Online Retailers Refusing To Sell Modern Warfare 2
November 6, 2009 | Author stranded
Kotaku just posted that Direct2Drive won’t be selling Modern Warfare 2 on their PC digital delivery service. Why? Because of rival platform – Steam.
The game includes mandatory installation of Valve’s Steamworks, which the game uses for stuff like installation, DRM and save-game management. Something Direct2Drive (which is owned by website IGN) are having none of, telling:
We don’t believe games should force the user to install a Trojan Horse.
That “Trojan Horse” being the inclusion of Steam’s commercial marketplace.
D2D also told Kotaku that, having evaluated some Steamworks titles earlier in the year (such as Empire: Total War and Dawn of War II) and finding the forced inclusion of Steam’s storefront (offering automatic competition to D2D’s own services) not to their liking, told publishers that they’d stop selling games bundled in such a manner until Valve “decoupled its retail marketplace” from Steam’s other services.
To be clear, D2D’s beef is not with Activision, it’s with Steam, and to prove there’s no bad blood between the retailer and mega-publisher, $5 coupons will soon be offered on select Activision titles to make up for it.
But that’s not all it seems Impulse have come out today and also confirmed they won’t be stocking the game, for the same reasons. Digital store Gamersgate have told Kotaku that, like D2D and Impulse, they will also not be stocking Modern Warfare 2, and again, for the same reason.
Is this the failure of Modern Warfare 2 for PC? We’ll see. Oh and by the way vote in our poll:
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Posted in Direct2Drive, Gamersgate, Impulse, News, Others About Steam, RAGE NEWS!!!1, Releases, Steam, Weird Stuff | 
Tags: D2D, fail, gamers gate, impulse, modern warfare 2, steam, steamworks
8 Responses to “Online Retailers Refusing To Sell Modern Warfare 2”
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Having problems with your Steam account? Something's not right with your payments? Contact Valve Software over phone! That's right, they do have a phone number, here it is:
(+1) 425 889 9642
And now using GMail you can call the US and Canadian land lines totally for free, do not hesitate and call them if you have a problem, simply leave a message there and they will call you back!
: There's a sale on D2D: http://www.direct2drive.eu/promos/d2d-turns-6/
: ... insanity...
: strandeds steam profil is privat now and no picture anymore? crazy ...
: dont expect anybody will buy that stranded..
: For Dragon Age fans of Morrigan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG2677ew0T0
: omg, impulse has huge sale, 14 pages of discounts - http://www.impulsedriven.com/explore/all/onsale/ And this is charity sale, huge amount will go to Child's Play
: Long live ATI !
: Right here: http://uk.gamesplanet.com/buy-download-pc-games/Shrek-Forever-After-%28tm%29-1960-13.html
: Just to let you know we have Shrek @£19.99... enjoy
: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1417758
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I was going to buy it, but then the lack of dedicated servers made me change my mind atleast until they added them. But now after the lack of lean, console and all other crappy stuff i won’t buy it until they add it all. Very doubtful they will tho.
1C sells MW2 in Russia and Ukraine for only 12$/8EUR. Nice gift
Initially it was ‘Maybe few months after release (retail version)’, now it has turned into a full-out NO. I love it when the PC community takes a stand!
Pre-ordered for 29€ at G2Play some weeks ago, fair price I think even if it’s just an great SP. I just wait, I don’t think they totally messed up the multiplayer.
The way Activison/IW just fuck PC gamers up with MW 2 is just way beyond understandning. And to think I actually wanted to buy MW 2…
lol @ poll .. I think, stranded will gift the game to rad:p
I think that the game won’t sell for other reason, the ones that we saw recently.
Also I think that dd provider boycott on MW2, considering that Steam is still the first choice for many gamers, could only advantage the latter.
However I think it’s right to refuse to sell a game for this reason but I want to point out something:
- Valve is still aggressive in it’s way of imposing his store, and that way is the main reason Steam is so popular. Stardock has a similar game protection named Goo that differently from steamworks doesn’t require the store to be installed but it’s a standalone component. I think it’s a right and fair way to do things.
- I’m not happy about Stardock behaviour. As many of you know, Stardock is selling regional priced games for a while now, in the attempt to increase its catalog. Not all the store is regional priced, they still press to do worldwide price but some publisher impose that. People obviously (and rightfully)complained and stardock replied that they have two choice: sell with regional price or not sell at all. They obviously had to go for the first one to survive. Now I’m asking: why for MW2 they choose the second options that still give them less income? I don’t think that the presence of steam could harm them so much, people who know Impulse surely know Steam so made a choice knowing that. So Stardock actually CAN stand up for a reason, but not against regional prices.
I like it, seeing Steam is this situation, it’s soon going to have to make important choices and I won’t miss that
where’s the digit’s going to go ? … we’ll see soon