The princess, with the help of m lle Bourienne, endured the conversation very well; but at the very last minute, while he was getting up, she was so tired of talking about what she didn’t care about, and the thought of why she alone had been given so little joy in life occupied her so much that she in a fit of absent-mindedness, with her radiant eyes fixed forward, she sat motionless, not noticing that he had risen.
Nicholas looked at her and, wanting to pretend that he did not notice her absent-mindedness, said a few words to m lle Bourienne and again looked at the princess. She sat just as motionless, and her tender face expressed suffering. He suddenly felt sorry for her and vaguely imagined that perhaps he was the cause of the sadness that was expressed on her face. He wanted to help her, to tell her something nice; but he couldn't think of anything to say to her.
“Goodbye, princess,” he said. She came to her senses, flushed and sighed heavily.
“Oh, my fault,” she said, as if waking up. - You are already on your way, Count; well, goodbye! And the countess's pillow?
“Wait, I’ll bring it now,” said m lle Bourienne and left the room.
Both were silent, occasionally looking at each other.
“Yes, princess,” Nikolai finally said, smiling sadly, “it seems so recently, and how much water has flown under the bridge since we first met in Bogucharovo.” How unhappy we all seemed - but I would have given dearly to get this time back... but you can’t turn it back.
The princess gazed into his eyes with her radiant gaze as he said this. It was as if she was trying to understand the secret meaning of his words, which would explain to her his feelings for her.
“Yes, yes,” she said, “but you have nothing to regret about the past, Count.” As I understand your life now, you will always remember it with pleasure, because the selflessness that you live now...
“I don’t accept your praise,” he interrupted her hastily, “on the contrary, I constantly reproach myself; but this is a completely uninteresting and sad conversation.
And again his gaze took on its former dry and cold expression. But the princess already saw in him again the same person whom she knew and loved, and now she spoke only to this person.
“I thought you would let me tell you this,” she said. “We have become so close to you... and to your family, and I thought that you would not consider my participation inappropriate; but I was wrong,” she said. Her voice suddenly trembled. “I don’t know why,” she continued, having recovered, “you were different before and...”
– There are thousands of reasons why (he emphasized the word why). “Thank you, princess,” he said quietly. - Sometimes it’s hard.
“So that’s why! That's why! - said the inner voice in the soul of Princess Marya. - No, it wasn’t just this cheerful, kind and open look, it wasn’t just his beautiful appearance that I fell in love with; “I guessed his noble, firm, selfless soul,” she said to herself. “Yes, he is now poor, and I am rich... Yes, only because of this... Yes, if only this had not happened...” And, remembering his former tenderness and now looking at his kind and sad face, she suddenly understood the reason for his coldness.

Spreading

There are several options for distributing software over the Internet. In digital distribution, the main protocols are HTTP, P2P or FTP.

When purchasing through Steam, the game is not tied to the computer, but to the user account. Simultaneous online connection from two computers using one account is not allowed.

The peculiarity of Steam is that it is at the same time not only a distribution system, but also:

performs the role of DRM (protection against the launch of an illegal version of the game that requires Steam to be running, primarily all Valve games). Steam also blocks access from hacked Steam clients or from illegal copies of games to licensed servers.
automatically updates all games and repairs damaged games
contains a system of achievements in some games, which are saved not only on the computer, but also on the account itself.
is a master server for Valve games (performs the functions of searching for licensed servers and protection against cheaters (VAC) when playing on servers with prohibited cheats, blocking access to these servers when using cheats)
contains a chat that allows you to communicate even during the game and quickly find users added to your friends list if they are running the client. It also allows you to give a copy of the game to other users upon purchase or create guest invitations for them.
contains a built-in Internet browser that can be used during the game. Which turns out to be very useful if the player needs to find a hint or advice on the game.
Allows you to run promotions with access to full versions of games for a certain period of time. (Usually several days)
Allows you to update video card drivers. (Available for AMD owners only)

Credit cards
Debit cards
PayPal
Paysafecard
ClickandBuy
Webmoney
Yandex. Money
QIWI

Sales figures have not been disclosed.

Origin

Digital distribution service from Electronic Arts, where you need to use a special client to download the game. Among clients: Electronic Arts only

The following payment options are supported:

Credit cards(Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, Discover, JCB)
Debit cards with Visa or Mastercard logo
PayPal
ClickandBuy
WebMoney
QIWI
Yandex. Money

Previously, an additional fee was charged for long-term storage of the game installer on the server, namely: with a regular purchase, it was guaranteed that you would be able to download the game at any time within 6 months from the date of purchase. But at the moment this restriction has been lifted, the game can be downloaded at any time.

Sales figures have not been disclosed.

In the near future, Electronic Arts is going to offer users a new digital platform - an analogue of Steam, which should become its main competitor.

Direct2Drive

A digital distributor that distributes games according to a standard scheme, when the user pays for the game and receives a link to the distribution kit and an activation key.

The following payment options are supported:

Credit cards
PayPal

Sales figures have not been disclosed.

