Is Independent Gaming Getting Evil?

A while back I extolled the virtues of Steam, Valve Software’s online distribution system for independent videogame developers. Since then Steam has come along in leaps and bounds, and whilst we have yet to see any episodic games on the system there is no shortage of other delights.

Big applause has to go to Valve for taking on Darwinia, an innovative and interesting strategy game which rather predictably failed to rush off shop shelves. Consumers can be fickle with even the most lauded of games when it comes to parting with cash at retail ; an affliction which has been suffered by games from Giants : Citizen Kabuto to Darwinia itself.

Now all those who really wanted to play the game in their heart of hearts, but who were stopped by some deep capitalistic instinct, can have the game for a more agreeable $19.95 download. Naturally given Steam’s all-in-one package you can download and play the demo through the same system.

2006 looks like it will turn into a bumper year for Steam, with its catalogue set to grow in leaps and bounds. Independent publisher Strategy First is throwing its lot in wholesale with Valve, announcing two titles to be released through the system shortly and promising a whole bunch more as the year goes on.

But all of this glib touting of the independent arts hides a much darker business theology which one wouldn’t be surprised to hear from giants such as EA. One of the two Strategy First games announced for publication on Steam, the modern submarine simulator Dangerous Waters, has been poached from another independent publisher.

Battlefront has long been a stalwart and somewhat mainstream (or as mainstream as you can get in their business) publisher of more niche and independent games. They have brought the world the brilliant Combat Mission series of wargames among a mixed bag of far-ranging treats.

Until quite recently they were also the publishers of Dangerous Waters. Battlefront operates off of the rapidly dating independent publishing method, using online and mail ordering for most of their games. A few, such as the Combat Mission series, go on to be sold on shop shelves through 3rd parties such as CDV.

However online distribution is beginning to undercut them. The appeal of their ring-bound paper manuals is being outshone by that of a convenient and popular download system. Essentially Valve has swept into the independent publishing business which nobody would touch until now and undercut the few who dared to exist at the fringes for so many years.

You could also say the same of the other games which Valve is bringing under its wing. For example Darwinia was initially published by Pinnacle Software. However in that case it was a straight-to-shelves and not an online-ordering system that was used, and so with Darwinia a commercial failure on shelves it can be excused for moving online. Undercutting Battlefront cuts more to the heart of independent gaming.

I won’t be shedding many tears of indignation however. For one it’s rule capitalism and Valve has the most effective and efficient system, made popular and granted mindshare by Half-Life 2.

Secondly, I trust in Valve to keep releasing decent and even niche games on the system. Not because I trust emphatically in their wisdom, but because I know that it’s a cheap and far more risk-free method of distribution that they have. Traditional publishers have to take a multi-million dollar risk every time they invest in a shelf-ridden game ; Valve can toss it onto a download server.

Valve, and other publishers following in their wake, has such a perfect system in place that I won’t worry too much if they seem to be using traditional strong-arm business tactics to put independent publishers out of business.

After all, in undercutting Battlefront with Dangerous Waters Valve has brought Strategy First to the big-boys table. Their titles will be in front of and much more accessible to a much wider audience now than they were with their other publishers such as Battlefront.

As Valve’s Doug Lombardi said to me after I put the question of undercutting independent publishers : "We’re not looking to undercut anyone - just give developers and publishers more avenues for reaching customers." Of course he left out the part about beating the snot out of the likes of Battlefront in the process.

When EA, now seen my many as the epitome of the corporate entity in videogame publishing (though certainly not the only one), was set up it was the darling of the industry. So mindful of developer’s rights was EA that the story goes the founders debated several versions of the company name in order not to detract from developers as the creators of the games that EA published.

Then, as the money poured in, EA became the behemoth we know and love today. Instead of championing innovative games they looked at the risk to reward ratios so closely that even their (now) most successful and (then) most risky title, The Sims, almost didn’t make it into production.

Some might say that Valve is in the same position that EA was those 13 years ago. I would say that given their low-cost method of distribution, already permanently established at this point, that Valve will be able to afford to invest in the niche, independent games even as they grow larger.

I’ve said it about the system and now I’ll say it about the business : Steam, and Valve behind it, is reshaping the videogaming landscape. Sure there will be a few major and minor publishers punched in the face as dodgy backroom dealings ensue. But so long as the independent games are offered a place on the pedestal alongside the triple-A titles like Half-Life 2 we can’t go wrong.