http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/07/20/develop-09-is-digital-distribution-the-pc-saviour/
check it

Very Interesting thanks for the link.

Great article.

The fuck? I've yet to see a game that takes above 20Gb once installed (though some requiring more for the install process), which makes that sound rather weird.

The fuck? I've yet to see a game that takes above 20Gb once installed (though some requiring more for the install process), which makes that sound rather weird.
Silverfall is around 22 gigs once installed. And I think I recall Age of Conan being 26+ gigs.

I loved the day when we moved away from CDs and to DVDs instead.
No more disc swapping!
Also, the increases in HDD space meant more people could just install the whole damn thing to their computer.
This was a very nice cosy situation for us all, and helped the cause of digital distribution.
However, it is a distict possibility that in a few years time games may be far larger than they are at the moment.
For someone who has only got a decent internet connection speed outside of peak times (i.e. when I'm working or sleeping), theres no way I could move to digital distribution currently, let alone if game downloads are 20GB+.

Excellent article. I especially approve of this:
"The position is that Chart Track basically want to bring as much digital distribution information into the actual charts as possible."
If they manage that, the whole "PC gaming is dying" discussion will finally be laid to rest.

A great article indeed. I have always been curious at the sales figures, and seeing even a glimpse of it is interesting. So far, it does look like good news for the PC as a gaming platform.
I think in that scenario, what we would really need are them tiny wormholes in the quantum foam that Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter blabbed about in "Light of Other Days". Imagine if we could capture these quantum mechanical anomalies, force them open and stabilize them with exotic mass, use their link through space and time to transmit massive amounts of information nearly instantaneously, regardless of distance, and maybe even regardless of time. Theoretically, it appears like it could be possible. Practically... not so much. But a man can dream (and have nightmares, considering).
Alternatively, we could use some new fancy compression techniques to bring game sizes down. Not sure how viable that would be, but certainly it would be easier than generating wormholes. I guess. :P
A third option could be for developers to move back to procedural programming; let go of human control, and let the computer generate as much as possible on the fly. I seem to remember that a certain lad named David Braben managed to squeeze something like a universe unto a 3.5" floppy disk using that technique.

So... found this interesting comment from Derek Smart about the marketshare of various digital distribution.
The last paragraph kinda disheartening for GOG... :(

Yeah, and for Impulse as well. Honestly though, RPS can go shove it, they're huge Valve fanboys. I can recall that, when they reported on the local pricing "feature" Valve implemented last Christmas, which let them rip off European customers, RPS disregarded the majority of Europe, looking only at UK prices (which were mostly an improvement over Dollar prices) and stated "The important thing is to start shopping!!!"
If Steam is the future of DD, I will not be a part of it. Valve are greedy incompetent fucks, they should've sticked to making games

I wouldn't always take what Derek Smart says all that seriously as he's usually over exagerating or downright lying (such as claiming his games to be 100% bug free when people can prove otherwise).
But when you consider the huge amount of regional restrictions or the small number of titles on offer at some services, it's not too surprising to hear Steam may have the largest share of the market (although even if it really is 40%, I highly doubt it will keep that share -- especially as the quality of their service is rapidly declining)
In fact I expect GamersGate to grow to a larger share of the market if they can iron out the few remaining problems they have. I don't hold out much hope for D2D due to the restrictions or Impulse for the same reason (it's clear it's going to primarily US only in its future offerings from publishers that count).

what's Digital River?
Considering all the fuss with Demigod and also Sins of a Solar Empire, I'd imagine Impulse is up there in at least the 3% range.
Steam does have the same advantage that iTunes has... it's convenient to have all your stuff in one location. many of the prices and games are about the same across the services... but if you already have all your games in one place.. that's where you'll buy.
Broadband caps are gonna be a deciding factor though.. both for this and those fabled "remote play" services.

what's Digital River?
The only aspect of Digital River I know is that they handle online authentication for several independants, sometimes EA, and a few others.

Not really; for the most part I think Derek is just demonstrating that he's not all that apt at fully analyzing statistics. First, even if we make the massive assumption that Steam's 40% market share translates to 40% of digital sales for any given title, this still means that 60% of sales are not coming from Steam. That's a lot more than just "residual income"; the proper analysis is to note that while any other digital distribution platform taken on its own is small potatoes, taken together non-Steam distribution platforms are still a massive market force. Just at this superficial level of analysis the take-home message should be that developers will make the most money by making their games available on as many distribution platforms as possible.
A more in depth level of analysis for the flaws in Derek's reasoning is the assumption I previously mentioned, that the 40% market share translates to 40% of sales for any given title. Without a lot of additional data this assumption should absolutely not be made, and in all likelihood is completely erroneous. While I obviously don't have access to the data necessary to actually draw any actual conclusions, my expectation would be that the marketshare breakdown for digital distribution of any given title will vary wildly, depending on a multitude of factors such as genre, price, target market demographics, advertising, etc.
I'd say the only real conclusion that can be drawn from the data given is that is that while Steam is by far the biggest player in the digital distribution arena, they are still a very long way from being in any kind of monopoly position (and are also even still a ways from market dominance). In fact, the marketshare breakdown listed actually is pretty much in line with what one would expect for a healthy, competitive market, and I personally see the digital distribution market only becoming more competitive over the next several years.