GamersGate Dismisses Origin and OnLive, Sees Steam as Competitor

GamersGate, the digital distribution service that was initially launched by Paradox Interactive and has since become independent, has reported a growth rate of 50 percent for 2011 and has big plans when it comes to the future.

Theo Bergquist, who is the leader of GamersGate, told IndustryGamers that, “Streaming or any other way of distributing a game is just technology, not something you build a business model around. Right now, GamersGate’s business is growing rapidly and there is no reason to change a winning concept. As far as I know, OnLive still struggles with their revenue and business model. In theory it’s a nice business, but is that really what the customers want or something made for VC-firms?”

The executive was also unimpressed by the Origin system that Electronic Arts launched this year, saying, “I must say I’m very impressed by the speed and determination they’ve launched Origin. Hats off to them! But I’m not sure I see them as a competitor as I do Steam.”

Bergquist believes that Steam has no chance of growing in the coming years and can only lose market share, mostly because the majority of players are not interested in the increasing complexity of the service and want a simple way of picking up more casual games.

At the moment both GamersGate and Steam are offering a raft of Christmas themed promotions and while the bigger visibility is linked to the Valve made service there are some solid deals to be found on the rival service.

Steam is dominating the PC market for digital distribution and Valve is still in a solid position when it comes to delivering promotions and community features.

There were also rumors earlier in the year suggesting that the service was competing with the EA created Origin in order to supply digital distribution on the upcoming Wii U home console from Nintendo.