Direct2Drive Refutes Impulse Claim

[Nov 30, 2009, 9:08 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

Gamasutra has a follow-up to the recent report from Stardock stating that Impulse is the #2 digital distributor behind Steam. "Stardock’s recent assessment of its service [that Impulse holds a clear number two position in the digital distribution space] is misinformation at best," says Sutton Trout, Direct2Drive's VP of digital content. "An NPD report from earlier this year refutes Stardock's claim outright and clearly identifies Direct2Drive as a top-performer." They also have a response from Stardock's Brad Wardell: "The data we used came from the publishers. When you add in the fact that Sins of a Solar Empire, Demigod, Galactic Civilizations, etc. are sold exclusively on Impulse, that is what allows Impulse to edge third parties." He added, "Without [Impulse's] own titles, Direct2Drive would indeed be number two. But then again, without Valve’s own titles, Steam would be nowhere near 70 percent of the market either."

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28.

Re: Direct2Drive Refutes Impulse Claim

Dec 1, 2009, 16:37

Island Dog

Yes, that is me. I am not a developer though, I am the evangelist for Stardock. Anyways, I'm not here to argue about this situation, our goal is to make Impulse the best experience for PC gamers and software apps as well. @Prez - I will inquire more about the archiving issue.

27.

Re: Direct2Drive Refutes Impulse Claim

Dec 1, 2009, 16:05

Verno

Fighting over sloppy seconds? Both companies look childish.




Playing: Super Mario 3D Land, Tales of Graces F, Fire Emblem 3DS Watching: Hannibal, Community, Life

26.

Re: Direct2Drive Refutes Impulse Claim

Dec 1, 2009, 12:39

Prez

Who is Island Dog?

Well his name is Spencer, and he posts in Stardock and Impulse threads, and his name is green, so I'm thinking he is Spencer the Stardock Developer!




Prez on Soundclick http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=604888

25.

Re: Direct2Drive Refutes Impulse Claim

Dec 1, 2009, 11:05

Kxmode

Who is Island Dog? Wow I cant believe that the spinstorm these guys throw out to the general public is generating so much response and so many comments. Its just plain marketing BS. Seriously, I could care less who is #1. Then why did you respond? With that said, I do like that there is some healthy competition in the online distribution sector, its a win-win situation for the consumer as long as these guys are competing for piece of the market. I've had time to think about this and I think Stardock has every right to claim they are number two behind Steam based on sales of their own products. That exclusivity gives them a positioning buffer. But the honest truth is that solely based on AAA-rated games sales I believe the rank is Steam first, Direct2Drive second, Impulse third, and so forth. Quite clearly Valve holds dominance, as they should since they pioneered online digital sales. Direct2Drive just has a greater flurry of traffic than Impulse likely thanks to all the weekly deals of known titles, plus the recent $5 5-year anniversary sale.

24.

Re: Direct2Drive Refutes Impulse Claim

Dec 1, 2009, 09:09

Island Dog

Not sure what you are referring to. You don't need to have Impulse running to play a game.

23.

Re: Direct2Drive Refutes Impulse Claim

Dec 1, 2009, 07:09

InBlack

Wow I cant believe that the spinstorm these guys throw out to the general public is generating so much response and so many comments.

Its just plain marketing BS. Seriously, I could care less who is #1.

With that said, I do like that there is some healthy competition in the online distribution sector, its a win-win situation for the consumer as long as these guys are competing for piece of the market.




I have a nifty blue line!

22.

Re: Direct2Drive Refutes Impulse Claim

Dec 1, 2009, 06:02

Prez

If they would just fix the friggin' "restore from archive" function in Impulse that has been broken since back when their service was called Stardock Central, I'd happily buy every game from Impulse given the choice of different distributors.

I uninstall, re-install, and move stuff around a lot, and to have to re-download a multi-Gig game every time because the function they've had listed in their utilities hasn't worked in years is just stupid. Stardock is losing hundreds of dollars a year from me.




Prez on Soundclick http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=604888

21.

Re: Direct2Drive Refutes Impulse Claim

Dec 1, 2009, 05:55

theyarecomingforyou

Every time I look at D2D sales I see games like The Sims 3 and Dragon Age: Origins. Everytime I look at Impulse sales I see lots of small or shitty titles, like Galactic Civilizations, ObjectDock and Sword Of The Stars. It just seems highly unlikely that Impulse is actually number two.

Personally I use Steam and Impulse, though have to say I much prefer Steam. If they'd just drop the DRM / requirement for the Steam client to be running and check online then it would be unstoppable.




Core i7 2600-K (4.6GHz) \| 12GB DDR3 \| GTX680 SLI (1215/1605) \| OCZ Vertex 3 120GB SSD \| Windows 8 Pro Hazro HZ30Wie 30" \| Saffire PRO 40 \| Razer Mamba \| Coolermaster RP1000W SteamID: theyarecomingforyou

20.