GameTap

Digital distribution service by subscription through a special client. There are 3 types of users: guest, green and gold. The guest can play a small number of games (about 40) with mandatory display of advertising during the game. A user is considered “green” if he has registered on the site - then he is given the opportunity to play a little more games and he does not see advertising throughout the entire game, but only before it starts (a regular commercial). A “gold” account costs $9.95 per month (or $59.95 per year) - users have access to almost 1000 games, without any advertising. It is possible to play only when the client is turned on and connected to the Internet.

In June 2007, GameTap signed a contract with Macromedia ActiveMark and created a section with downloadable games on the site.

The following payment options are supported:

Only credit cards(monthly or annual subscription)

Sales figures have not been disclosed.

Russian services

Alawar.ru

The largest specialized resource for selling casual games on the RuNet, owned by the distributor and publisher Alawar Entertainment. More than 300 games from the world's leading developers are constantly on sale. It has an extensive partner network - more than 300 sites, for which Alawar.ru provides ready-made technological solutions for digital distribution of games. Payment is made via SMS payments, plastic card, electronic money or bank transfer.

You can learn more about the company’s activities from Alexander Lyskovsky’s presentation on digital distribution.

GamePitStop

GamePitStop.RU is an online store that sells mainly computer games. The store sells computer games, accepts user orders for the purchase of games and offers a choice of payment options.

Direct.COD (Netville)

The service appeared at the end of 2006, initially positioned as independent, not owned by any publisher, which it still remains.

The store catalog features more than 500 games from Electronic Arts, NCSoft, CCP Games, 1C, Akella, Buka, Novy Disk and other publishers. The store was a key partner for Electronic Arts and NCSoft (European office) in the Russian Federation and CIS countries until 2011, providing Russian users with access to early releases of the most anticipated games, bonuses for customers who placed pre-orders, as well as the opportunity to download distributions of all games in local traffic of regional operators in more than 25 cities of the Russian Federation. In partnership with dozens of the largest Russian providers, Netville has provided the ability to pay for games, including using subscribers’ personal accounts.

At the beginning of 2010, the store was the largest digital seller of PC games in the Russian Federation with a turnover of several million dollars a year.

Carries out not only B2C, but also B2B sales of games to other stores in the licensed territory. B2B buyers include: Yandex, Softkey, Fidel, Yuplay, Igromagaz and several dozen other stores.

Online publisher stores

Digital distribution services for their games were also created by Russian game publishers: , Buka, Akella and Russobit. Their difference: early release of their own games, often with premium content.

Digital distribution via P2P

These are computer networks based on equal rights of participants. In such networks there are no dedicated distribution servers, and each node (peer) is both a client and a server. Such an organization allows the network to remain operational with any number and any combination of available nodes.

YUPLAY

Steam is a digital distribution service for computer games and programs owned by Valve, a well-known computer game developer. Steam serves as an activation service, online downloads, automatic updates and news for games both from Valve itself and from third-party developers under an agreement with Valve, such as Epic Games, THQ, 2K Games, Activision, Capcom, Codemasters, Eidos Interactive, 1C, GSC Game World, id Software, SEGA, Atari, Rockstar Games, Telltale Games, Ubisoft, Bethesda Softworks, Paradox Interactive and many other companies that have signed a distribution contract.

As of fall 2015, Steam distributes about 6,500 games for the Microsoft Windows operating system, over 2,300 games for OS X and over 1,500 games for Linux, which are subject to daily, midweek, and weekend discounts. The number of active Steam accounts exceeds 125 million. A complete list of publishers and developers collaborating with the service is publicly available on the Steam website.

Initially, only games, trailers and modifications for them were distributed, but Valve stated several times that in the future they planned to expand the specialization of the service by starting to distribute music and feature films through it.

The advent of Steam greatly influenced the development of indie games, whose developers often could not find a publisher. From the point of view of publishers, distributing non-standard games on discs is a risky step, because it is not known in advance how buyers will react to the game. Digital distribution, which eliminates the cost of printing discs, documentation and boxes, as well as the costs of selling through retail outlets, allows these games to be published with less financial risk.

After Valve began distributing Darwinia and Red Orchestra through Steam, their developers received several offers from retail publishers as these games demonstrated their popularity.

Also, the spread of Steam influenced digital distribution in general. Immediately after the release of Half-Life 2 (which requires a mandatory Steam installation), this service attracted the attention of many players. Steam was the first successful project in this area (about 25% of Half-Life 2 copies were sold through Steam). Soon after this, several large companies such as Sega, EA Games and 3D Realms announced the creation of their own similar services. Smaller companies such as Stream Theory and Virgin Games have also announced their projects.

However, some of them did not bring their own projects to completion. Sega began selling its games on Steam, and Game xStream's Triton service, which distributed 3D Realms games, was closed (3D Realms games also moved to Steam). Electronic Arts also distributes some of its games through Steam, despite the presence of its own trading platform Origin (in addition to digital distribution, this service is also intended for online sales of games on physical media).

At the end of November 2008, Brad Wardell, head of Stardock, which owns the digital distribution service Impulse, said that, in his opinion, “the undisputed leader in the market for digital distribution of gaming content for the PC is Steam - it has approximately 70% of the market. Our Impulse service comes in second place with about 10%. Everyone else shares the remaining 20%.” He also added that in 2009, publishers receive about 25% of the total income from game sales through such services

PossibilitiesSteam

Steam acts as a technical means of copyright protection (DRM) (and even if you are using a boxed version of the game, there is no need to always insert the game disc into the drive).

