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Originally Posted by JU_88
Its not what I wish for, I'm merely saying it is inevitable.
As for Digtial download being the end of Indie gaming, excuse me but say WHAT!!??
If anything the complete opposite is true, with Digital distribution we have seen an EXPLOSION of experimental indie games for the PC, because digital distribution costs the developer nothing! Cutting and distributing thousands, or even millions, of discs on the other hand... Now that's a monopoly - he with the most $$$ gets his umpteenth sequel of his triple A franchise not just a space on the shelf, but taking up the whole shelf or maybe more!
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I beg your pardon Your point is well taken. I misinterpreted your comments about digital distribution as directed to the Steam distribution model specifically. My error entirely. Yes, the general acceptance of digital distribution does lower the cost of entry for an indie publisher. (Not that new, though. I've been playing a game that existed only in digital format from 1991 till the franchise died in 2010. Every year, an updated version was released. The game evolved enormously in 19 years, ending when the solitary dev chose to retire. The game probably had thousands of players world-wide. It would never have existed without digital distribution.)
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Steam has a TON of indie games, that I doubt would ever have seen the light of day if it wasn't for digital distribution, either because the independent publisher couldn't bear the costs, or because it was simply refused by the high street & online retailers on the basis of being a too risky a product.
Steam might be 'picky' I don't know, but they sure can afford to be a lot less picky than those physically stocking optical media, since if it doesn't sell well, they lose nothing.
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Perhaps, but in a market increasingly dominated by a few Steam look-alikes, each with its own base locked into its unique ecosystem, the ability of an indie to attract notice and to win customers diminishes. That's part of the Service Bureau business model.
The point of the Service Bureau model is to lock customers into their ecosystem and make using anyone else's product, whether another service bureau or an indie, expensive and unpleasant. Already, there are games that are only available through Steam-like services.
And whether they can afford to be picky or not, a corollary of the model is that it is the service bureau, not the customer, who determines which goods and services are to be offered. When coupled with the cost to leave an ecosystem, that is not a recipe for robust competition. And I would prefer to make that decision myself, not leave it to some profit-driven middleman.
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Also as far I am aware, Steam doesn't determine the DRM - if any, that's down to the Games publisher/developer. DRM can be and often is enforced on DVD games anyway.
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Here I definitely disagree. If what you say were true, then the same DRM that causes many players grief when modding SH345 would exist on the version downloaded from Amazon and other sites. Fact is, it does not. Just take a look at the forums here at SubSim. A sizable majority of postings asking for help installing or modding SH345 turn out to be from Steam customers. If the publishers were enforcing the DRM, you would expect that other sellers of the download games would have the same issues.
My concern about the service bureau is that it is good for the publisher and good for the middleman, while offering illusory "benefits" and hidden costs to the end user. YMMV
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Cloud is another story though.....
I'm more concerned about what 3d printing is going to do to manufacturing though, China better put their thinking hats on! because when that baby takes off, we could see a lot of factories shutting their doors for good!
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Amazon has already announced a 3D-printing service. You supply the descriptor file. They whack out your part and send to you. Rapid prototyping is not just a software tactic any more.
As for shutting factories, it's certainly going to impact a lot of modeling, prototyping, and custom fab shops. The mass producers, not so much, at least in the near term. It's still easier to use a 3D printer to make a die or mold, then use high-volume molding or stamping equipment for the production run. But onezie-twozie replacement parts will be popped out as needed. No need for inventory.