Notch: Monopoly in Digital Distribution “dangerous”, wants more competition

Posted By | On 16th, Mar. 2012

Notch loves Steam, but he doesn’t want it to dominate the digital distribution area, and he has his reasons for that. He said this in an interview with Gamespy, and makes some good points.

“I think it’s a bit dangerous to only have one digital distribution platform like Steam. I love Valve, but out of principle, I find the idea of one platform a bit scary,” he said.

“So I like that there are others competing – for example, Desura and Impulse, who recently got bought by GameStop. It’s a good thing that there are more.”

He also had some positive things to say about Origin.

“Origin does a couple things badly compared to Steam – which is impressive since they had eight years to study Steam. They should definitely have a chance to do their thing, but they might want to move away from titles that make people use it and show people why they should use it,” he said.

“But I think, in principle, it’s a good thing.”

Monopoly is undesirable, but when Steam does so many things right, and if people don’t want to deal with plenty of clients cluttering their desktop – it’s not a bad thing after all.

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.


Tagged With: , ,

Keep On Reading!

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced Global Release Timings Revealed, Preloading Live on Xbox

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced Global Release Timings Revealed, Preloading Live on Xbox

Preloading begins on July 7th for PS5 and PC for Ubisoft Singapore's highly anticipated remake, which launches...

Cronos: Lazarus Outlines The Pathfinder’s Powers, Gladius and More Aggressive Style in New Gameplay

Cronos: Lazarus Outlines The Pathfinder’s Powers, Gladius and More Aggressive Style in New Gameplay

Teleport behind enemies, create decoys and much more while witnessing the Pathfinder's journey to become the W...

Ontos Delayed to 2027 to Deliver Frictional’s “Most Ambitious Game to Date”

Ontos Delayed to 2027 to Deliver Frictional’s “Most Ambitious Game to Date”

Originally meant for 2026, the development team looks forward to sharing more updates on "our characters and o...

Nintendo is Unlikely to Follow in Sony’s Footsteps to End Physical Game Production, Says Analyst

Nintendo is Unlikely to Follow in Sony’s Footsteps to End Physical Game Production, Says Analyst

"Nintendo is going to be Nintendo, for better and/or worse," said Circana's Mat Piscatella about the company i...

Death Stranding Director is Afraid of the World Going Fully Digital After PlayStation’s Announcement

Death Stranding Director is Afraid of the World Going Fully Digital After PlayStation’s Announcement

"Eventually, even digital data will no longer be owned by individuals on their own initiatives," said Hideo Ko...

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Studio Lead Doesn’t Care if Next Project Flops

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Studio Lead Doesn’t Care if Next Project Flops

Despite this, Guillaume Broche doesn't want to end up selling zero copies, however, since that would be a real...