Because Steam allows games to be downloaded directly from Valve's servers, it eliminates the need for a publisher, the middle point between developer and consumer.

The developer gets the opportunity to more quickly respond to the needs of the gaming community (for example, by releasing free add-ons like Half-Life 2: Lost Coast) and exercise full control over the distribution of the games themselves, since even boxed versions of Steam games require mandatory activation and full updating via Steam .

The ability to buy a game for another person as a gift or give someone an “extra” game purchased again as part of a collection. For example, owners of Half-Life 2 and/or Half-Life 2: Episode One could give these games to other people if they purchased The Orange Box. To do this, just indicate the recipient's e-mail or select his account in the list of the corresponding dialogue (in this case, the recipient's account must be added to the list of friends - Steam Friends). Gifts have become the most common form of purchasing Steam games through third parties among users who are unable to purchase the game directly due to the lack of a credit card. After transferring money to the intermediary, he buys the game as a gift through a credit card and sends it to the buyer by email or via Steam. Prices from sellers who buy games legally with their credit card tend to be slightly higher than the prices of games on Steam. Sellers involved in carding may have prices several times lower (usually $5-10 per game), however, there is a risk of the gift being revoked and the Steam account being blocked if the credit card owner detects the withdrawal of funds and refuses the payment .

Steam also allows owners of online clubs to enter into an agreement to use the system CyberCafe, which allows you to use a significant part of Steam games for a certain monthly subscription fee.

On June 2, 2015, Steam launched a refund system for purchased games (and most DLC) if the user's computer does not meet the system requirements of the game or he did not like it. Refunds are only possible within 14 days and only if the user has spent no more than two hours in the game.

Purchasing games

Instead of buying boxes of games, discs, CD keys, a Steam user gets the opportunity to download purchased games from Steam servers from any place where the Steam client can be used. Games can be purchased either individually (with some exceptions) or as part of “packages” of several games (if any), costing less than the total cost of the games individually, sometimes even several times (you can only download part of the games from the package in any combination).

All purchases are made from the Steam client desktop or on the store website through any browser, and the data is transferred through an encrypted connection. To ensure greater security, payment information is not saved, so it must be entered again each time (however, if you link your PayPal account, you will not have to enter the data again, only the PayPal password). Purchases are made through a virtual shopping cart. Steam has a wallet to which users can transfer money and keep it there. Payment for purchases is possible either through this wallet or by transfer of money. The following payment and wallet replenishment methods are supported

Cost of games

Prices for games and downloadable content on Steam vary within some limits. Currently the lowest price for a game is $0.99USD (Fortix), a downloadable content is $0.99USD (Just Cause 2: Monster Truck), a downloadable manual is $1.99USD (The Final Hours of Portal 2), or a collection is $2.99USD ( Ctulhu Saves the World & Breath of Death VII Double Pack) and the highest price for the game is $59.99USD (Call of duty: Ghosts), for downloadable content $39.99USD (The Sims 3: Late Night), for downloadable manuals $19.99USD (Homefront: Prima Official Strategy Guide) or for the collection $49.99USD (Valve Complete Pack).

In different regions, the price may differ from the standard price or may vary for different titles of the same game. For example, the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. costs $9.99USD, but the same game in America costs $19.99USD, as it is called S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. Thus, you can buy two identical games. The first days after the release of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare there was a huge range of prices: $49.99USD in Russia and America, $69.99USD in France and $88.50USD in Australia. Also, for example, All Points Bulletin in America was sold for $49.99USD, and in Europe - for $28.99USD.

In the near future, 1C-SoftClub plans to strengthen its influence in the market for digital distribution of games. In this regard, we asked several questions Sergei Klimov, who is now involved in this area of the company.

AG: First things first: wasn’t it too late?

SK: To become pioneers? Of course, it’s too late for pioneering; digital distribution was a pioneer during the Half-Life, when Valve in the contract reserved the rights to distribute the game digitally, and their publisher - an international, multi-million dollar publisher, with several lawyers on staff - calmly passed this over as a “non-essential condition”. Any actions regarding digital distribution today, in 2011, are no longer “seeing the future,” they are exclusively “reacting to the present.” That is, we will not be the first cafe in the city where they will brew you green tea - we will be the one hundred and first cafe where they will brew you green tea. But at the same time, you will get such a good brew that you will then prefer to come to us.

AG: Steam has long laid rails in our country and is briskly riding along them - recently they even added support for WebMoney.

SK: Trains are still running on these rails without maintenance personnel. Working with the market begins with the support system, patches, DLC, pricing and language policies. Let's say a new game N comes out. You buy it on Steam. You can pay via WebMoney, that's good. The kit includes a version in Russian, which is simply wonderful. But then three patches and two DLCs come out. But there are no Russian versions on Steam. And what are you doing? Change the language to English, download half a gigabyte of updates and continue playing in English? And if the saved games do not work, what do you do - write a request to the American support service using Google Translate? That is, I would not call the current situation “vigorous”, I would say that there are already muscles, there is potential, but there is still no head, no strategy. And this applies not only to Russia, by the way - this also applies to other territories where the audience does not play in English and does not have the solvency of American players.

