DRM News

Just a quick recap: GamersGate is a digital distribution platform that carries over 1800 games. How they started off was responding to fans who had difficulty getting their games, so they started a digital download service to cater to those fans, then they expanded that to include more publishers and developers. So that’s the base recap, if you want to read more of our previous interview it can be found here.

These are the follow-up questions we had after GamersGate’s CEO Theo Bergquist so kindly answered our previous questions.

Recently Steve Perlman, of OnLive, talked about the anatomy of a $60 video game, which focused on retail versions of video games. With your comment that developers get 70% of the revenue from digital game sales, could you perhaps break that down into an anatomy of a digital distribution $60 video game?

- 70% of $60 is $42, so if a publisher sells a game at GamersGate for $60, they get $42 right in their pocket, before returns, reserves, mark downs, etc. GamersGate gets $18 dollars. In roughly 90% of all cases publishers pay separately for DRM which usually is a small percentage of revenue.

All of your major competitors are either directly owned by a software developer (Steam, Impulse, Good Old Games) or a major gaming media conglomerate (Direct2Drive). Do you feel being more independent gives GamersGate any distinct advantages/disadvantages?

- I can only see advantages. Being tied into a publishing house or a major developer only presents questions and potential conflicts. Take Steam’s 20 million users for instance, I mean, how many of those users do you think are registered counterstrike and half-life users, and how many are really 3rd party customers using Steam as a marketplace? We’ve experienced tremendous growth through 3rd party partnerships and we really think that being independent helped us in such growth.

At one point in time, a system called ByteShield was chosen as GamersGate’s preferred DRM system. If that agreement is still in place (or one with a different vendor), what specifically does an agreement like that mean?

- At that time we were looking for a top tier DRM partner that could provide a security solution should any of our publishing partners ask for one, however, currently we recommend that they go DRM-free. As far as I know not a single game at GamersGate carries ByteShield, currently. We know those guys and have had a few discussions with them to be able to handle their system should publishers decide to use it. Usually we let the publishers decide what kind of DRM system they want, if they want any. For developers and publishers that don’t have any idea we recommend them to go DRM free!

You stated that you believed that account-based DRM is something that should be on the part of the distribution portal. Would this involve something more substantial than GamersGate’s current accounts system?

- Our philosophy is to keep it as simple as possible. We will always tweak and bend so that our solution is as easy to use as possible. An account-based service enables additional features such as reselling, “used games,” which will be the next step for us to solve.

What do you feel GamersGate needs to do to close some of the gap between Steam and yourselves in terms of market share in digital distribution?

- Our perspective is that Steam focuses on appealing to a hardcore gaming audience while we focus simply on retailing. Our mission is to offer gamers a place to, “buy your game anytime anywhere, it’s easy, fast and client-free.” Also, from a consumer survey we did, we know that 30% of our customers use GamersGate because they acknowledge the benefits of a client-free system, and the hassles of Steam’s “walled garden,” concept. In addition GamersGate has the world’s largest catalogue of downloadable games; and when you combine that with our reward/loyalty program we feel that we will be in a very competitive position as digitally distributed games become more popular.

How did the relationship between GamersGate and PlayExpert come about? What do you think it brings to the GamersGate platform from the point of view of your customers?

- It’s pretty simple. PlayExpert has done something that helps us directly compete with Steam’s in-client services like chat-overlay, web browsing, etc. without requiring a burdensome client solution. For us it was a perfect match and we know many of our customers just love it. Same features but client-free!

Well, now that the interview questions are over I can come out and say that I am a huge fan of GamersGate. The way they cater to their fans shows how their main concern has always been their customers, and from my experience with them this has been true as well. I get the feeling that not every decision is about money, it’s about making sure their customers are happy and keep coming back (which of course makes them more money). After having our questions answered I have to say I am very pleased with their stance on DRM, and the hint that in the future we may actually be able to trade our digital purchases (which is a huge one for me).

Plus GamersGate just put Mount & Blade, which is a great game, on sale for $5. They are wily those guys they are…