14 DAY TRIAL // DFC Intelligence, in association with GamerDNA, conducted an extended study aimed at measuring the way Steam and digital distribution in general could impact the sales and the overall activity for videogame releases.
The title used was Left 4 Dead, which was released by Valve for both the Xbox 360 and the PC. The study concludes that digital distribution, combined with Steam promotions and free updates will extend the life of a game and generate more profit for the publisher.
Gamasutra took a look at the study, which covered more than 180,000 PC and Xbox 360 gamers from the moment Left 4 Dead was released and until May 2009. The evolution of activity related to the title is very interesting. Initially, the PC Steam version was more played but within a couple of days of the official release, the two became pretty much evenly matches and went into a slow decline until February of this year.
This is the point when Valve introduced a 50% off Steam sale of Left 4 Dead, which led the PC version on a spike; then, it leveled off, even as the Xbox 360 version was in decline. From that moment on, the PC registered 63% more activity related to the zombie shooter than the Microsoft made gaming console.
When the Survival Pack was introduced, the levels went up again on both platforms but the PC again surged ahead as a free-to-play weekend was introduced and more sales were generated.
DFC emphasizes that the main reason for the better performance, in terms of activity, for the PC version of Left 4 Dead is the flexibility allowed by Steam and other digital distribution services. Things like free weekends, sales and free updates delivered quickly and painlessly don't need a lot of effort on the part of the developer and publisher but elicit a huge response from the player base, as long as the game has the quality needed to succeed on the long term.