AG: What, besides content, can the 1C-SK digital initiative offer to those Russians who have been using Steam for a long time?

SK: There are three areas in which we can become leaders. These are content, publishing focus and prices.

In terms of content, Steam has a selection policy designed to control quality and ensure a certain turnover of goods. The platform does not host niche projects or projects in “non-mass” genres. What’s good is that there is no such dump as in the Apple Store, where you can buy a project with placeholders for 10 dollars that has not undergone any serious quality control. But that’s bad, because, in my opinion, “something special” is an indicator of the store’s interest, and Steam cuts off products that do not fit the mold of “contemporary American culture” and “commercial genres.”

In my opinion, there is no particular point in chasing hits for new platforms - today Call of Duty is sold on Steam, tomorrow Activision will decide to sell its own hits only directly from its website and not pay any additional commission to any platforms, that’s the whole story. It's like the difference between two stores, one sells only Armenian cognac, and the other sells vodka, sausage and yoghurt. The first one can be located behind the third line of houses, because if successful, they will reach it there too, and buyers will recommend this store to each other, through connections based on interests. Yes, at first the turnover will be small, but the audience will grow steadily. The second one should be located right next to the metro and be extremely sensitive to prices, because as soon as Magnolia opens nearby, where vodka will cost 20 rubles cheaper, the public will move there. And such a store will not have a loyal, “own” audience.

Continuing with the theme of content, Steam offers an extremely small number of localized versions. This is good for "purists" who want to play The Longest Journey in the language of the authors (i.e. Norwegian, as I understand it), but this is not good for most players. I myself understand the English language normally, because of my work I can’t live without it, but I am far from demanding from my audience a complete knowledge of English at a level that allows them to understand the stylistic nuances of quests, for example. We will be publishing soon The Next BIG Thing from Pendulo Studios, and I am sure that the Russian version for our country is more in demand than the English version, obtained by translating the original Spanish text. Because if you're a purist, play in Spanish, right? So, you won’t find the Russian version on Steam, but here we will.

In terms of content, we plan to move along the path of a specialized platform. We will offer things that no one else will have - this applies to the portfolio, catalogue, and the availability of localized versions.

In terms of publishing focus, we initially have a very significant advantage over any other platforms - we are a publishing company with 15 years of experience in the specialized market. For fifteen years we have been engaged not in software, not in the supply of boxes to the regions, but in the search, licensing, localization, promotion and publication of game projects. There are sites created by developers; created by providers; created by free mail services; created by distributors, trading companies; we have a platform created by a publishing house, that is, a company that spends its entire life thinking about how best to combine the needs (of players) with the opportunities (projects available on the market).

If you allow me, I would like to say a few words about the current digital sales specifically on your website, to the website. As far as I understand, this is an affiliate program, correct? I was initially very optimistic about the prospects, I was expecting good results, but then I stopped expecting them because I went to the site as an ordinary reader, player, and was not able to make any of the purchasing actions that I would like to do.? This is a community of experts, readers who often understand games better than I do, although I’m not exactly a fool either. And for such people, for “professional players”, what would I do first? Pre-order system. Because I already know what I want, and I would like to be rewarded - with a discount, some special content - for the fact that I already know 6 months before the release that I will buy a second one." The Witcher" What would I do next? Separate ratings for those who bought the game. Because I, as a potential buyer, am interested in seeing not how the game was rated by “a shkolota who pumped it up from torrents,” I’m interested in the ratings of VIPs, for example, the ratings of those who paid and then rated it. What would I do third? Would provide a portfolio of rare projects. Let's say I think one of the best turn-based strategy games in the world is SpellCross, made by Dave from Cauldron. And it is on AG that people will understand me, because here the audience loves and appreciates games just as much as I love and appreciate them. But neither the first, nor the second, nor the third exist now - not because it is difficult to implement, but because you have an excellent gaming site, but not a publishing one, just like the partner who helps AG sell games is not a gaming one publisher, he has a different specialization. And he doesn't know Dave, and won't be able to negotiate a digital release with him. SpellCross. And we can.

Let me give you an example from our business model to illustrate the publishing trick. I have a colleague. He produces good quests. In Germany. The quests are good - ratings range from 70% to 85% - but, let's say, niche. For an unprepared player, it is not a fact that it will pass. In his country, under the slogan “Made in Germany,” they sell well and pay off budgets. In Russia, this is a niche product. Bringing a game like this to retail requires serious effort. Yes, we launched " Machinarium"(and have already sold about 50,000 copies, despite the crisis!). We launched " The Elusive World"(which also sells well, despite the limitations of the genre). But we will not launch 5-6 other similar projects in retail, because sending such products to stores would expose the stores to the risk that the games will sit on the shelf and wait for their customers for a very, very long time. And we must give retail projects that are guaranteed to sell, and sell quickly, because the store must make money.

