Eidos Picks Up Some Broadband Steam

Eidos Interactive has announced a distribution agreement with Valve Software. The deal will have Valve distributing Eidos titles over its Steam service. Initial games will include Battlestations: Midway, Just Cause, the entire Commandos series and several Hitman titles. Future titles include Tomb Raider: Anniversary and Championship Manager 2007.

The deal further legitimizes Steam as a worthwhile alternative to traditional game publishing. In addition to Valve and Eidos games, users can purchase titles from 2K Games, Activision, Majesco, and PopCap on Steam. Demos, trailers, mods and news are also available on the service, free of charge (registration is required). Tomb Raider is undoubtedly Eidos’ crown jewel, and it’s quite telling that the company is confident enough in Steam to entrust it with its premiere franchise. (On the other hand, Lara Croft hasn’t been aging gracefully, so perhaps Steam is the botox injection she needs.) What will be truly interesting is watching the number of Tomb Raider: Anniversary units sold over Steam compared to those sold at retail. Anyone willing to place bets on the winner?

Eidos feels that in addition to the direct sales and user convenience that Steam provides, its presence on the service will help market its goods across all platforms. Eidos senior business development manager Tom Marx says that Steam, “provides us a direct connection to these extremely active PC influencers who frequent Steam as a source for new content and information. As a result of being a spotlight feature on Steam this year, we expect to see sales of Tomb Raider: Anniversary benefit across all channels.”

GigaGamez’ Wagner James Au describes Steam as, “an alternate approach to traditional game publishing, avoiding as it did the war for retail store shelf space, and the painfully outdated approach of burning data on a CD, mummifying it in that annoying cellophane wrapper no one can take off, and cramming it into a big cardboard box.” You can read his initial thoughts on this novel service here.

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