Looks like Gamestop purchasing Impulse has amounted to nothing for Gamestop in the end. I got this email on April 24th:
Hello PC Downloads Customers! We're writing to you today because there are big changes coming to GameStop's PC Gaming area. We've heard your feedback over the past year and in order to serve you better, we are simplifying the digital PC game purchasing and redemption process. Starting April 24, 2014, when visiting ImpulseDriven.com, you'll be redirected to GameStop.com. In addition, the GameStop PC Downloads App will be simplified down to a pure download and game library manager. From that point on, it will no longer be a requirement for you to download the PC Downloads App when making new purchases. But don't worry! We're still holding onto all of those past purchases that you made prior to 4/24/14. So when you want to download and play any of those games where we supplied the game files instead of Steam, Origin, or any of our other great partners, the updated version of the PC Downloads App will be there to do just that. One last thing: Be sure to stay tuned to GameStop.com/PCGames and your local GameStop stores in the coming days and weeks! We're going to continue remodeling our new home to better serve you, and that includes serving up some of the best deals that PC gaming has ever seen! Thank you for your loyalty and all of your fantastic feedback! Sincerely, The GameStop PC Digital Team Not interested anymore? Unsubscribe to stop receiving email communications from GameStop PC Downloads. All rights reserved. All other trademarks and copyrights are the properties of their respective owners. Territory restrictions may apply. Regional prices may be in effect and prices may be different because of publisher's requirements. Listed prices are shown in US Dollars. All sales are only valid while supplies last. Yes it is possible for digital downloads to run out!
Hello PC Downloads Customers! We're writing to you today because there are big changes coming to GameStop's PC Gaming area. We've heard your feedback over the past year and in order to serve you better, we are simplifying the digital PC game purchasing and redemption process. Starting April 24, 2014, when visiting ImpulseDriven.com, you'll be redirected to GameStop.com. In addition, the GameStop PC Downloads App will be simplified down to a pure download and game library manager. From that point on, it will no longer be a requirement for you to download the PC Downloads App when making new purchases. But don't worry! We're still holding onto all of those past purchases that you made prior to 4/24/14. So when you want to download and play any of those games where we supplied the game files instead of Steam, Origin, or any of our other great partners, the updated version of the PC Downloads App will be there to do just that. One last thing: Be sure to stay tuned to GameStop.com/PCGames and your local GameStop stores in the coming days and weeks! We're going to continue remodeling our new home to better serve you, and that includes serving up some of the best deals that PC gaming has ever seen! Thank you for your loyalty and all of your fantastic feedback! Sincerely,
The GameStop PC Digital Team Not interested anymore? Unsubscribe to stop receiving email communications from GameStop PC Downloads. All rights reserved. All other trademarks and copyrights are the properties of their respective owners. Territory restrictions may apply. Regional prices may be in effect and prices may be different because of publisher's requirements. Listed prices are shown in US Dollars. All sales are only valid while supplies last. Yes it is possible for digital downloads to run out!
I can still access my previous purchases but for how long? I can't make any new purchases because I don't have a US address. They only give Steam, Origin and Uplay codes now. They could just've done that from the start, would've cost them much less.
It's funny how Gamefly moved to a download manager and Gamestop is moving away, based on "feedback".
Seems Gamestop is dying
Read this week that PC gaming overtook consolegaming (in the Nordic lands atleast) but much of that is DOTA 2 and League of Legends together with Hearthstone.
I wonder how long retailgaming will survive. When will the Big Crisis come?
They barely even sell PC games nowadays in the retail stores here, it is only console stuff.
Amazing how much Gamestop paid for it, and how little they actually did with it.
True enough.
I use CheapShark to hunt for deals when I want a game. If the game is steamworks I get the Steam Key no matter what. I also try to buy Steamworks indie games directly from the DEV if possible. So they get more money. Not that I do not like steam and do not want them to make money, but sometimes I want all the money to go to the dev. Like for the GalCiv III alpha.
I still think it's a sad day, because I liked having an altenative to Steam in case something happened to it.
That's not me being anti-Steam, though I was when I was younger due to not liking how slow Steam is (and it's still clunky to me compared to Impulse)
Gamestop is definitely in trouble. I really don't get their decisions. It's clear they're being led by suits, not people who understand gaming. I mean, their plan to fight off Best Buy and Wal-Mart is... to go into anoter space dominated by them? Ridiculous.
Very unhappy...
And i didn't get a mail...
The Irony (TM) here, my friends, is that Impulse Driven was a creation of Brad Wardell and our good friends at Stardock!
I'm glad Brad and the gang took advantage of the sale and have continued to create fabulous games . . . and they went back to running their own download service again.
It's not the Stardock/Impulse of old, but it still works. Hmm. Maybe Stardock will once again branch out and sell the small indie type games with the cannot lose price-points. Whaddya say, Frogboy?