And now we are finally opening a digital platform. What will we do as a publisher? We will go to the audience and ask: do you want us to localize a new quest X for digital sales? For such localization to pay off, we need to collect N orders. Here is a graph of how much we have already collected - if you want to see such a project and play it, then join us, as soon as we exceed N pre-orders, we will begin localizing the game. As they now write on discount sites, “the promotion will take place.” And at the same time we go to the developer and say - listen, to launch the project in Russia we need to collect such a cash register that would repay the efforts to bring it to the market. Let's make it so that in Russia this game of yours will cost, for example, 150 rubles. Not 550, not 350, but 150 - because then, in our opinion, we will get 10,000 buyers, and at the price of 350 - only 1000. That is, we will collect one and a half million versus three hundred and fifty thousand. And he agrees, and now we have 10,000 people who want to try to play this quest for 150 rubles, and we start the process. This is the simplest example of a publishing trick on a digital platform. I don’t yet see anyone doing similar things in Russia, although for me they are obvious, since digital is not the cloning of retail sales, it is the development of the market through new distribution channels, the use of opportunities that were not available in the traditional model.

Finally, about prices - separately. In Moscow, according to statistics, there is an incredible number of millionaires. And, I believe, the business model of a restaurant with an average bill of a thousand dollars is quite reasonable. Yes, I won’t be able to go there, and you probably won’t be able to, but if there are ten thousand people in the city for whom such an amount is not money, then why not? They will go if they are offered something special there, maybe they just cook normal borscht or serve them humanely, I don’t know, it doesn’t matter. But this can’t be a model that will then be well replicated throughout the country? Nobody will offer this, will they?

However, in terms of game prices, the situation with Steam is a reflection of the economic situation in the United States for the whole world. If I receive 50,000 rubles a month, and a new game costs $40, at an exchange rate of 25, then this is 2% of my salary. But my friend in New York makes $10,000 a month, and this game is only 0.4% of his salary. Considering that I pay 40 rubles at a gas station for a cup of tea in Moscow, and he pays three times more, four dollars with taxes, within the gaming industry today it is assumed that he and I should be ready to pay for games and content the same amounts of money, despite the fact that we have different incomes, and this contradicts the laws of a market economy.

Books, music, games, films are a mass product. When I sell 250,000 copies of a game, even for 100 rubles, I will immediately open financing for the second part, since I see the audience, I see that the choice was not accidental. But I doubt the validity of the model when the same fees will be achieved by selling 12,500 copies at a price of 2,000 rubles - because this is too narrow a niche. And despite the fact that the money is the same, I cannot expect that next time this small group of people will also be ready to pay that kind of money for a similar game.

So far, I do not see on the market, on the publishing horizon, which works digitally with Russian players, any systematic steps to find the optimal price/circulation ratio, although it would be high time. Why, for example, the first " Eador“costs in figures 300 rubles or 350 rubles - what is this based on? Because similar games cost similar money at retail? Well, it’s as if I said that I’ll charge you a thousand rubles for a haircut, since Petya, whom I cut my hair on Mondays, pays exactly a thousand. " Eador", perhaps it should cost 500 rubles, because it is so good that whoever buys it for 350 will give 500. Or maybe it should now - a few blocks after the premiere - cost 100 rubles, because everyone who wanted , have already bought the game, and it’s time to motivate five thousand “potentially interested” people to buy. You have to think, count, check. Personally, it seems to me that a portfolio of 100 good games for 250 rubles will be collected by O a larger cash register than a briefcase in which some games cost 196, some - 395, and some - 445 rubles 60 kopecks. Because people like structured flows and don’t like information clutter. Our new platform, I really hope for it, will offer an easy-to-understand, economically sound formula that will provide players with games exactly at the price at which they will be most in demand. We come to this field with our eyes open, we start with a clean slate, we say: our task in digital is to ensure maximum fees for projects, so that with this money studios can create projects of better and better quality. If this problem is solved by offering games for 100 rubles, since at such prices it gives hundred thousand sales, then that’s exactly what we will do. If it turns out that we sell 3052 copies of each new game, regardless of the price tag, then we will sell 3052 copies at 1000 rubles per copy. The decision will be determined by the behavior of Russian players.

AG: The Western market is teeming with various digital stores, from very small startups to services owned by large retailers.

SK: Yes, someone comes from traffic; some come from a loyal audience; someone comes from a convenient interface; someone sells it themselves, directly from the publisher’s website. The search for a “big idea” is still ongoing on the international market. Steam is ahead of the rest in terms of turnover, they are great, but I think that somewhere in 2015 the picture of the distribution of fees across platforms and channels will be completely different than today.

AG: In Russia, almost every cricket has got its own store: Gaijin (yuPlay), ND, Russobit-M, Akella... It’s clear why companies do this, but it’s not very convenient for the end consumer to be torn between several services, each of which has its own rules. Will you take steps to reduce this fragmentation, is there a desire and opportunity to do so?

SK: We as a company are quite concerned about what is happening now in terms of digital sales, overall sales in Russia, in terms of the efficiency of working with content. I will give an example from the traditional area of business of 1C-SoftClub. Let's say there is a store or even a chain of stores. The average turnover for our products is, suppose, 1 million rubles per month. We come and see that there is some old stuff that was not returned to us, but on the other hand, interesting products are sold quickly and are not replenished, and buyers often leave with nothing. And we say: guys, let’s manage our regiments a little? Will we supply the products ourselves and lay them out the way they should be - create sections “New Products”, “As a Gift”, etc.? And after three months, the result for our line is already 1.5 million rubles per month. Physically, nothing has changed: the same stores, the same customers, we just “turned the product around.” And so I recently ran, once again, through Russian digital stores as a player and a buyer and was left completely confused: the same games cost differently, somewhere they accept SMS - somewhere they don’t, if I pay in one way - the price one, another - another, while the prices are kind of out of the blue, not round, personally incomprehensible to me. Somewhere the game is available digitally, somewhere it’s only in the box... now there’s a complete mess going on in this area. It seems to me that until we—the “Russian gaming industry,” or even just the “gaming industry”—correct this situation, digital sales of games in Russia will not improve dramatically on their own.

