I personally wish Steam would die a horrible death. I have had nothing but problems with that service.
I wish AI War will be the game that will put Impulse at the top of the list for digital distribution.
You and I have had similar discussions off the boards about this before, of course, so you know my feelings on it pretty well. I've always liked Valve as a company (I couldn't help but after HL2, and I was a Counter-Strike fan before that), and Gabe Newell seems like a really interesting guy. The whole story behind Portal and how that came to be also really fascinates me, and I remember back when Steam was a new thing how exciting that was. However, with any large company -- #1 in a market in particular -- you certainly get problems more than one would like, and thus dissatisfied customers as well.
I have a tremendous amount of respect for the Stardock staff, and I really want to see Impulse take off in a major way because I feel like they are doing so much right there. I also prefer their client to Steam, on the whole.
But, in the end, for a developer it's like Walmart versus Target. If you sell your goods in just one of them, you'll never reach your entire audience despite the fact that both are mega-chains. If the market were bigger to begin with that might not matter, but as it does it's a significant boost every time we get a new distribution partner; I can't turn down anyone who is on the level. I don't think any of your complaints with Steam were things that they maliciously did, I think it was all just the typical sort of thing that can happen with large companies; and my personal experiences with them (aside from them not picking up AI War immediately) have honestly been nothing but positive.
I actually shop at GameStop pretty regularly, which might surprise some people who hate the monolithic chains. But I've got one near me that has a really awesome staff that I've come to know, and so I enjoy going there and seeing them when I get new boxed games. They don't know that I'm also a game developer, I'm just a regular they know by sight, which is a lot more relaxed. To me, I think that's another mega-corporation that a lot of people have beef with, but I just have trouble working myself into a fervor about any given company. My dad absolutely loathes Microsoft, and then here I'm a Microsoft Certified Partner at my day job. Go figure. I'm pretty apolitical when it comes to companies; I even briefly considered buying an Apple product a few weeks ago.
I am surprised that the sales don't number 10^4 yet, and am thinking I need to put more posts on my blog about this game. Too bad I'm a privacy nut and it's encrypted & password protected for my family and friends only.
These things just take time! It's doubly hard for a new company, because not only do people have to hear about the game, they also have to become excited (or curious) about it to the point of making a purchase. So all of the word of mouth really does pay off, as do the big reviews like the one by Tom Chick. People are wary of someone they've never heard of (as I would be), so they have to have it recommended to them from a source they trust. That's another thing about Steam, is the air of legitimacy that brings -- if it's on Steam, people assume it must be very good.
People who know Impulse also tend to have a lot of trust in that platform, but unfortunately it just does not yet have the same kind of brand recognition. But, like you, I hope that it's brand continues to grow and I am happy to be helping with that in whatever way I am with the success of AI War. A number of people seem to have discovered Impulse through AI War (though not as many who discovered AI War through Impulse, naturally), so I think that's pretty cool. They're a really good partner, and I want to see them succeed -- and it's clear the feeling is mutual from them, which is just really awesome.
This was pretty rambly, so I don't really have a proper conclusion. I guess I'll just cut it off there.
