It sounds like a very sensible move. They likely didn't care about the impulse "service" as much as getting hold of the existing customer base it had built up. By moving their 2 stores to 1 store that lowers their maintenance expenses and setup and focuses users down to a single site. I'm honestly surprised they didn't do so sooner when they bought Impulse, but I suspect the nature of Impulse being a game manager and hub and not just a store-front make it impractical at the time.

Amazon, like GamersGate, sells both downloads and keys. I think that GMG moved to be a pure Steam reseller, though. Can't find any download on their site (although the old Capsule games are still supported).

If you go on gamestop.com, if only sells game with Steam, Origin on Uplay. You don't need to look far. Also, this page lists this: No, some of the existing customer base is gone because the service was International and now is US-only. In Canada, there's no way for me to purchase digital. They didn't do it sooner because of International customers, from what I told by them directly 2-3 years ago.
The main issue I see for them is spending all that money on purchasing then maintaining Impulse->Gamestop PC Downloads and then closing it in favor of keys. They could've done that on their own with a little research beforehand.

Gamestop had a DD service?

The actual answer to your question is "because that's not what consumers want."

Consumers have shown they prefer the client, games stored on a server, experience. You and I can disagree until the cows come home, but that's the truth. Someday, in 5-10 years, DVD and Bluray will begin dying in favor of online streaming "ownership," because that's what consumers are showing they want. Consumers are the boss.

Fair enough, man. Most people on this forum tend to see Steam as an evil thing forced on unwanting consumers.

That can happen in some circumstances, in say monopolistic industries that have achieved regulatory capture (many would argue ISP's and cable and satellite TV are good examples today) but not in a such a small example as gaming clients and specific DRM. In this case, consumers have willingly ceded their power to dictate terms that would be beneficial in much the same way workers and voters have done the same with their power. I've lamented on this often, and it's something I don't understand, and never will understand, because at it's root, it really is pretty stupid.

In the specific case of gaming, if consumers acted in their own self interests, the gaming world wouldn't even be recognizable it would be so vastly different. Games would be sold bug free, or as bug free as possible given the technology and complexities it presents (and no, games are NOT sold that way initially now). DRM, and even copyright and patent law, would be vastly different and more consumer friendly. Oh, and most likely pricing and things like guarantees and most likely overall quality would be improved in such a way it would be unrecognizable.

If you want to look at a real world example of how different things can be depending on how individual power is wielded in the marketplace, just look at what an auto worker hired in 1968 by GM made (wages, benefits, quality of working life) versus what an auto worker hired by GM now makes. The difference is staggering, perhaps three to four fold.

Individual consumers can wield similar power, but only when they act together and with some discipline. Neither of which is very popular today. Who am I kidding, both are actively shunned and ridiculed. Because no one gives a shit about anyone else, and only cares about how a specific act or transaction affects them. Shortsighted, and stupid.

Or it could be most consumers don't wear tin foil hats and not worried about 'big brother' going to take all their games away in some mythical reality in the future.

Nice strawman you created there. Have any actual examples of anyone fearing Big Brother taking away their games in what would obviously be a mythical future?

I didn't think so.

It's really simple though, Valve has done an excellent job of selling the idea that the features people love about Steam require the DRM aspect of Steam. That isn't true, but Valve have sold it as fact.

Yeah, I know they have. They aren't stupid after all. Had they tried to just do the DRM and client thing alone, I think it would have been rejected, but they aren't that stupid. They added shiny objects that are indeed, very nice to look at. The auto updating, the seamless way the store interacts with the library, and especially the social aspects regarding not only multiplayer but also just the way the community can interact, even in game, are all things that have value.

The thing is, we could have all of those things with value, of which I barely touched the surface because there are quite a few good qualities with Steam, without the DRM part, if we demanded it. We never did. ADDED: Imagine Steam, almost identical to the way it is, but where it's OPTIONAL to run the client. Where you can buy the games, download and play them like here at gog, and where the client itself is optional. That's the kind of world you can have when consumers use their powers of demand instead of willingly giving them up. It was a "Okay, look at these neat things, you can have them, but in order to have them you have to give up some of your freedom to play and use your games the way you want." The response was "COOOOL, ALRIGHT" instead of "Wait, no thanks, we'll take all that new and neat stuff but you can screw yourself on telling me what I can and can't do with MY GAME."

I think that most people just don't know what DRM is, and if told they wouldn't understand and wouldn't care. They have a convenient place to buy games, download them and play them, with some other side benefits. The system is convenient, why go another way for some imaginary benefit they don't understand?

Is big brother the one who is taking away network support from all my GfWL games in July? I thought it was a public corporation that has no reason to give a fsck.

I bought about 6 games on Impulse, and have them "archived" in .impulse format. Is there a way to install them from that archive without using the Impulse client?

If not, and say I wanted to use Impulse to re-install a game... could I just copy it to the "Archive File Location" folder and use Impulse to install it? I'm afraid at some point in the future, even though I bought and downloaded the games... they aren't self-installing like GOG purchases, and I might lose the ability to install them, say years from now.