And where exactly do they give those Uplay, Steam etc. codes?I have had a painfully long conversation via email with them, and finally someone named "Cesar P." from gamestop support gave me a list of my games' serial numbersWhich I have no idea what to do with. Steam doesn't recognize them (except one game which was already using steam)And login.gamestop.com is down, so I can't see list of my owned games. Purchase history doesn't contain any of those games (I found a way to login in checkout page, the history is not on login.gamestop.com, but profile is)
No problems with my GalCivs, but the other games - Master of Orion, X-COM... Do I have to buy those again?
i've used gamestop to avoid using steam, as i know people who'd had terrible problems with it,
i've never had problems with gamestop, until now that is,
i got, downloaded and installed baldurs gate 2 complete some months ago now, after it installed it asked if i'd like to play now ?, which i did for a few minutes just to see if it worked, (i believe ir was shadows of amn that i was playing) a few weeks later i tried again but all i got was the launcher and when clicking start it says i have to install throne of baal to play, do that now ?, when selecting yes nothing happens
i contacted support who told me to selet reset data in settings, which i did and it didn't work, i re contacted them and am waiting for a response [e digicons]:'([/e]
I've been exchaning emails with their support for a week now.They asked me if I can ping secure.impulsedriven.com
When I told them that pings timeout, they told me to use administrator account. This is only one example of their support's brilliance. It's like talking to a wall.
There's no chance of Stardock starting another Impulse- it led to Stardock becoming overextended which hurt the quality of their core business.
That said, I do think Impulse could have been what you described, but even then, it wouldn't have lasted, as Steam would eventually have scarfed up the indies, and Stardock couldn't compete on the AAA stuff (Brad gave some examples of this in the past). GOG could fill that niche well, and probably needs to given the amount of old games is pretty finite.
The only way Steam was not going to get a monopoly on DD is if you make TF2 a failure. That game was Valve's loss leader.
I can think of a couple of titles that never reached Steam that I got to enjoy through Impulse, so I miss it.
Does anyone have an update on this issue?
I wanted to play some games from the D&D Ultimate Pack but I can't login into the app, the order is not listed on their site (they don't even have the games on sale anymore), I didn't get a reply from their support and the same Cesar P. just instructed me to contact downloadsupport.
So, does anyone know what happens to the older games? Do they just disappear?
I know this isn't a GalCiv issue for me but I see there are others with similar problems so every bit of info is helpful.
They stopped responding to me too.I think we should create a topic on some major PC gaming forum to attract attention to the problem. Any ideas on where?
OK. So I took another go at it.
I uninstalled the app that was previously installed on my pc. I think the problem was with the app being an older version it did not update itself because the servers changed.
I downloaded the new app from their site (http://www.impulsedriven.com/downloads/gamestopapp/pc) and after I installed it asked if I want to update it, which I did.
After a restart I could login with no problems.
Anyway, I hope this helps anyone having the same problems and I hope they keep the service running.
Arrghhh...
It made me so angry.
I cant event access my old purchases.
Quite a few years ago, before economic models for the Web made online games purchase take off, I entered a Gamestop looking for a PC title. The person behind the counter practically sneered at me, turned away, and said, "What we have is in the back. Knock yourself out." It was a terribly small display, and when asked if they could locate a game in another store, he assured me no one cared anymore about PC titles. They were a dead market.
That was the last time I went to Gamestop. Of course, there are plenty of people out there that insist the PC is dead, despite all evidence to the contrary, but what can you do? Zombie ideas never seem to stay dead.
Quite a few years ago, before economic models for the Web made online games purchase take off, I entered a Gamestop looking for a PC title. The person behind the counter practically sneered at me, turned away, and said, "What we have is in the back. Knock yourself out." It was a terribly small display, and when asked if they could locate a game in another store, he assured me no one cared anymore about PC titles. They were a dead market. That was the last time I went to Gamestop. Of course, there are plenty of people out there that insist the PC is dead, despite all evidence to the contrary, but what can you do? Zombie ideas never seem to stay dead.
Can't you go back to that store and talk to that same guy and tell him: "Remember me? x years ago you told me PC games are a dead market."
He answers: "Uuuh yeah...."
You say: "Now, Steam reigns supreme and your shitty store (and JOB!) is going out of business. Guess you were wrong"
Yeah! I was really disappointed when Stardock sold Impulse. For me, it was the best system ever developed.
Don't I wish! It's a nice feature of we humans--or perhaps a bug, rather than a feature?--that we usually forget the times we've been wrong, and remember nearly all the times we've been right. It also preserves our sense of self-worth, and helps PR folks sell more garbage because we forget every lesson as soon as we learn it.
Anyone happen to know if serial keys on that piece of crap Gamestop app can be converted to Steam keys? My EA games transferred themselves over to Origin.. which had me blinking, but hey, okay. No worries there. And while I already have Sins Rebellion, I'd much rather transfer over my copies of GalCiv II, Sins Trinity, and Dawn of War, because if Gamestop finally decides to give the two-fingered salute and tell me to jog on, I'd really rather not have to buy those games again.
Archival. Steam keys ain't likely. Stardock games can be gotten off Stardock, but for the most part you just need to archive them.
I'm happy I uninstalled Impulse a long time ago, I use Stardock Central now (although it's no longer supported).
I suspect we're going to end up moving to a more web like solution in the long run. It is hard to maintain a Win32 app that supports so many different types of installer.
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