Is this true? http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/31/gamestop-acquires-game-streaming-startup-spawn-labs-and-distribution-platform-impulse/
It is how you are suppose to install on computers that do not have an internet connection, I will try it with on of the games that is not already installed later.
The files are compressed, so unless you have a whole lot of large games 1 or 2 cheap-ish Flash Drives should do. Currently it looks like I will be able to fit all my games on a single 16-GB drive.
The switch has not occured yet, and will not till May. Plenty of time to shop around for a drive or a bunch of discs.
The access to your software and games, for the near future at least, will be the exact same way it has been. Downloads, updates, etc, will all be made via Impulse.
Define "near Future"... May?
Not that it matters.. cause we all know gamestop is going to ruin impulse, and all the money we have spent on games will be wasted once they file for bankruptcy or require us to sign over our first born children to keep access to our PURCHASED game licenses. but whatever.. guess i'll just hop on the stupid arse steam bandwagon, if i have to sign away my gamers rights to either gamestop or valve it may as well be valve.
Fistalis: Impulse isn't suddenly changing come May, and as I said you will continue to be able to download and update your purchases. I think you would benefit by waiting and not jump to conclusions.
So it will be a gradual change so people won't notice..and abandon ship so quickly.
Will we be able to continue to run our games impulse client free? or are we looking at a steam clone in the near future?
Do you actually know what gamestops going to do to impulse? Have you seen their plan for it? If not.. your speculation is as good as mine.
Lets be honest here.. once gamestop takes control.. nothing you or any other stardock employee/owner says matters.. they can do whatever they want.
But it pays to be prepared. Deleting accounts and moving to another platform is an extreme measure, but ensuring that if things go squid shaped (that the service is changing hands already qualifies as going pear shaped) that you have access your games without dealing with GameStop is just being practical. By the way, can Impulse install archived games without having to check registration (beyond that of any DRM)? Especially if it is a fresh install of Impulse.
Sadly, sometimes the information given during this time frame is accurate.
One can only hope this decision isn't going to viciously bite everyone in the ass. I still remember how happy some developers were to partner with EA, citing the enormous distribution potential offered by the mega publisher, only to later see their doors shut permanently once control was turned over to EA.
Unless Gamestop is merely being pulled along for the ride, I certainly wouldn't discount Impulse becoming something that is somewhat reviled by portions of the consumer base, as functionality is stripped away and replaced with restrictive licensing agreements that read like something penned by EA lawyers.
[quote who="Island Dog" reply="54" id="2915676] I think you would benefit by waiting...[/quote]
You know, I was just about to buy my second game through Impulse besides Ewom because even after that debacle I still trusted Stardock to be a somewhat ethical company. But now that it's been sold to a company with a less than stellar reputation (judging from the posts above, we don't have Gamestop where I live) I'll take your advise and wait at least six months. But I doubt I will be tempted to use it again any time soon, Gamestop doesn't sound like the kind of company I want to give my money to.
Sorry, but, I don't see how this is in any way, shape, or form "good for PC gamers". People supported Impulse because they thought SD is an honest company with high standards and principles.
Gamestop is none of these things. It's like getting a crook (Gamestop) to try and keep an already pretty straight guy (Steam) straight? It makes no sense. And now, SD is really none of these things either.
If Impulse had to be sold for financial reasons fine, necessary evil. But honestly trying to spin it as if it's some great boon to the PC gamer community is more of a slap in the face. Gamestop doesn't care one tiny bit about promoting PC gaming, their sole purpose is to bleed money in every way possible, their whole revenue model depends on screwing over publishers by reselling used console games. Even though Valve is a hungry money grabber, at least they do it by offering great value and standardization of services to both the developer and publisher, and don't make money at their expense.
I haven't bought anything from Gamestop for years, and now I wish I hadn't bought so much stuff on Impulse either, since in a month it'll all be tied to Gamestop. Yay.
Gives a whole new meaning to the "Weekend Impulse Buys" emails I keep getting...
... and will probably get myself off the list for after this.
