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[SolarLune]

Hey. Just wanted to get some opinions here. I was wondering if you, as game developers, are aiming for releasing your games (when / if you release them).

The advantage of OnLive is that it's cross-platform, but it works on a single computer server-side, which means that you would only have to maintain one to have it work on Windows and Mac, for example.

Desura's the easiest to publish your game to, I think, and is a bit more cross-platform than Steam.

Steam has, obviously, a huge amount of customers that could see your game, but I don't think they're very 'indie-friendly' with their game-selection.

Would you go for Desura, Steam, OnLive, a website like IndieVania, or selling the games yourselves?

[nico]

I would personally go for all three.

Let the customer make the choice, why make it for them?

[ANtY]

You can't really "go for Steam", you can try ofc, but it'd be bad choice to depend on this.

Initially I wanted to go for both, Desura and my own website, but I ended up only with Desura. Consider Indievania too.

[SolarLune]

@ANtY - Yeah, I've heard stuff about that. Desura seems really easy to publish your game to.

Updated the first post with a bit more information.

[Paul Eres]

it's weird that you didn't mention direct2drive or impulse or gamersgate -- those are the major ones besides steam, not desura or onlive

[thatshelby]

They must not be *that* major. I've never heard of them.

[Paul Eres]

they're pretty major. steam is still the biggest by far, but they're up there. direct2drive is owned by ign (the gaming news site), impulse is owned by stardock (which made sins of a solar empire)

[SolarLune]

Forgot about Gamersgate. Never knew how easy it was to get games on Impulse, and direct2drive I've seen around but never really looked at.

I'd push Desura up next to Steam before those websites, though, mainly because it's a distribution service like Steam. Impulse, Direct2Drive, and Gamersgate are game selling sites, right? I mean, they have no support for things that Desura and Steam offer, like connecting games to accounts or automatic updating, right?

[Oddball]

Direct2Drive doesn't exist anymore. It has been integrated into GameFly. I don't know if it has any new policies regarding indies because of that though.

Regarding the OP I'd go for every platform you can. Sure it can be a pain managing updates, but you really do reach more people that way. My game is currently on Desura, GamersGate, Indivania, direct from my site, and soon to be the Mac App Store. It's also lined up to be on a couple of other services to. Other than the logistics of updates I don't see any downside.

[TeeGee]

The downside is simple - loosing your direct traffic and building someone else's business instead of yours. I'm not saying you shouldn't publish on portals, but it's something to keep in mind. If the game is very niche and may not sell well on the mainstream distribution channels, it may be better it to keep it to your website and build a dedicated fanbase.

[PompiPompi]

It's something I am pondering about as well...
I don't like the idea of supporting some of the portals. Of course for certain games it would be most beneficial to get into as much good portals as possible. But even if I do try to get into certain portals, I will do it because I "must" not because I like it.

I think at first I will try to sell my game directly, and maybe Indievania, because they seem less greedy. Also my game will possibly have an Android version, so I will put it into the Android market as well(and maybe cross direct it to the PC version).
If all this fail, I will probably try my luck with the portals as well.

We shall see....

[Poya]

That's a very interesting point which I've heard others express. But I don't quite understand it and maybe you can help me with that.

If people are coming to your site and you are pointing them to one of these services for purchase, is that necessarily a bad thing? I mean they are coming to your site for its content and so I'd think they'll continue to do that for news, posts, etc. On the other hand there will be people who find out about your game on those distribution platforms, a percentage of whom will probably seek your website in order to find out more. That should be increasing traffic.

I guess I'm trying to understand if it's really worth selling the game direct on your website. Of course one issue is the additional percentage which you'll get from each purchase.

[Paul Eres]

haha -- that people are even wondering that means indies are doomed

and no, those others site are not just game-selling; they do connect games to your accounts, have download clients, and so on

[PompiPompi]

I said selling in portals is likely beneficial financially in most cases. And even if I don't like portals, I can sell my first game via portals, and after having more fans, sell the next game directly. That is also an option.
However, I don't like to sell in certain portals because I don't like to "help out" the portals with selling my game.
Portals are both a blessing and a curse. They are a blessing because they can bring you many sales, they are also a curse because they are gate keepers and since people are used to buying from portals they also "control" your market.
Also, about what you said. How many of the games you bought in steam you also went to the game developer's website and participated in their community?

[Paul Eres]

none, but the purpose of selling from your website isn't to have a "community" to participate in. that's fun but it's a side thing. the purpose of selling from your website is so that when you release a new game you can contact the people who bought from you in the past, tell them about it, and some of those will buy your new game. with portals you can't do that at all, if i bought eversion on steam there's no way for zaratustra to contact me and inform me that eversion 2 is out

people in general are too short-term. they plan how to get money for the next few months or next year at most. but the ones who succeed are the ones who plan 10 or 20 years ahead