The only problem is that crazy Steam weekend deals have started only after Impulse started their weekend buy deals. So you really need some competition for customer interests.

No it's not. It uses Steamworks. They will be using 2k publishing for the in store copies.

Steamworks is not Steam. Steam is not Steamworks. Steamworks' best equivalent is Windows Live. The reason you don't see Steamworks on Impulse is because they choose not to support it (yet support Ubisoft's DRM). Any online distributor can sell the game; you just  have to eventually install Steam, just like you have to install Windows Live for some games. Of course, Stardock allows Ubisoft DRM, EA download manager, and Windows Live because their online distribution platforms are simply not as successful as Steam's.

It's all good business, but I wish people would stop pretending this is some holy crusade against the "evil" Steam.

Hypocrisy to ask for a single player game to be (or have without extra modes like the "offline mode" of Steam) offline and don't force me to use the internet? And you dare to compare it with my right to enjoy the multiplayer game known as "Posting in a forum"? Next level raise your Perception skill. It lacks.

Don't be so humble. I can do it. You are.

Single player game in Impulse:

1) Open Impulse
2) Buy game
3) Download and install game
4) Close Impulse
5) Launch game, enjoy
6) Subsequent launching: just doubleclick on the desktop shortcut!

Single player game in Steam:
1) Open Steam
2) Buy game
3) Download and install game
4) Set Steam to offline mode
5) Launch game, enjoy
6) Subsequent launching: just doubleclick on the desktop shortcut! Steam will launch in offline mode, and then automatically start the game.

Sorry but that's not true. I've seen people on forums claim that Steam was doing weekend deals before Impulse (they don't provide evidence, they just insist that's the case despite archive.org making it pretty obvious that weekend deals didn't show up until AFTER Impulse came out).

Steam didn't start doing 75% off deals until AFTER Impulse did the 75% discount on Space Rangers 2 on Impulse. 

It's the same on the big huge Christmas sales.  No one has ever claimed that there weren't sales of some kind now and then. But it was Impulse's aggressive weekly sales and such that changed the game.

Personally, I don't have an issue with the "DRM" aspect of Steam. Steam works fine. I have it on my machine. I use it every day.

The issue is the lock-in to the Steam client. Steamworks could have been architected not to force the bundling of their store client. But it does. 

I like Steam. And as a developer, I appreciate what Steamworks provides. However, I do not want to be lending my support to something that is clearly designed to turn the PC into a closed platform.

If I make a game for the iPhone, I understand that I have to sell it on the App store (as a practical matter).  But as a PC developer and consumer, I don't want to see the PC become a closed platform.

If you take Steamworks to its logical conclusion, then in 5 years, the PC platform will be closed. If you want to make a PC game that will see a reasonable audience, you will have to sell it on Steam and accept whatever requirements Steam insists on. We already have people trying to pressure us to sell our titles on Steam (even though Steam takes about a third of the revenue on any title sold on it).

Let's be realistic here, in 5 years, if Steamworks and Steam were to completely dominate the market, there'd be no real reason to have games at retail. Putting games at retail is expensive.  Think that's a great thing for consumers? Think again.

If the PC were to become a closed platform, then as a developer, I might as well pick a closed platform where the the platform owner provides a lot more services to the developer (i.e. consoles, iPhone/iPad, etc.).  Why make a game for the PC, with all its headaches, if I'm going to ultimately be forced to sell it in one place?

Consumers are rarely aware of what they are missing in the absence of competition.

2KGames is certainly free to use whatever SDK they choose to and accept whatever strings come along to it. As a consumer and modder, I can choose not to support that. That's the beauty of the free market.

Yes, but that completely negates your point of Steam being the "only" place you can buy it. How is it different from installing Windows Live?

How is a 20MB background process crippling to you? I mean, everyone keeps naming that as a reason, but what about running Steam in the background is actually causing you harm? To me, always having my TF2 clan in reach through Steam friends and Steam groups is invaluable.

That's fine for you.  BUT THIS IS PRIMARILY A SINGLE PLAYER GAME!  Why do I want anything to do with online stuff while playing?  Maybe Steam is the best thing since sliced bread for you FPS and multiplayer only games, but this is a single player game here.  I DO NOT need anything from Steam and WILL NOT be forced to install it let alone have it run in "offline mode" just to play a *single player* game.

Just not going to happen.  Ever.

And not everybody has good internet connections, I have read the the "offline mode" has improved this last month but it's still not good (for everybody... people seem to be in selfish mode too often and don't care about users that have problems, that's why world peace is impossible between other things).

Single player game in Impulse (digital purchase):

0) Internet Access
1) Open Impulse
2) Buy game
3) Download and install game
4) Close Impulse
5) Launch game, enjoy
6) Subsequent launching: just doubleclick on the desktop shortcut!

Single player game in GOO (local store purchase):

0) Local store with the game (d' oh!)
1) Install game
2) Launch game, enjoy
3) Subsequent launching: just doubleclick on the desktop shortcut! (updates/patches require internet/Impulse)

Single player game in Steam (any kind of purchase, digital or not):

0) Internet Access
1) Open Steam
2) Buy game
3) Download and install game
4) Set Steam to offline mode (shouldn't have to do anything to play single player but here we go)
5) Launch game, enjoy
6) Subsequent launching: just doubleclick on the desktop shortcut! Steam will launch in offline mode, and then automatically start the game. (more slow, requires to still have Steam installed)

So, even if I buy from Amazon or nick it off a store shelf, still got to install Steam ... if that's true then I'm out too. No Civ 5 for me.

Think I will go over to civfanatics and if this is truly what they are doing I am going to put up numerous posts carefully laced with venom and sarcasm.

http://www.facebook.com/civnetwork?v=info I wonder if this will apply also to the civ network version?

And it is enough to not make you buying a game you like ? It is not as if you are earning anything from boycotting Steam and, frankly, open competition in the video games market is not in my top 10 'causes worth fighting for'.

No matter how many times i read this thread, it still looks damn irrationnal to me.

Ah, finally, a reasonable post.

But as you can see, Brad's decision is based on a business reason, not some moral reason. And he is FULLY justified in doing that for just business reasons. I just find it hilarious that all these other posters act like it's anything more than a business reason.

Steam is smart. They added useful features to their DRM. They made it incredibly easy to buy games through their integrated platform.

It's noble that Stardock is trying a less intrusive approach, but I can't believe he can't see the business genius in closing a game, and then seeing a "80% sale" right in your face. Annoying to some people? Probably.  $2 for Deus Ex? Sign me up.

Not off topic at all, Wintersong. You actually hit the nail on the head. The reason Impulse supports Ubisoft and not Steam is because Steam is Impulse's number one competitor. It has nothing to do with how good or bad the DRM is. Even Steam haters will agree that Steam is better than Ubisoft's DRM. But from a business standpoint, there's no reason not to support Ubisoft games. They're not an online distributor.

Here's the ugly truth: if Steam wasn't so successful, I'm sure Stardock would have no problem supporting Steamworks games, because, like you said, Stardock can't control what a publisher uses for their DRM. But they can choose not to sell it, because it leads buyers to a service that is currently better than Impulse for a lot of people. Not you. Probably not anyone in this forum. But for millions of people. Steam= Windows. Impulse = Linux.

Off topic: I wonder why people are so excited about Alpha Protocol's DRM? I saw it on reddit, too. All it is a SECUROM or Windows Live one time internet activation.