PC Desura, Digital Distribution for Indie Games and Mods

[Zero]

http://www.desura.com/

Desura is a new Digital Distribution service which focuses on the Indie market. Desura also serves as a frontend to ModDB, and can interface with you installed games allowing gamers to access a wide world of mods available from their titles; including those managed by rival service, Steam.

So what do you guys think? It's still very young at this stage, but the polish on the client (much like Steam's) shows promise.

This seems aimed at competing with the Steampowered platform in many ways, including their own DRM offering. Interesting as to how this pans out, and how Valve will react to yet another DD service.

 

[Adiuvo]

I can't see it going far. Steam has too much of a grip on the market, especially with it's sales.

 

[x3sphere]

Yep.. the community is a major selling point of Steam. It's a promising service but I have to ask: Why? Steam does nearly everything right. The DRM is there but it's non-intrusive (not counting third-parties, nothing Valve can do about that really).

The fact that they've centered on a niche is encouraging but I can't see myself using it. Steam has no shortage of indie titles so I really see no reason to go elsewhere.

Maybe they will gain some traction with the ability to manage mods though.

 

[Zero]

True, I'm too deeply entrenched with Steam that Steam titles simply look more favorable. Having multiple clients sounds like a pain in the ass, but I'm going to give it an honest shot.

However, the snappiness of the client is nice over Steam. Wish the guys down at Valve followed suit, notably in the multi threaded department.

 

[MenaceInc]

Same as Zero, I've too many games invested in Steam to consider switching to a different service. 177 games according to my Steam community page and worth $1909.61/

 

[Adiuvo]

The one thing I hope that comes out of this is Steam copying over the mod database idea. Mods are somewhat supported in Steam right now but linking them with ModDB would be fantastic. Valve would probably pay Desura for the tech too if they do decide to implement it.

 

[MenaceInc]

The one thing I hope that comes out of this is Steam copying over the mod database idea. Mods are somewhat supported in Steam right now but linking them with ModDB would be fantastic. Valve would probably pay Desura for the tech too if they do decide to implement it.

1. Build an idea
2. show that it can work
3. sell to the industry leader
4. ???
5. Profit!