At 1C-SoftClub we will start by providing our players with the simplest possible purchasing interface directly on the websites of the game series themselves. So that, roughly speaking, without leaving the site Divinity 2 you could buy the latest part, download the patch, buy DLC - and all this was convenient, transparent and fast. And only then will it be possible to talk about the site as a separate platform; this is not a question of January or February, this will be a little later.

AG: Since we are talking about competing services, how do you see future relations with the same Steam, Impulse, GamersGate? Will 1C-SK releases become exclusive to your platform or will they continue to appear in other retail outlets?

SK: All of these platforms serve different audiences. Our platform is aimed at Russian players, with whom no one really works yet, so we are unlikely to compete with the “big digital five”, we will simply add to the industry such a service, such a portfolio and such prices that will allow more Russian players to conveniently and quickly buy games that interest them, and no one’s sales will fall as a result of this, since these will be new sales. Based on the fact that, for example, ten thousand people who would like to buy digitally Broken Sword, in February 2011 they will come to us and buy this game from us. We have already agreed with Charles, with Noreen, with Revolution and will respond with such a proposal to an already existing, but not yet realized, market need. It seems to me that there is no point in throwing up our hands today and saying that “the Russian digital sales market is not developed enough.” Because no one has yet made any real efforts to offer a normal interface, a normal selection and normal prices. I went to one Russian site here to check our games - I didn’t even find the “Search” field on the main page of the site, can you imagine? I came, a potential client, I want to buy a game - and I can’t even understand where to look for it. As long as we have this level of service, we will have exactly the sales that this service deserves.

AG: Steam and Impulse tie games to their content delivery platforms. In recent years, these programs have mutated from simple utilities into full-fledged social networks. Gamersgate, on the contrary, abandoned its “client”. Which approach is closer to you?

SK: We have our own client, which is no less convenient than the best existing ones at the moment (judging by the feedback from the closed test), but I don’t really believe in the dominance of any content delivery utility, the world is changing.

Players, and people in general, as a rule, prefer freedom of choice. Imagine that the Steam client is an advanced discount card that offers you interesting products at interesting prices, and even with free delivery to your home. The first year you are happy. On the second, you see good beer on your neighbor’s table, open the website of your discount card - but there is no such thing there, since there is another one recommended by your network. OK. But then your wife asks you to buy a certain cheese, and again you don’t have it - there is another one approved by the site, but your wife doesn’t need it. And at some point you stop “living on the card”, you start buying what you need - and discounts arise only when you have the opportunity to take it here, and here, and there.

There are five pharmacies near my house. And I have five discount cards for today. “Rigla”, “Samson”, “A5”, something else... I don’t go to a specific pharmacy for medicine, I call the 2-3 nearest ones and find out if they have the medicine I need, and from there I make a choice. If you want to buy a second " The Witcher", and on our site it will be 500 rubles, and on Steam - 1250, then even if you are the world's biggest Steam fan, you will most likely buy the game from us. Because, firstly, you need this game (and somewhere it won’t be), secondly, at a good price (and we will have a Russian price for Russian players), thirdly, with normal support (and with ability to choose between Russian and English sound). On the other hand, I see no reason why someone would come to our site and buy a new one Portal. Well, maybe just take it to the heap by buying some of our other games.

Our strategy in this regard is twofold. We are developing in parallel both the service of direct sales to the audience and our clients. Anyone who wants to join our “club” is welcome. Anyone who wants to buy only one specific game, and preferably quickly, we will also provide this opportunity.

AG: In addition to standard piece sales, there are services like Metaboli, where for a monthly subscription fee they provide access to a certain number of games of certain genres. Have you considered this option for Russia?

SK: Perhaps this model is suitable for children’s projects - I don’t know, we’ll check it, so I can comment more specifically. For normal games, it seems to me that it is much more important to be able to play when I want, without any Internet connection. Personally, I want to buy the game and have it in my library forever, and not be tied to some kind of subscription, since we are talking about projects that are played for days. And I want to be able to go to the country with a laptop and play there, under the apple trees, without a phone and without a network. Metaboli cannot provide this for me.

AG: Steam, the App Store and Xbox Live Arcade have opened the world to a whole constellation of independent developers (some, like, say, ZeptoLab, which created the smash hit Cut the Rope, - from Russia), who ten years ago would have seen such commercial success only in their wildest dreams. Are you going to somehow raise the “indie” trend in Russia at the expense of digital?

SK: Of course, we will work with independent developers, with new teams, we have interesting ideas both on the terms of purchase at an early stage of development, and on organizing feedback from the audience, on creating a platform that would give a chance to all new, unusual projects, and at the same time would stimulate talented developers.

