Like I said, there are good reasons as to why Steam is a good place to put BGEE, while at the same time its a horrid place to put it.
I put five in there because when the steam version first came out, people had no idea how to get mods to install on the steam version for a tiny bit.
Also, steam isn't my preferred platform for PC gaming, I only have KOTOR, and DoTA2 on steam. Only one of those games I bought, and a friend gave me a beta key to the other. Otherwise, I buy from GoG, or directly from the developer.
Yes, GoG would be even better, gamersgate, basically I think gamers deserve a choice. And probably lack thereof is not something that can be blamed on Atari
Although I certainly wouldn't use the word "blame", Atari does control all of the digital distribution for the game; so the choice to release (or not release, at least at first) on sites other than Beamdog.com was theirs, not ours.
That's a surprise considering other Atari owned games are on Gog.com, so you're saying Overhaul proposed putting the game on Gog and Atari refused?
I couldn't speak to that; but the fact that Atari released the game on Steam (and about a dozen other sites) without telling Beamdog seems to suggest that Atari has always had more control than Beamdog over where and when the game is distributed.
Not to be a total jerk, but, given the situation, I personally wouldn't purchase the game through ANY source. Seeing as I'm not really happy with the way Atari pulled the game, I wouldn't support them. I already own it, but when it's resolved, maybe I'll purchase another one through Beamdog just out of principle.
Folks don't boycott nearly enough these days. /shakescan jk I'm in my 20s.
Actually, according to Valve’s director of business management, Jason Holtman (from the link above), if they thought putting their own games on sale was killing their franchise, or hurting the value of games, or hurting the revenue they could generate as a company, they wouldn’t do it.
According to EA's Origin head, David DeMartini, it's an approach, and he's not going to say it's not working for Valve. It certainly works for Valve; he doesn't know if it works as well for the publishing partners who take on the majority of that haircut.
So, Steam's 50 or 75 percent off approach can be bad financially for publishing partners. These sales are good for Valve.
As I understand, putting BG:EE on sale is a move by Valve, rather than by Atari. The price on the Atari's site is an additional evidence.
And it's clear this move by Valve is partly due to the current stir because of legal problems regarding BG:EE.
Actually the sales are good for the publishers as well as for Valve, and Valve don't have sole control over sales of games (other than the ones they develop themselves).
The sale was a move by Atari to try and milk what money they can from BG:EE as the company quickly dissolves - Valve have repeatedly stated that sales greatly improve profits despite the lower price point per unit.
Honestly I was concerned that the game may never be available from any source than Steam. Therefore when it was on sale I bought copies for 8 of my friends. To ensure we will always have access to it in the future. Four of us already had Beamdog copies - but honestly it was cheaper to buy everyone a Steam version than buy 4 players the Beamdog version (which is not available). Also all of us having the same version reduces any patching issues for multiplayer. And if I ever mod the game I can focus on just the Steam version.
I hope, once we will have mac and Linux versions in the Steam too. So, the Steam version owners will get these for free, without buying it again and again for every platform. By the way, BG EE was in the Steam Top 7 sales last week.
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Folks don't boycott nearly enough these days. /shakescan jk I'm in my 20s.
The sale was a move by Atari to try and milk what money they can from BG:EE as the company quickly dissolves - Valve have repeatedly stated that sales greatly improve profits despite the lower price point per unit.