GamersGate CEO: Steam Is "Peaking"

Theo Bergquist, CEO of rival digital distribution platform GamersGate, came out swinging in a recent interview. Among other things, he said that Valve's industry-leading service is "peaking now while the market is still very hardcore."

Speaking with IndustryGamers, Bergquist said, "Once digital sales are superior to physical sales, we believe Steam will have a harder time remaining #1. We’ve led the way with many things like weekend offers, promotion programs, holiday sales, and more and they’ve followed."

Bergquist points toward GamersGate's client-free approach, discount-granting loyalty program, and customer-friendly DRM stance as key advantages over Steam.

Interestingly, Bergquist revealed that just 10 publishers account for 80% of GamersGate revenues, and 3% of the total games on the service were responsible for fully half of its fourth-quarter revenues.

Having used both services extensively, I can see why some would prefer GamersGate's lighter-weight approach to Steam's sometimes intrusive methods. Personally, I love the features built into Steam, like friends lists, achievements, and matchmaking – I integrate all the games I've bought via other methods into my Steam client anyway.

The commanding lead that Valve holds in the digital distribution space makes Bergquist's bluster seem a bit premature, no matter how many nice things you can say about GamersGate.