Re: Direct2Drive Refutes Impulse Claim

Dec 1, 2009, 02:33

Kxmode

Uhm, this guy is full of shit, there is no DRM in any of Stardocks games. Umm... yes. They use Impulse GOO. It says so on every single page! I mean really now. Think!

19.

Re: Direct2Drive Refutes Impulse Claim

Dec 1, 2009, 02:31

Kxmode

The data we used came from the publishers. When you add in the fact that Sins of a Solar Empire, Demigod, Galactic Civilizations, etc. are sold exclusively on Impulse, that is what allows Impulse to edge third parties So Impulse's claim "we hold the number two position" is solely based on exclusive, self-published products, many of which aren't even games? Wow.

18.

Re: Direct2Drive Refutes Impulse Claim

Dec 1, 2009, 02:31

Wolfen

Ive used Steam, Impulse and D2D. Ive used D2D less over the years since steam arrived though. Impulse I merely use for any CD games ive bought that require it and object desktop. I havnt really had much trouble with any of them. I figure none of us really give a crud who is number 1 or 2 or 3. In the end its about what we as individuals just like more. So I find this argument over this fairly.. useless.

17.

Re: Direct2Drive Refutes Impulse Claim

Dec 1, 2009, 00:00

Sepharo

Brad do you count Object Desktop and related software sales as part of the Impulse market share?

Excuse me if the answer to this should have been obvious.




[I'm not trolling I'm just] tossing stuff like that in there only to get your panties all bunched up. -TrollinThundr

16.

Re: Direct2Drive Refutes Impulse Claim

Nov 30, 2009, 23:45

Narf2029

I wouldn't call Valve's Steam solution intrusive, as feature-rich as it is. Sure you have to run Steam to play a Steam game - so what? If you're on a system that can't handle playing a game with Steam going, send it back to 1995.




Huh? I'm sorry, I was thinking about cake.

15.

Re: Direct2Drive Refutes Impulse Claim

Nov 30, 2009, 23:18

Darks

Uhm, this guy is full of shit, there is no DRM in any of Stardocks games. Demigod and Sins are clean of any DRM tactics except for a cd ckeck. And Valves has a more intrusive drm then anyones has. This comment was edited on Nov 30, 2009, 23:19.

14.

Re: Direct2Drive Refutes Impulse Claim

Nov 30, 2009, 23:17

Bucky

I hate Impulse simply because of the crappy DRM software you must install to play a game. I honestly can't tell if that's an attempt to troll or just some serious misinformation. Stardock's games typically have no DRM at all, except for requiring Impulse to update the game. Impulse (unlike Steam) does not need to be used to launch a game and third party games sold through Impulse are, in my experience, easier to use community patches and mods with. This isn't to say that every game on the service is like this; publishers dictate to the distributor what DRM scheme must be used with their game. This is the same with Steam. Now, if you're talking about the Impulse client itself that's just a matter of opinion. I find Impulse to be better in terms of actual digital distribution (download speeds, etc) and I definitely prefer not needing to use the Impulse client to run a game. However, Steam has far better community features and their game catalog is unrivaled.

13.

Re: Direct2Drive Refutes Impulse Claim

Nov 30, 2009, 23:04

draginol

I've posted some thoughts here: http://frogboy.impulsedriven.net/article/370508/Digital_Distribution_market_share

12.

Re: Direct2Drive Refutes Impulse Claim

Nov 30, 2009, 22:58

mag

I've got to say Good Old Games > Impulse > Steam > D2D, in terms of least-amount-of-suckiness-toward-customers.

11.

Re: Direct2Drive Refutes Impulse Claim

Nov 30, 2009, 22:50

Cutter

Brad's an idiot like almost every other neocon.




"Are you crazy? Is that your problem?" - Jack Burton

10.

Re: Direct2Drive Refutes Impulse Claim

Nov 30, 2009, 22:33

Techie714 ©

Steam & D2D FTW!!!

I hate Impulse simply because of the crappy DRM software you must install to play a game.




Steam (ID) http://steamcommunity.com/id/techie714/ DEAD SH0T

Re: Direct2Drive Refutes Impulse Claim

Nov 30, 2009, 22:31

CannibalBob

imo steam>gg>d2d>impulse

Impulse simply has a crap games catalogue and doesn't offer any good sales/deals (aside from their own games). GG offers great sales once in a while and has the awesometastic blue coins system (eg. get a free game eventually). D2D has had some good deals (their 5th anniversary sale comes to mind) but that's really about it. Steam is the clear king with community features, auto-patching, an awesome catalogue and routinely amazing sales (such as Mirror's Edge for $5 etc).




"If you like it, they will stop making it" - Herblock's Law

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