Tripwire Interactive Defends Steam News

Following critical comments of Valve's Steam portal by Gearbox Software's Randy Pitchford, Tripwire Interactive's President and Co-founder, John Gibson has now spoken out in defence of the digital download service.

As an Indie developer that's released two titles via Steam (Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45, and Killing Floor), Tripwire Interactive has had a lot of experience of doing business with Valve via Steam, and it's all positive by the sounds of things:

"Without pulling any punches, I can say with certainty that if it weren't for Steam, there would be no Tripwire Interactive right now," explained Gibson. "In the early days, when we were shopping our first game Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 around to traditional brick-and-mortar publishers, we were shocked at how terrible their proposals were. We were getting pitched offers like, "We'll give you a 15% royalty rate, take the IP rights to your game, and slap a $1.5 million administrative fee on top of your recoupment costs." And deals like this were being offered for a game we funded ourselves!"

Gibson's comments are in response to the following quote from Gearbox's Randy Pitchford on Maximum PC last week. "Valve is exploiting a lot of people in a way that's not totally fair. Valve is taking a larger share than it should for the service it's providing. It's exploiting a lot of small guys. For us big guys, we're going to sell the units and it will be fine," he said, which is a point that Gibson has now firmly rebutted:

"Randy's statements suggest that small developers are getting ripped off through their royalty rates. Without breaking any non-disclosure agreements, let me just say that our royalty deal was great, and is in line with what I understand that other digital distribution services are offering. We were able to recoup our development costs for our first game within the first week of sales, and sales were straight profit from that point on," said Gibson.

Tripwire's involvement with Valve has seen the developer go from strength to strength according to Gibson, who gave examples of other Indie devs who've benefited from distribution via Steam:

"Ask Garry Newman, creator of Garry's Mod, or Dylan Fitterer, creator of Audiosurf if they feel exploited. Ask the Tripwire Interactive employees if they feel exploited, as they move into their new offices paid for by the money the company has made on Steam," Gibson asserted. "Or me, as I drive away from the company that was built from the royalties we made on Steam, in my sports car paid for by the royalties we make on Steam, to the home that I pay for with the royalties we make on Steam."

Source: Gamasutra