After years of exclusivity with Impulse - its proprietary digital distribution platform - Stardock has announced that its library popular PC-exclusive games is heading to Steam (Impulse's largest competitor). The first game to be made available on the service is the popular, well-reviewed Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity, which is celebrating its new home with a sale, knocking 25% off the normal price on both Steam and Impulse.
While it might seem like the company putting games on Steam is a betrayal of its roots, it actually no longer has any direct ties to Impulse after the sale to GameStop earlier this year. Now, the publisher is unbound, and free to spread its games across the internet without an ounce of guilt. “With the sale of our former PC digital download technology to GameStop earlier this year, we no longer have any conflicts of interest in offering our titles to other digital distribution channels,” said Brad Wardell, CEO of Stardock. “We are starting with Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity with other titles being made available over the coming weeks.”
And there are a lot of other titles to add, many of which could very well see a resurgence thanks to this move. Games like Demigod never caught on completely due to Impulse's more limited user base (along with early server issues), but may very well flourish on Steam with its massive audience. Others, like Elemental - War of Magic, could also benefit from new promotion now that the launch issues are fixed. A first impression is important, and both of these awesome games had somewhat miserable ones. Now, with a new storefront, maybe they're getting the second chance they need to thrive.
