I would imagine this to be more the case. Some services fail at any form of negotiations due to having less clout than others, or simply lack the resources to manage games as publishers would like them to. I imagine we can all agree that Steam is the powerhouse, and thus are able to get more leeway then. Who knows, maybe Steam even negotiates contracts to allow them more rights over their competitors, as it would not surprise me at this point. Most others struggle with selling internationally regarding a variety of games, which can be frustrating.
All in all, I will be sad when games go purely to digital distribution and people will likely run into more restrictions. I import quite a few games, and it is going to suck if/when they begin to impose activation controls on titles (some games already receive this treatment)

Doesn't matter how good your negotiation skills when you are not in a strong position you pretty much have to bend over for the other party ;)
Impulse needs games but the publishers don't really need Impulse.

People don't need most of the things they buy or use. But if you're faced with a skilled enough sales person, you'll still end up buying their products/using their service. Publishers don't really need any digital distributor (with the possible exception of Steam), yet the others manage to negotiate with publishers well enough (most of the time). It's just Stardock that fail at that. But then, given the skills displayed when releasing their own products, I'm hardly surprised at the levels of ineptitude they display on a near hourly basis.

I really don't get it. Publishing games in just some regions is now regarded as the most wicked thing on earth? I mean certainly its not friendly, buts its also kind of better than nothing. Steam or also retailers are doing the same. So why is everything twice as bad if it comes from Impulse and only half as bad (as the average) when it comes from Steam?

The internet makes people think we are all one world and there is no difference between releasing a game here or there, or what you should charge for a game here or there.
It's all wrong of course, but the internet makes it FEEL like it should work that way.

For one, Brad Wardell claimed Impulse was the number 2 direct download service worldwide.

The difference for a lot of people is that Stardock and Brad Wardell are constantly talking about being the #2 GLOBAL digital distribution outlet (among other claims that make no sense).

Have to vent a bit here. I've been following some of the game forums over on the Steam board for the past several months. You wouldn't believe how many uneducated gamers talk about crappy graphics in a game that to me looks stunning.
I've even seen people complain about Metro 2033's graphics. It just boggles the mind. Am I less "eye-candy hungry" having grown up with 8 bit games? idk but it's annoying when people talk about a game that has excellent graphics as if the graphics are the only bad thing about it, when it might have zero story or substance to it they're fine with that aspect.
/endrant

@Bansama
On RPS you said it is not important what are Valve's motivation for regional blocking of games in Japan.
If it is their fault then knowing what their motivations are is quite important.
Why would they do that?
Cause for me it just makes no sense. They lower their income, they lower their market control.
I see drawbacks but no benefits.

Knowing their motivation isn't going to change the fact that they do it. Thus, they aren't important. I already know from dealing with both Valve and the BBB that Valve have no problems with lying out right about what they do, not just to their customers but also to the BBB.
So I couldn't really care less about their motivations. They'd more than likely just be lying about them anyhow.
And as I said, that still won't change the only important fact: Not being able to play a game that they are still taking money for despite advertising the release to be on a specific date that they had no intentions of honoring.

Regardless of who is pulling the strings, I don't think that there's any sense in denying the Japanese repression of the PC market. How that affects Steam I don't know.

I don't blame Valve in the cases such as SEGA, Capcom, etc., as there is no proof with which to blame them. There is however, plenty of proof locally that most Japanese publishers have a hatred for the PC in terms of the local market.
I blame Valve in cases where there is proof to do so, such as with the examples I gave on RPS. Now as it is, I'm getting fed up with this discussion. You can either choose to completely write it off as insane ramblings, or you can look into it further where this discussion was originally being held. I.e., on RPS.
As for who you blame, ask EA and D2D then make up your own mind based on their responses.

I did read it and i did see that you never answered that guy.
It is important WHY valve is blocking Japan.

They asked for proof, I gave them all that I could without divulging private emails. If they responded after that, I wouldn't know. I haven't read the comments again. And I doubt I'll bother as it'll just turn into a circular argument that is completely off topic from the subject of the post. I've explained why I'm jumping for joy over Steamworks being used instead of GFWL and that's all I need to do. It's not my problem if people don't want to understand that.
Not to me it isn't. All I care about is being able to buy a game. I couldn't care less about why Valve want to act like pricks as it's not going to stop them acting like pricks. If you have a burning desire to know why, ask them yourself.