I remember very well the first time we met Jakub Dworski in Prague to look at " Machinarium", from which at that time there were only the first few levels - and how we later met in San Francisco after the project won the GDC prize for best visual design. If it weren’t for the prospects for digital sales, the project simply would not have taken place, since of the traditional publishers at that time only one company believed in the game - ours, and this was not at all enough for such a scale of production.

Today we need a few more months to launch our platform, after which I encourage all developers who have interesting, fresh ideas to contact us so that we can turn them into successful projects together. We will have an audience of several tens of thousands of players who appreciate good games and who are willing to pay for them, and we will be able to present to such an audience exactly those games that are interesting to our players today, here and now.

For example, I am sure that among all Russian platforms we will sell the maximum number of copies of the new, as yet unannounced, project Ice-Pick Lodge, the success of which I believe in digital - because in digital it will be bought by an experienced, prepared audience, which will appreciate both originality and irony, and it is with such an audience that we will begin to work.

By the way, this area includes work not only with original projects, but also work with modders, with sets of additional missions and maps. If there is a team that is capable of making a small mission pack, then digitally we will be able to put it on sale and raise enough money for such a team to take on a larger project, and so on. In this regard, the digital platform gives a very good chance to independent teams without commercial development experience.

AG: A question that follows from the previous one. What about digital-only releases - is there a sufficiently prepared market for this in Russia? After all, sometimes other DLCs with a volume of 100 MB are released in Jewels...

SK: I am convinced that this is precisely the prospect of digital distribution in Russia - not in replacing the retail market, but in complementing it.

I would like to sell DLC through the digital channel, so as not to overload the stores with add-ons that require the original game, since it is always difficult to calculate how many discs should be shipped, adjusted for the success of the main project. We also plan to sell through the digital channel such projects that are in demand, for example, 10,000 players, 20,000 players (but not 200,000, not 300,000), because this will give such games a chance to succeed, will bring them to the audience that is waiting for them, but which today does not receive them, since the retail distribution model requires mass distribution and scale. A little higher I already gave an example with a quest. I can give the same example with military strategy, with historical projects...

For me, the indicator of the success of 1C-SoftClub’s digital model will be the day when we take on publishing, localizing and promoting the game solely based on digital sales. This is our competitive advantage, if you allow me to insert a similar term here - that we are a publisher, not just a platform, and as a publisher we will actively develop the market, build new processes, open up new opportunities, and not just sit and complain to the fact that “people don’t pay.”

AG: “Digital”, unfortunately, has adopted a monstrous flaw from the traditional sales model: discrimination on a regional basis. Anyone who tried to buy on Steam, e.g. GTA 4 or recent

SK: The choice of language, as well as the choice of price, is a matter of policy for a particular publisher. My personal view is that you can expect a "local price" when purchasing a "local version" - that is, a region-limited version. I am ready to give, for example, Serbia the right to sell the second " Eador” for $3, while on Steam it will cost $49.95, only when the Serbian version launches exclusively in Serbia. The “grimaces” you mention are mostly related to the way the business model for collaboration between regional and international publishers is structured today. I am convinced that within a year or two all these issues will be settled (the Russian App Store still really infuriates me).

AG: What about micropayments? In the West, this model has been tested and has been working successfully for several years; in Russia, I only remember the built-in store from Majesty 2 with exorbitant prices. And, again, returning to the previous question - what will happen with DLC for foreign games?

SK: I’m not ready to comment on general issues regarding the micropayment system yet; it highly depends on the specific project and the organic nature and demand of the proposed content. Several major games of 2011, which 1C-SoftClub will publish in Russia, use microtransactions and do it very beautifully - we will support them. Others, rather, repeat the unsuccessful examples of the past, and we will not contact their support.

We will definitely publish DLC for localized projects. This topic is perhaps one of the most difficult today, since even in the West there are problems with supporting patches, DLC, and simultaneous localization into European languages. Now imagine that we are talking about Russian versions, with their own specifics... This is not easy. But we are working on a global, strategic solution within our relationships with all the major publisher partners.

AG: Since we are talking about money, what payment methods do you plan to support? In this regard, Russia is a unique country; there are not so many “money-eating” machines either in America or in Europe.

SK: For the New Year, our company will launch a small experiment: we will offer players 12-15 high-quality, well-proven projects at a very, very attractive price. We are doing this to show the industry the potential of digital sales. Show developers that you can sell thousands of copies of a game if you offer an adequate price. Show players that they can comfortably and quickly buy games digitally - and at the same time for reasonable money. Show publishers that Russian players are willing to pay for quality content if such content is offered in the right format and at the right price.

The experimental portal will work throughout the New Year holidays, and as part of this experiment we will accept payments via SMS, via QIWI (wallet and terminals), via WebMoney and Yandex.Money - come and see for yourself, these will be very good, modern games, in person I already bought almost everything for myself. In this case, the price of the games will be the same, regardless of the payment method. Then, when we launch our main portal, we will accept payments by credit cards, it’s just not the focus now, now the focus is to show that the digital distribution of games in Russia has huge potential, which can be realized with the right offer.

AG: Well, and most importantly: how close is 1C-SK to the commercial launch of its “digital” initiative?

