The dominance of Steam in the PC digital gaming market is causing a lot of concern for PC game retailers, according to a report by MCV. With Steam as the main player, other digital download services also feel that the market is too competitive to even bother with.
The director at an upcoming Steam rival said,
Publishers don't give a shit, they don't care what happens to the customer. Which is the crucial point, because Steam do.
He later added,
I've fought hard for my customer, and never before have I had to give my customers away. Steam is killing the PC market and it is no wonder digital retailers are failing.
He ended with a bold statement claiming, "Steam is locking down the market."
Retailers on the other hand are willing to drop titles that integrate the popular Steam service as they fear it has a monopoly in the download market and they don't want the 80% foothold that Steam has in the download market to grow any further.
They have a feeling that with new games being powered by the Steam platform, it pushes the customer to making their future purchases from the steam store.
Digital boss at one of the biggest UK games retailers made a valid point,
If we have a digital service, then I don’t want to start selling a rival in-store.
Gaikai CEO David Perry believes Steam could become the games-equivilent of iTunes, where it dictates the terms of the market, not the other way around,
Steam has made it so easy for everyone and they have lots of users. But how long do you wait before you take control of your own digital strategy? Like with iTunes, at some point it’s going to be too late.
