Gamestop’s purchase of digital delivery service Impulse is no secret by now. Their strategy to make it into a Steam-killer, however, is, or at least was until outed by Baird Equity Research analyst Colin Sebastian’s report. It’s pretty much what you’re thinking, Gamestop is planning on using the EA/Steam feud and Battlefield 3’s conspicuous absence from the aforementioned service to tear a 1.5 billion chunk of the market from Steam.
“The upcoming EA titleBattlefield 3 will be sold as a download through GameStop, but not through Steam. Given Steam’s dominance — and insistence on users downloading a Steam client application — publishers are likely to be receptive to a competitive alternative,” reads the report. It seems unlikely that a single game, even one as anticipated as Battlefield 3 can topple the digital delivery giant, but whatever Valve do to counter this maneuver, it’s going to be something to watch.
Source Gamasutra