At its heart, he explains, is actually a shift from viewing games as as being a physical product, to viewing them as a service - something that could be happening in other entertainment media. Digital distribution is a part of that; more fluid and MS 2 Mesos varied varieties of game development, with games that change and engage their communities of players within the years, are another; being that they are, naturally, the persistence and subscription (or elsewhere) revenues of MMO games. None of this may be reflected inside sales charts analysts, executives - and gamers - obsess over.
Valve sees 200 percent increase these alternative channels - not merely Steam, but like likes of cyber-cafes also - versus not nearly as expensive 10 % in bricks-and-mortar shop sales. Steam features a 15 million-strong player-base with Buy MS 2 Mesos 1.25 million peak concurrent users, and 191 percent annual growth; none much off a console platform inside pc. The PC casual games market, driven through the entire likes of PopCap, went from close to absolutely absolutely not USD 1.5 high dollar industry within decade, and they've got doubled bigger in just three. Perhaps most surprisingly, Valve found that digital distribution doesn't cannibalise retail sales - simple fact is, a for no extra charge Day of Defeat weekend on Steam created more new retail sales than online ones.