When they were running the numbers on this, did they factor in the cost of customer consternation ??
I hope this is all an April fool's day joke. If so, you got me. I'll bite.
Digital ditribution is a vendor/customer relationship based on trust. The only reason many of us chose to use Impulse over Steam was based on the premise Stardock (owned by yourself) was a company with integrity for whom we could trust no matter how far forward we could forecast.
With the sale of Impulse to Gamestop, that future forecast just took a huge turn for the worse. Gamestop is a company I do not trust. Without trust, there is no way moving forward I will use Impulse for further software purchases.
Please understand, I do not hold anything against you or Stardock for selling out. You have worked hard, and sacrificed (risked) much to make Impulse what it is now. You have earned the (large I hope) payment that Gamestop will compensate you. Buisness is about making money. You have done what's right (and smart) for yourself and Stardock with this sale.
If you're looking to smooth over relations with Stardock's customers over this Impulse/Gamestop sale, do so with a stand-alone non activation update/patch for GalCiv2. An ounce of prevention beats a pound of cure.
(Still though, I sure hope this is an April fool's joke. Please??)
Uh Bummer. I hope you got alot of money for Impulse..... Honestly I don't see why you would sell off such a great business, which you have been constantly describing as exciting and full of room for growth. However, I imagine you know far more then me.
I hope in the long term Impulse keeps it's values, and they probably will no matter what some dark suspicious corner of my mind keeps foretelling.
No, not an April fools day joke.
Im thinking of all those people that wont buy from Steam and chose Impulse instead...
I soooo wish I could see the terms of the deal. Methinks the head honchos as SD just had a very nice payday. Anyway, I've seen more than a few corporate acquisitions in the time at my company (us buying and us selling divisions). Things can go quite well for all parties. Generally what happens is that whoever is selling their company makes a simple arrangement with the purchaser so that the folks involved in the transition keep their jobs in the immediately future. The scary part is what happens a year from now, but that has EVERYTHING to do with the management of the purchasing company (and its very difficult to predict how gamestop will handle things based on past decisions). The best thing, though, is that the turnover rate at SD is extremely low. So, if something goes awry, I'd wager SD will likely rehire anyone that gets lost in the shuffle.
For fans of impulse, this means increased content on the distribution platform (most likely within the next 6 months). SD was getting better with sales on impulse, while gamestop is still a bit behind the curb (but exceptionally profitable). Anyway, I don't see impulse gaining any huge market share as a result of the acquisition. The only way that will happen is if gamestop begins aggressive marketing along with aggressive sales. We'll start to see many more games that can be purchased and downloaded on the gamestop site. As far as I know, there has been no announcement as to whether or not STARDOCK games will continue to be sold via impulse after the acquisition goes through (odds are yes, but perhaps they have something up their sleeves... as someone of no small importance mentioned with regards to object desktop).
Anyway, I completely understand making the sale. I'm a bit sad to see impulse move to another company's hands, though. I realize that the acquisition will be good for impulse customers, but frankly, I only supported impulse because SD ran things. So now, I suppose, it just goes back to supporting SD for the games/software they put out. I can live with that. Just sad to see the empire split up a bit with no huge (ANNOUNCED) gains.
Anyway, congrats on the arrangement and I hope the payday enables you folks to have an even greater future and be able to fund more great games, etc (and not 2 yachts - you are only allowed to purchase 1 )
Edit - read in another post that SD games will still be available via impulse for the forseeable future.
Wasn't Gamestop evil? It's too early in the morning for me to process info, but would this mean that at some point Ubisoft and EA will remove the region restrictions for their games?
Gamestop evil... meh. I've never bought into gamestop or steam being evil. The question is who offers me the biggest bang for my buck. I've always sided with SD (via impulse) if the same deal is on their site vs steam, but I'm a consumer. Provide me with a better deal and I generally side with you. I've personally never given a rip about who I buy from (other than I'd like to keep it between steam and impulse).