SK: During the New Year holidays we will launch our experimental website, stay tuned for the news. After this, we will take a short break and during the first quarter we will implement the first steps in two main directions - direct sales on game sites and sales through our own platform, with a convenient client that you can bet on or not. During 2011, we plan to prove that the Russian market is ready for serious, commercial volumes in digital, and the right publishing approach will provide, so to speak, a “snowball” of satisfied players and successful projects. In “snowballs”, if anything, we are great specialists.

AG: Thank you very much for the interesting detailed answers!

P.S. And here, in fact, is the New Year’s project promised by Sergei - “Digital Vacations”. Twelve games for 145 rubles apiece.

Steam is a digital distribution service for computer games and programs owned by Valve, a well-known developer of computer games. Steam serves as an activation service, online downloads, automatic updates and news for games both from Valve itself and from third-party developers under an agreement with Valve, such as EpicGames, THQ, 2K Games, Activision, Capcom, Codemasters, EidosInteractive, 1C, GSC GameWorld , idSoftware, SEGA, Atari, RockstarGames, TelltaleGames, Ubisoft, BethesdaSoftworks, ParadoxInteractive and many other companies that have signed a distribution contract.

The advent of Steam greatly influenced the development of games, whose developers often could not find a publisher. From the point of view of publishers, distributing non-standard games on discs is a risky step, because it is not known in advance how buyers will react to the game. Digital distribution, which eliminates the cost of printing discs, documentation and boxes, as well as the costs of selling through retail outlets, allows these games to be published with less financial risk.

After Valve began distributing the games Darwinia and RedOrchestra through Steam, their developers received several offers from retail publishers, as these games demonstrated their popularity.

Also, the spread of Steam influenced digital distribution in general. Immediately after the release of Half-Life 2 (which requires a mandatory Steam installation), this service attracted the attention of many players. Steam was the first successful project in this area (about 25% of Half-Life 2 copies were sold through Steam). Soon after this, several large companies such as Sega, EA Games and 3D Realms announced the creation of their own similar services. Smaller companies such as StreamTheory and VirginGames have also announced their projects.

However, some of them did not bring their own projects to completion. Sega began selling its games on Steam, and GamexStream's Triton service, which distributed 3D Realms games, was closed (3D Realms games also moved to Steam). ElectronicArts also distributes some of its games through Steam, despite having its own trading platform Origin (in addition to digital distribution, this service is also intended for online sales of games on physical media).

PossibilitiesSteam

Steam acts as a technical means of copyright protection (DRM) (and even if you are using a boxed version of the game, there is no need to always insert the game disc into the drive).

Because Steam allows games to be downloaded directly from Valve's servers, it eliminates the need for a publisher, the middle point between developer and consumer.

The developer gets the opportunity to more quickly respond to the needs of the gaming community (for example, by releasing free add-ons like Half-Life 2: LostCoast) and exercise full control over the distribution of the games themselves, since even boxed versions of Steam games require mandatory activation and full updating via Steam.

The ability to buy a game for another person as a gift or give someone an “extra” game purchased again as part of a collection. For example, owners of Half-Life 2 and/or Half-Life 2: EpisodeOne could give these games to other people if they purchased TheOrangeBox collection. To do this, just indicate the recipient's e-mail or select his account in the list of the corresponding dialogue (in this case, the recipient's account must be added to the list of friends - SteamFriends). Gifts have become the most common form of purchasing Steam games through third parties among users who are unable to purchase the game directly due to the lack of a credit card. After transferring money to the intermediary, he buys the game as a gift through a credit card and sends it to the buyer by email or via Steam. Prices from sellers who buy games legally with their credit card tend to be slightly higher than the prices of games on Steam. Sellers involved in carding may have prices several times lower (usually $5-10 per game), however, there is a risk of the gift being revoked and the Steam account being blocked if the credit card owner detects the withdrawal of funds and refuses the payment .

Steam also allows owners of online clubs to enter into an agreement to use the system CyberCafe, which allows you to use a significant part of Steam games for a certain monthly subscription fee.

Purchasing games

Cost of games

Prices for games and downloadable content on Steam vary within some limits. Currently the lowest price for a game is $0.99USD (Fortix), a downloadable content is $0.99USD (Just Cause 2: Monster Truck), a downloadable manual is $1.99USD (The Final Hours of Portal 2), or a collection is $2.99USD ( Ctulhu Saves the World&Breath of Death VIIDoublePack) and the highest price for the game is $59.99USD (Call of duty: Ghosts), for downloadable content $39.99USD (TheSims 3: LateNight), for downloadable guides $19.99USD (Homefront: PrimaOfficialStrategyGuide) or for the compilation $49.99USD (ValveCompletePack).

Digital game distribution services. Video game digital distribution services

Spreading

GOG.com

Direct2Drive

GameTap

Russian services

Gama-Gama.ru

Alawar.ru

Direct.COD (Netville)

Shop.Buka.ru

Online publisher stores

Digital distribution with customer participation

UPLAY

see also

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Notes

Excerpt characterizing Digital distribution

Spreading

Origin

Direct2Drive

GameTap

Russian services

Alawar.ru

GamePitStop

Direct.COD (Netville)

Online publisher stores

Digital distribution via P2P

YUPLAY

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