Introversion

*Breaking news*

We are very happy to announce the launch of Darwinia on Steam. Introversion has teamed up with Valve to release Darwinia on their online games distribution platform making it available to millions of new gamers.

As part of the launch and Steam's exclusivity, we will no longer be offering Darwinia as a download option from our site, although it will still be possible to purchase shipped boxed copies. At Valve's request we will also be removing the demo from our site for about a month. Darwinia is set to be released on Steam in mid-December, with the option of pre-ordering a copy with a 10% discount from the beginning of December. We will be releasing a special pre-release video in time for this pre-order launch. It will be a short film about the making of Darwinia and Introversion behind-the-scenes....so you'll finally get to see what really goes on at the board meetings!

We are absolutely delighted and hope that this will be the beginning of a wonderful boost for Darwinia and Introversion.

I'll be in touch as and when we have more info about the video, meanwhile here is the press release that was announced today to the gaming press, enjoy!


DARWINIA AVAILABLE ON STEAM DECEMBER 14

Introversion Scores Worldwide Distribution For Its Latest Creation

Bellevue, WA. – November 14, 2005 – Valve and Introversion today announce that Darwinia, Introversion’s multi-genre title, will be available to gamers worldwide on December 14, 2005 via Steam.

Darwinia is the second release from Introversion, a UK-based development group originally founded by three university students who set out to create games that summon the pioneering spirit of the industry’s early classics. The follow up to this group’s debut title (Uplink), Darwinia is a captivating mix of multiple genres including real-time strategy, arcade, and puzzle games.

PC Gamer magazine UK says, “Darwinia will remind you why you love gaming so much." And Eurogamer.com calls Darwinia, “This year's underground classic.”

“In today’s market, it’s incredibly difficult for an independent developer to secure worldwide distribution for a new property, let alone for one that attempts to blend genres and offer a wide variety of gameplay styles,” said Vicky Arundel, head of marketing at Introversion. “Through Steam, however, we are able to offer Darwinia to millions of gamers and early adopters the world over.”

“After playing the game around the office, there didn't seem to be a reason why a game as great as Darwinia wasn't available to gamers worldwide,” said Doug Lombardi, director of marketing at Valve. "When everyone gets their chance to play it, we think they'll be staying up all night protecting Darwinians just like us."

Darwinia will be available December 14, 2005 for $19.95. For more information on Darwinia, please visit www.darwinia.co.uk. For more information on Steam, please visit www.steampowered.com.

About Introversion
Heralded as ‘the last of the bedroom programmers’, Introversion Software is a UK-based independent games developer and publisher founded in 2001 by three university students. Starting out with just $1,000, no advertising budget, and relying solely on the power of word of mouth, Introversion Software went on to produce the highly acclaimed, genre-defining, cult hacking sim, Uplink. Four years on, Introversion Software is proud to announce the launch of Darwinia, a highly innovative retro action game that has taken the gaming press by storm. Please visit www.darwinia.co.uk for more information.

About Valve
Valve is an entertainment software and technology company founded in 1996 and based in Bellevue, Washington. The company's portfolio of entertainment titles includes Half-Life®, Counter-StrikeTM, Day of Defeat®, and Team Fortress®. Valve's portfolio of titles accounts for over 18 million retail units sold worldwide, and over 88% of the PC online action market. In addition, Valve is a developer of leading-edge technologies, such as the SourceTM game engine and Steam, a broadband platform for the delivery and management of digital content. For more information, please visit www.valvesoftware.com


Press Contacts:

Introversion -- Victoria Arundel, vic@introversion.co.uk

Valve – Doug Lombardi, lombardi@valvesoftware.com

At least that'll be a huge jump in the fan base, but how much of the profits are valve going to eat?

Wow, didn't expect to see this comming!


or did I?

NeoThermic

Since you know everything I'm going to assume you did, NeoThermic

Absolutely excellent news! Will there be a way to import existing copies of the game to Steam?

Prophile wrote:At least that'll be a huge jump in the fan base, but how much of the profits are valve going to eat?

Valve take about 40%, but it seems to vary.

Just out of curiousity; since Darwinia doesn't use a cd-key system, will there be any way to transfer my cd copy onto my Steam account? If not, are you going to make patches available to non-Steam users as well?

Also, what about the Linux version?

Wow. That's either excellent or terrible, depending on if you like Steam or not. (Personally, I like Steam, but I've encounted people who hate it with a deep and abiding passion for various reasons. Luckily, I got most of them to buy Darwinia before today.)

Is it December 14th or 15th? The release mentions both.

Edit: It's the 14th, anyone still reading this.

Varsity wrote:Is it December 14th or 15th? The release mentions both.

I'm guessing it's the 15th. The occurance of "14th" is near to the November 14th date of the press release, and is more likely to be a typo for that reason.

people use steam?

have seen loads of peeps saying its rubbish/laggy etc good moneymaker for valve if they make 40% tho

Well, I guess that answers that question. Go, IV! Yay for you guys!

xander

equk wrote:people use steam?

have seen loads of peeps saying its rubbish/laggy etc good moneymaker for valve if they make 40% tho

You can download the client and a few games for free if you want to see it for yourself. And 40% from Valve is a whole lot better than ~80% from a regular publisher!

Edit: though I imagine IV has a slightly better deal than normal.

equk wrote:people use steam?

have seen loads of peeps saying its rubbish/laggy etc good moneymaker for valve if they make 40% tho

The initial launch with Halflife 2 was a little laggy, but that was mainly because everyone was unlocking their content at the same time, which is quite intensive considering how big HL2 is. Since then, I believe Valve have tuned the delivery system (and the servers) to stop that happening again.

Great news IV. Hope this makes you a pile more monies

Great news indeed, but dropping the ability to download from the main site? What about Linux users? I know several people who would never have bought Darwinia if the option to download the Linux version hadn't existed