1C: Some UK retailers rejecting Steam-enabled games

Some UK retail chains have reportedly sent out an edict, refusing to stock Steamworks-enabled PC games. This comes from a Russian publisher, who called the behavior "bullying."

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Some UK retail chains are drawing a line in the sand on the digital distribution front, by refusing to stock PC titles that come packaged with a Steam client. The Russian publisher 1C said that at least one major outlet sent a message to game publishers that Steamworks-enabled PC games would no longer be stocked.

1C publishing director Darryl Still called out the rivalry in an interview with CVG. "Their [Steam's] confidence in their offering, which pays no heed to any rival in-store activities, compares favorably to that of the retail chains -- who recently sent a command to publishers that if they include Steamworks in their title it will not be stocked," said Still. "Those guys need to grow up, stop bullying, and focus their attentions on making their offerings as attractive as the people they are obviously looking over their shoulders in panic at."

Ouch. Still also compares the profit margin and timing of digital distribution versus retail. He claimed that a game sold through a digital partner can make twice as much money, and that money will go into the company coffers three or four months sooner than it would from a retail chain.

This echoes a report from MCV in November of last year. At the time, two unnamed UK retailers threatened to stop selling Steam-supported games. Now, it appears some retailers are making good on those threats, as the rivalry continues to heat up.

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  • reply
    June 22, 2011 7:30 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, 1C: Some UK retailers rejecting Steam-enabled games.

    Some UK retail chains have reportedly sent out an edict, refusing to stock Steamworks-enabled PC games. This comes from a Russian publisher, who called the behavior "bullying."

    • reply
      June 22, 2011 7:43 AM

      Could this be the reason, why Brink was pulled from UK steam store.

      • reply
        June 22, 2011 7:52 AM

        Haha really? Physical stores are so dumb.

    • reply
      June 22, 2011 7:49 AM

      they picked a losing strategy all they did was seal there coffin faster .
      oh well they might as well start selling record albums as well and demand all music only be sold on vinyl

    • reply
      June 22, 2011 7:50 AM

      Time to get some popcorn and watch shit hit the fan.

    • reply
      June 22, 2011 7:51 AM

      This should be illegal, but I guess you can't force a store to carry a product. It just seems like this practice will force one way or the other and I feel that hurts competition and ultimately the consumer.

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      June 22, 2011 7:53 AM

      Err...I haven't seen a single PC game on a store shelf since 2008 anyway.

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        June 22, 2011 8:32 AM

        About the only place that still carries more than stuff made by Actizzard is Best Buy and a few one off stores anyways.

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          June 22, 2011 9:08 AM

          There's only one Best Buy within a 30 mile radius that stocks PC games. Wal-Mart and Target only do WoW or Starcraft 2. I haven't set foot in a GameStop for years; I doubt that any around here stock any PC games.

          The physical distribution model is messed up; Homefront allegedly shipped 2.6 million units to retailers, and only sold-through slightly over 1 million units. It's either dogs chasing cars like that, or entirely preorder-driven if the publisher hasn't hyped up the title enough.

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            June 22, 2011 10:03 AM

            Don't you live around Natick? The Best Buy at the mall there has always carried PC games. I'm pretty sure the one in Cambridge does too.

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              June 22, 2011 3:10 PM

              When was the last time you checked?

              By way of example back in like February when I went to my local GameStop to preorder DNF BoS, they were down to a single wire rack of PC games towards the back of the store. When I went to pick the game up last week they were down to just Blizzard titles and a few others and they on the wall behind the counter and cashiers. You would need to ask to look at anything. The rack they were on before was now devoted to used PS2 and GameCube games.

              Mainly because of Steam I don't really mind and I don't see myself going to GameStop much anymore but I'm sort of fine with the idea of the retail perception of running games on a computer being a bizarre foreign concept. Sort of like those consoles no one bought like the 3DO or Jaguar.

