Rock, Paper, Shotgun- The Steamy Issue Of Digital Distribution.
Of course, if Steam were the only viable digital distribution platform (let’s say that Valve had patented the system, and no one else could compete) then this could clearly be an enormous issue. It would be a monopoly. But of course it’s not – there’s many others from the indie systems like GoG to IGN’s (and therefore News International’s) Direct2Drive. There’s GamersGate, Impulse and there’s Metaboli. Major publishers have their own online distribution services. The question is, how much of this market does Steam dominate? Is it viable for a developer or publisher to refuse their game on Steam?

PlayStation University - Electronic Arts No Longer the Evil Empire of Gaming. Who is?
What really throws me off is that Kotick isn’t even happy the price hike as is, he’s been quoted as saying “And Tony, you know if it was left to me, I would raise the prices even further.” Seriously? You’d hike the prices up even further, diminishing the respect that your user base has for the company as a whole? Don’t worry – We’re sure that Guitar Hero 12 will recoup all of those fans lost in the quest for money. Which brings me to my next point; what ever happened to Ghostbusters and Brutal Legend being published by Activision? Don’t worry – the answer is simple. Kotick only wants the company to deliver titles that they can exploit the gamer with through yearly releases, you know, like Guitar Hero and Call of Duty (though developed by different teams).

Gamesindustry.biz - Disorderly Queue.
When the uptake of the game is higher than anticipated, companies can respond to the demand by opening new servers - but this is a blunt, unfocused tool at best, and in many cases, is utterly useless as a solution. Players who have already invested time in a character don't want to start afresh on a new server. More importantly, players who have started the game with a group of their friends will find it very difficult to move en-masse to a new server. Instead, you see the spectacle of a game with a cluster of servers afflicted by huge queues, while new servers sit half-empty.