Services Similar to Valve's Steam Digital Distribution Service

Even though Steam, a digital distribution service created by game developer Valve, is the market leader in online distribution of games, there are many other formidable competitors in the arena offering similar services. These services include Direct2Drive, Impluse, and GamersGate.

There are a few big distinctions between these three services. One being the fact that steam requires that you download, install, and use their desktop client to play games. The other services on the other hand just let you download the installation file and make you choose where to install the game in much the same way that a DVD works when you put it into a DVD drive. Although steam holds somewhat of a monopoly over your gaming experience, it does come with some benefits including in-game chat, internet browsing, and it facilitates a one-click environment where all patches, game updates, and DirectX updates are automatically synced with the steam client so that the end user doesn't have to do anything.

Direct2Drive, Impluse, and GamerGate are pretty variations of the same thing. All are very similar to steam. There are less publishers and games available on these platforms but some games and publishers can only be found a particular platform.

Direct2Drive released a statement saying "we believe strongly that when you buy a game from us, you shouldn't be forced to install and run a 3rd party software client to be able to play the game you purchased." GamersGate and Impluse supported this statement. There is extreme animosity from digital distribution competitors and Steam.

Which platform is the best?

For the time being, in terms of pricing for end users Steam remains the best although Direct2Drive has weekly deals that can be matched. In terms of profitability for publishers, no other digital distribution service offers a higher percent of revenues to its publishers than Steam. In terms of games, Steam also has the largest library although GamersGate, Impluse, and Direct2Drive have developed an increasingly competitive library of games.

Overall, in pretty much every category, Valve's Steam beats out the competition, but things could change quickly. If you want your PC games digitally go with Steam. If you can't find a title on Steam just check out GamersGate, Impluse, or Direct2Drive. You are bound to find what you are looking for.