Steam holds 70% of digital distribution

Steam is estimated to control around 70 per cent of the overall game downloads space.

That’s according to rival Stardock, which runs its own digital distribution service Impulse. The company claims to be in second place behind Valve in the market, reports Gamasutra.

Our estimation is that Steam – as the current market leader – enjoys approximately 70 per cent of the overall digital distribution market with Impulse at 10 per cent and all others combined at 20 per cent in terms of actual dollars generated per month,” said Stardock boss Brad Wardell.

He went on to explain that Steam benefits from a full five year advantage over Impulse , having launched in 2003. It has also thrived on the inclusion of exclusive titles in its library, thanks not only to Valve’s own products but also to the integration of Steamworks in recent releases.

He said: Another trend we have seen in the past year has been Valve’s successful work with getting Steamworks licensed as a DRM solution by major publishers. Once a game requires Steamworks, it is effectively cut off from us, which limits our content. Examples of this include Dawn Of War II, Empire: Total War and Modern Warfare 2.

The problem is that it is not practical for us to install a game that in turn requires the installation of a competitor’s store and platform in order to play.”