              • reply
                June 22, 2011 4:16 PM

                I gave up on the Natick Best Buy a couple of years ago, after they relegated their "PC section" to an endcap. I don't think they have a section anymore. The Milford Best Buy, meanwhile, has a whole half-gondola of PC games that are usually well stocked. I'll have to ask if the manager there really likes PC games.

                I haven't tried GameStop in about 3 years, and I really don't feel eager to set foot in one. The last time I bought something from them, they were called Babbage's or Software Etc.

          • reply
            June 22, 2011 10:06 PM

            No it sold over 2 million to customers, 2.2 last I heard I think

      • reply
        June 22, 2011 6:09 PM

        My local best buy has a very good selection of PC games, but that's the only place

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        June 22, 2011 9:23 PM

        Best Buy, Target, Wal Mart, Costco, and even Gamestop still has at least one small rack in every store I've ever been in.

    • reply
      June 22, 2011 8:06 AM

      anti e-tail, glad these folks are with the times. For some reason, I think this guy has a pager....

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      June 22, 2011 8:10 AM

      These are the retail stores clawing onto the last bit of scraps that is left for physical media. Instead of adopting to the times, they are resisting. And they are the ones losing out in the end.

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        June 22, 2011 2:48 PM

        how do you adopt to physical media being phased out when your entire business is based around physical media?

        • reply
          June 22, 2011 3:11 PM

          Buy Impulse?

        • reply
          June 22, 2011 3:12 PM

          If you're GameStop, you go buy a Steam competitor like Impulse.

          Same way Exxon is still going to want to sell you fuel for your car in whatever form it takes, even when/if all the oil runs out.

          • reply
            June 22, 2011 3:21 PM

            I didn't really think about the giant retailers. More the small scale game shops, but then, I guess they are more common around here than in the States.

        • reply
          June 22, 2011 4:08 PM

          [deleted]

        • reply
          June 22, 2011 5:20 PM

          Turn your store into a barcade!!

    • reply
      June 22, 2011 8:39 AM

      I can understand their desire to not want to have Steam versions of games... it is essentially selling an item that includes a storefront for a competitor.

      However, this step isn't going to help them in the slightest. While they could still get a bit of profit from people who want a physical copy, instead they will be telling their customers that they can't buy it at their store and will have to use Steam or go to another store.... which will result in no profit and is truely directing their customers to a competitor.

    • reply
      June 22, 2011 9:05 AM

      i haven't bought a game in a store in years.

      hell, the only non-steam games i've bought in the last 5 years have been blizzard games, and I bought the latest WoW expack and SC2 online through them. I can download 8GB faster than I can drive to and from Best Buy.

    • reply
      June 22, 2011 9:09 AM

      Didn't they announce the same thing like a year ago?

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      June 22, 2011 9:10 AM

      What? You can buy this elsewhere? We'll show them, now we won't make ANY money off it!

      • reply
        June 22, 2011 3:14 PM

        It's not as simple as that. They see it as selling you a product which contains another product which alleviates the need to ever come back into the store. For them, that's bad.

        • reply
          June 23, 2011 12:10 AM

          If you stop selling the product then why would anyone come back to your store anyway if you have nothing to sell?

    • reply
      June 22, 2011 9:10 AM

      [deleted]

      • reply
        June 22, 2011 11:11 AM

        All for £10 more (at least) than on amazon.

        Steams UK prices are laughable sometimes.

    • reply
      June 22, 2011 9:13 AM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      June 22, 2011 9:16 AM

      Goodness me, I suppose I'll have to stop buying Steam games from reta... wait, hang on a minute.

    • reply
      June 22, 2011 9:59 AM

      Dear brick & mortar retailers: you have already lost.

    • reply
      June 22, 2011 10:17 AM

      Blockbuster and Hollywood Video lost to Netflix. History is bound to repeat itself with these morons. Either get with the times or fuck off!

