Tales of the Rampant Coyote

Adventures in Indie Gaming!

The Penny Arcade Report Tells It Like It Is: Buy Direct From Developers!

Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 9, 2013

It’s howling against the hurricane, but it’s something…

The PA Report: Want to support your favorite developers? Ditch Steam and buy direct

It seems to me that the indie devs of the world could benefit from an open-source app that provides the benefits of something like Steam or Desura which any game could link into. It would provide…

A) An easy way to always download your games long after they’ve been purchased without having the delay of contacting the developer

B) An easy way to check for updates to your games … ALWAYS.

C) Discoverability

Just a thought.


Filed Under: General - Comments: 5 Comments to Read



  • Yem said,

    Honestly, I’d be happy to.. if I get a steam key.

    It’s just SO MUCH easier to keep track of all my games in one place than to try to remember where my download link or key ended up.. Especially when some of the payment services indies use appear to have time or download limits on their links.

    And, to be fair, if I notice a game primarily through steam, it is clearly worth whatever cut they take – should I really be enjoying all of the benefits of steam (and really, letting the developer enjoy all the benefits of steam) while bypassing steam’s cut? I get that Valve is now a big faceless corporation and indies are lovable and cuddly, but it seems kind of hypocritical to enjoy all of the benefits that being tied to steam gives, but asking users to buy directly from you so that you don’t have to pay for them.

  • MalcolmM said,

    There was a game released this week on Steam (maybe it was gunpoint) where apparently the developer was asking people to buy the game on Steam rather than direct. The developer apparently wanted to make sure that the game moved up the Steam sales charts, making it more visible to prospective buyers.

    I would be curious to know if Steam gets any cut at all when a developer sells a game direct and gives out a Steam key. What would Steam gain from such a sale? I’ve done this a few times, I download the game from Steam so I would expect Steam to get something (but not 30%).

  • alanm said,

    The problem is that running a Steam-like platform costs money. Creating software that meets your ABC requirements is easy, keeping it available online is costly. Whoever provides that service needs to pay the bills somehow.

  • Xenovore said,

    Sure, developers deserve to get the maximum profit possible. But this idea that Steam (et al) is just the troll under the bridge, demanding payment and providing no benefit. . . so false.

    Steam already provides A, B and C — most importantly C; there are a LOT of games on Steam that I would never have found without Steam. Nor am I particularly willing to waste my time surfing the alternatives when Steam already provides what I want.

    So, nice sentiment, but. . .

  • Bad Sector said,

    Btw, Desura is open source 😛

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