This is the same thing that Apple saw in the app store: when you get people comfortable with the idea of consistently buying, and it's easy, sales soar. It jives with how I think about purchases as well. A $40 purchase is a big deal, but it's very easy to spend $10 4 times.
It'll be interesting to see how far we can push this model. I don't believe in the micropayments or subscription models as a panacea, but it's pretty clear that digital distribution allows for greater volume at lower cost. Will great games like L4D make enough money at $10? $5? $1? Will app store games make enough at $0.10? $0.01?
It'll be interesting to see what it does to quality as well. Steam seems to be doing well with quality, even when distribution costs are nearly nothing, but the Apple's app store has seen a huge number of cheap, addictive games because they make more money for less development time. Hopefully it all balances out, but more and more, software will lose the ability to price itself as a physical good that comes in a box. Where does it settle?
Steam has a fair amount of suspicious games. Nowhere near the amount as the App Store since Steam isn't a self-publishing platform, you have to sign agreements with them and get an account rep and stuff.
Steam excels because it does a far better job than than the App Store of making sure that quality is always on the front page, while also making sure that the front page changes often. I think they have found a good meeting point between content/metrics-driven decisions and an editorial voice for picking what gets featured. The App Store, not so much.
It'll be interesting to see how far we can push this model. I don't believe in the micropayments or subscription models as a panacea, but it's pretty clear that digital distribution allows for greater volume at lower cost. Will great games like L4D make enough money at $10? $5? $1? Will app store games make enough at $0.10? $0.01?
It'll be interesting to see what it does to quality as well. Steam seems to be doing well with quality, even when distribution costs are nearly nothing, but the Apple's app store has seen a huge number of cheap, addictive games because they make more money for less development time. Hopefully it all balances out, but more and more, software will lose the ability to price itself as a physical good that comes in a box. Where does it settle?
In any case, I'm excited.