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      June 22, 2011 10:32 AM

      those valve bullies, fuck them and their near single-handed saving of the PC games market. fuck them, and their highly profitable distribution contracting and amazing usability features, free integrated DRM that treats the customer like, you know, the commodity they are rather than the criminals that they could be. fuck them right up the ass, we want to stay in the past and watch PC games slowly die off, its so much easier to refuse change than embrace it, even if its not really so much easier!!!!

      • reply
        June 22, 2011 10:57 AM

        You forgot about The Sims and World of Warcraft.

        • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
          reply
          June 22, 2011 2:11 PM

          I tried to, thanks for reminding me. >:(

    • reply
      June 22, 2011 11:14 AM

      The more retail shoots themselves in the foot, the faster digital distribution hits mainstream.

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        June 23, 2011 6:00 AM

        True.
        Its sad that some retailers doesn't know how to handle the competition.

    • reply
      June 22, 2011 11:22 AM

      Isn't that because of used-game sales?

      • reply
        June 22, 2011 2:24 PM

        I was going to say --- isn't the UK one of the places outside of the US that sells used PC games? A steam enabled game eliminates a secondary sale.

    • reply
      June 22, 2011 1:28 PM

      Good, hurry your death along retail stores.

    • reply
      June 22, 2011 2:53 PM

      Retail chains have been treating PC gaming like shit for over 8 years anyway, why should we give a shit what they're complaining about now?

      Xbox gamers can buy full games (not just shitty little XBLA stuff) via Live, I don't see retailers moaning about that?

      End of the day, Steam offers a great service, retailers offer SHIT ALL other than high markups and a lousy customer experience.

      You can see why indies and smaller developers not tied to mega publishers are going with Steam or even Steam exclusive, the business case is great for them and they don't need to deal with the retarded limitations of working with retailers and publishers.

    • reply
      June 22, 2011 3:05 PM

      LOL after years of reducing floorspace for PC games, they are now going to complain that PC publishers are starting to embrace digital distribution? Also, I'm sure they'll refuse to stock EA Origin games too, right?

    • reply
      June 22, 2011 3:21 PM

      Something occurred to me the other day.

      Companies like this and D2D don't want to sell Steam games since it's a competitor (you could use Steam to buy games from now on)

      But look at Green Man Gaming. They're just selling Steam keys (when the game is Steamworks). And they occasionally beat Steam sales. It (apparently) doesn't bother them that you might stick with Steam because when their price is good enough you'll come back to them anyway. The recent DNF sale was probably used as a loss leader item just to get people to try them out.

      If GameStop could do better than Steam, price-wise, on Steamworks titles, people would still go buy them there.

      Retailers need to get over it and just get competitive with pricing Steamworks titles.

      • reply
        June 22, 2011 4:22 PM

        When I bought Portal 2 at Best Buy, they gave me a $10 gift card for buying the game. THAT is how you do it.

        • reply
          June 22, 2011 6:07 PM

          I bet when you came back to spend that $10, you probably spent more than that. The hook and bait worked!

    • reply
      June 22, 2011 9:12 PM

      Anyone thinking that the point of this is to stop people from buying Steam games have it backwards. These guys are trying to scare publishers into not including Steam, and while part of my mind is thinking "Hah, the publishers probably make way more money through Steam than retail", the rest of it is just thinking "... but they're probably going to cave anyway".

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        June 22, 2011 10:18 PM

        Way more money through Steam? They were only just hitting parity for volume about a year ago, and even then physical sales were still bringing in about 15% more revenue. The retail space is still a largely significant revenue channel for PC games.

        • reply
          June 23, 2011 12:04 AM

          how long is that going to last? A year? two years?

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            June 23, 2011 7:25 AM

            How long is what going to last? Retail making more profit than digital? Even if it already had switched, it's not like publishers are going to write off retail the moment it "only" brings in 49% of their profits.

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          June 23, 2011 5:12 PM

          You wouldn't know it with the insignificant presence of retail PC games in most stores these days.

          Also it's incredibly hard to find data on how well games sell on Steam, so I can only assume the number is 'reasonably well'.

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