New Online Game Distribution Client Coming To Linux

I'm not sure what is the point of any "clients" as far as they just sell DRM free games. If it's going to be DRMed - there is no point at all for sure.

It's all about marking and discovery.

The reason people sell on iOS and Steam despite the steep fees is simply because selling to 5,000,000 people and letting the distributor take a 30% cut is a hell of a lot more profitable than selling to 100,000 users and keeping every penny of the sales. That's why Steam sales are so incredibly popular even with the developers/publishers: much higher volumes of sales more than make up for the reduction in per-sale profits. Likewise, being on a third-tier distribution platform like IndieCity is a lot more profitable than being on a personal website that even less people will ever hear about.

Advertising is so pervasive and seated in our culture simply because it really is just that powerful. A run of the mill ad can increase profits by very drastic amounts, despite how annoying ads are to most of us. Even if the ad isn't trying to actually sell something directly, like how the i7 CPU is advertised on TVs (or even Qualcomm Snapdragon now, interestingly) because that increases the number of people who choose to buy an i7 laptop or desktop from a PC manufacturer (who are Intel's actual customers) rather than one with an AMD CPU. People buy what they know a lot more than they buy what they actually reason is the best, and advertising makes sure people know your product or service exists. Being on a game distribution client is a very effective form of advertising to the PC gaming community. That's critical.

Sure, as you point out, getting your game on Desura or IndieCity is almost pointless compared to being on Steam, since they'll net you a very small potential userbase compared to the bigger app stores. It's ideal to be on _both_ the big and small portals, of course, since that nets you the largest potential market. If you're only going to be on one or the other distribution platform, the big app stores are far and away the better options, naturally. However, if you're going to be a hipster indie no-DRM advocate about your game, it's a lot better to be on Desure or IndieCity than to be on nothing at all.

Source: http://phoronix.com/forums/showthread.php?75607-New-Online-Game-Distribution-Client-Coming-To-Linux

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