Darwinia Launch on Steam!

[Stewsburntmonkey]

Congrat's guys. I'm interested to see what impact this has on sales and demographics of the Introversion gamers.

[ghostDancer]

hey,

i think and hope this is going to be good for IV.
And now you say you'll keep the linux version, so then i can only say one thing thanks for not forgeting linux users.

And i hope you get the sales you deserve for such a great game, and get the money for the next one.

[UndeadScottsman]

Just to clear a few things up, we will continue to support Darwinia within steam and without. The only things removed from our site today were the Darwinia demos (at Valve's request), and the win32 online download. You can still buy the boxed copies from us, and you can download the Linux version as soon as you buy. The demos will be coming back to our site soon (in about a month), and Steam will also be distributing demo2, but from now on if you want to buy Darwinia online you'll have to do it through Steam.

Whenever we release patches we will put out a patch on our website for existing customers (as we have always done in the past), and we will also release that patch through the Steam system.

So, that's a no on transfering my current cd version to my Steam account?

[Varsity]

There's already a Linux version of Steam, but right now it can only be used to administer accounts. That will probably change with Steam 3.0 though, seeing as it specifies 'Windows client' and 'winui' in several places.

[Dave2]

and you can download the Linux version as soon as you buy.

How does that work? A Linux-only download when you buy it + Win32 CD being shipped?

It's good to know that the Linux download market isn't being negatively affected by this move.

[Rgwzlfw]

I just purchased, downloaded, and played (over a couple of very intense sessions) Darwinia. Fantastic game, I must say, but the ability to download the Windows version from the website was a major drawcard when buying this. There's a considerable chance that I would never have bought the game in the first place if I had to use Steam to download a copy.

I understand that the amount of money to potentially be made as a result of this move is good for Introversion (and believe me, after playing Darwinia that's something I want), but this is somehow disappointing nonetheless.

Will customers who have already purchased the game on the website continue to be able to use the win32 download? I imagine not.

[Varsity]

Will customers who have already purchased the game on the website continue to be able to use the win32 download? I imagine not.

Yes.

Why would Steam be such a drawback? It lets you download in just the same way. In fact if they do it right you'd have been playing a couple of minutes after the purchase went though.

[Luigi300]

The Steam forums people say Darwinia sucks because it's ugly.

[Darksun]

Will customers who have already purchased the game on the website continue to be able to use the win32 download? I imagine not.

Yes.

Why would Steam be such a drawback? It lets you download in just the same way. In fact if they do it right you'd have been playing a couple of minutes after the purchase went though.

Because if you've already purchased the game, you'd have to pay again to get steam downloads (I'd assume, I don't think there'd be any way to add 'retail' to your steam account).

Because the download from the Introversion store is HTTP, useful for people (like me) who can't access steam

Because the steam version will most likely have some form of copy protection

Because you'll probably have to have the steam process running if you want to play the steam version of Darwinia, which some people dislike.

[martin]

I guess steam is available all over the world? a massive increse in fanbase if america gets covered.

[Varsity]

Because if you've already purchased the game, you'd have to pay again to get steam downloads (I'd assume, I don't think there'd be any way to add 'retail' to your steam account).

Because the download from the Introversion store is HTTP, useful for people (like me) who can't access steam

Because the steam version will most likely have some form of copy protection

Because you'll probably have to have the steam process running if you want to play the steam version of Darwinia, which some people dislike.

Heh, you're entirely correct. It's hard to keep the mindset of people who haven't adjusted yet...

They have said they'll continue to support non-Steam versions the same as on Steam though, so I wouldn't worry about registering it again. They might even work out a way of doing it with serial codes, but that's not terribly secure.

The Steam forums people say Darwinia sucks because it's ugly.

The Steam forums people play Counter-Strike.

[vague_hit]

I heard about darwinia a couple of nights ago, downloaded it yeaterday and just finished playing the demo half an hour ago. I went to the website with my credit card ready to buy and download it and found out I have to wait till halfway through December because it's being distributed through Steam

How am I going to last?

I think it's absolutely FANTASTIC news however.. .who cares how much Valve take of the profits? This is exposing it to so many more people who wouldn't have heard of it otherwise that total sales will be much much higher... high enough for them to make much more money also, i quite like steam as a distribution service. I'm not surprised the people at Valve like the game also.

But yeah.. I am a little annoyed that my original plans of spending all night playing Darwinia have been delayed. ah well. amazing how much difference 24 hours can make!

[Rgwzlfw]

It appears that my windows http download is still there on the Introversion site, so I'm slightly placated. Hope it stays that way.

These points, however, still stand:

Because the download from the Introversion store is HTTP, useful for people (like me) who can't access steam

Because the steam version will most likely have some form of copy protection

Because you'll probably have to have the steam process running if you want to play the steam version of Darwinia, which some people dislike.

The HTTP download being the big one, considering that one would really, really hope that the third point wouldn't be true - running Steam in the background would be enough to put me off any game, even one as brilliant as Darwinia.

[Varsity]

It's only two or three megabytes from your memory, you know.

[Dave2]

I heard about darwinia a couple of nights ago, downloaded it yeaterday and just finished playing the demo half an hour ago. I went to the website with my credit card ready to buy and download it and found out I have to wait till halfway through December because it's being distributed through Steam

You could always buy a boxed copy - that'd arrive sooner .