The other side of this is... what sort of deal occurred? I mean seriously - consider you have something that is quite profitable in your hands. If you hold onto it, you'll see solid revenue over the years. Boil it down. If I have something that will make me PERSONALLY at least $100,000 annually with no end in sight, then I'd have to get some sort of compensation that makes up for that. Obviously, there was a solid deal to be found here that would justify selling SD's most profitable arm. And its quite possible that we'll see new investment in additional games/software. Either Brad was blowing smoke in a few of the posts/recent interviews or he really wants to be able able to focus on other things. At any rate, it should be quite obvious that more than a little money traded hands here. The question is (outside of 3 new houses (I kid of course), where does that money go. And that's up to Brad/any investor that might be involved in this. Could go towards making future games/software AMAZING. And I'd wager, SD will retain the rights to publish any FUTURE games or software through impulse.
So, they lose the revenue generated by impulse (getting a payday as a result or some deal where they share X profits) AND likely maintain the ability to digitally publish future games, etc. Sounds like a win. Anyway, wish I could see the actual agreement.
And last, I actually would like to know if SD is getting some sort of back end deal on sales via impulse or if it was just sold outright. To be completely honest, most of the time I'd find a better deal on steam due to how they market their games/sales. If SD isn't getting any benefit from my buying from impulse anymore, I'd just as soon buy with steam as soon as a deal caught my eye. I want to support Stardock financially, but obviuosly... only if I'm actually supporting stardock... methinks gamestop is doing OK if you bother to listen to quarterly earnings calls... that said, I'm not terribly worried about my GS stock.
Probably not, if I were GameStop I wouldn't care much about what DRM they put on there as long as people buy it (and I of course get a piece of it). Similarly for anyone that thinks Stardock games will now get restrictive DRM thanks to this, that's not going to happen either, as that would likely both hurt sales and require Stardock's approval.
As for the quality of the Impulse platform in the future, well that remains to be seen, but we are going to still need to use it for updates anyways, so we'll at least have front row seats without having to pay anything. For now I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Actually, that is a really good point. The impulse platform will likely be developed at a more rapid pace as a result of this sale. That would logically include voice chat, etc. Perhaps GS would choose to neglect developing the impulse experience outside of being just a store/marketing tool, but it does make sense to add features that would compete with steam.
And would require you to run the client...making it a steam clone pretty much, meaning no reason not to just go ahead give in and just use steam.
Am I wrong? And here I thought Impulse just got a new set of corporate overlords.
Unless Impulse bought Gamestop, I believe that what happens to Impulse now is out of your hands.
If there are, in fact, contractual guarantees being made to current Impulse users, then it'd be nice to know about them.
I am not happy with this the more I think about it. I feel, strangely, slightly betrayed. Brad just may have elevated himself and his company above EA in my despicable rating. I may have to place them on my blacklist. Even EA is only hovering just above this level for me. I find this as not good news. I am thinking even FE is now out even though it would technically be free for me, and it is still developed by SD. Then again, look what SD does.
When it's posted on the financials pages of a publically traded company (like Gamestop), you should believe it no matter what day it's posted on. Investors and the SEC do NOT have a sense of humor.
A friend of mine predicted that this forum would really loathe this news, and I figured it'd be no big deal. Shows what I know.
You both could be right simultaneously. I loathe the news myself, but until Gamestop does something wrong, I'm not going to start boycotting Impulse. That said, they won't get any benefit of the doubt given their history. That said, I don't think Gamestop will get too stupid, because if they do, Steam will eat Impulse's lunch.
That said, for every longtimer that leaves, someone new will take their place, and they'll be easier to please.
My issues with Gamestop are almost entirely on the retail floor side and treatment of employees side. I don't think Impulse will touch either of those areas- yet.
(and yes, I will boycott game companies for mistreating employees if I know about it)
It's the far future I'm worried about. That said, at least for Stardock stuff the disc option will still be avaliable. I just hope Stardock keeps its own games on Stardock Central or whatever the app side uses in future, just in case Gamestop screwes over Impulse.
Still won't belive. If this stays up for a week, then i'll belive. I know some stuff said around the April Fools' Day is true but anything on the internet is not urgent and i can belive it later.
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