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Amazon Debuts Multi-Platform Indie Games Store

Posted by timothy on from the modern-chaebol-emerge dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Amazon today announced an initiative to help indie game developers promote and sell their games: the Indie Games Store. The dedicated storefront is a new category in Amazon's Digital Video Games Store, designed specifically to help indie games for PC, Mac, and the Web get noticed. The store appears to be US-only, but if you don't live there you should be able to get away with just putting in an American address. Most of the games are Steam downloads, so where you are in the world shouldn't matter too much."

67 comments

  1. Humble by telchine · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's like the Humble Bundle but not humble and not a bundle!

    1. Re:Humble by slim · · Score: 2

      The first product I became aware of through this service, was a bundle of Double Fine games. Not humble. But a bundle.

      Pretty good too, $9.99 for Brutal Legend, The Cave and a bunch more.

      I already own The Cave, and thoroughly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle etc.

    2. Re:Humble by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...and a poor approximation of "multi-platform" compared to the bundles, as well.

    3. Re:Humble by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's like the Humble Bundle but not humble and not a bundle!

      No, it is nothing at all like humble bundle, in any way, shape, or form.

    4. Re:Humble by Enfixed · · Score: 2

      I second this, The Cave is awesome.

      --
      Sigs are bad for you...
    5. Re:Humble by VGPowerlord · · Score: 1

      The first product I became aware of through this service, was a bundle of Double Fine games. Not humble. But a bundle.

      I take it you missed the recent Humble Bundle last month that had all of Double Fine's games except The Cave, including (if you paid enough) the next one that they haven't released yet?

      --
      GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
    6. Re:Humble by hairyfeet · · Score: 4, Informative

      Personally I think its great and is just one more example of how now that the consoles are all going to online only DRM boxes that PC gaming is the way to go. Thanks to good old fashioned competition there is MUCH better prices, the indie devs get more of a percentage than the consoles, you have a huge choice in places to shop, the hardware has never been cheaper (hell I've built machines that game great for less than $350) and you of course control it, I'd say its just a better experience all around.

      Oh and speaking of Humble they now have weekly sales with big name devs, this week is the entire Serious Sam series so anybody who doesn't have those should check it out.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    7. Re:Humble by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      now that the consoles are all going to online only DRM boxes that PC gaming is the way to go

      Steam isn't?

    8. Re:Humble by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Offline mode says hello.

    9. Re:Humble by Xest · · Score: 1

      "Personally I think its great and is just one more example of how now that the consoles are all going to online only DRM boxes that PC gaming is the way to go."

      Why do you pretend PC gaming is any different? Console DRM has always followed PC DRM not led it. It's near impossible to find offline games for the PC now, everything on Steam is activated and installed online, EA, Ubisoft, Blizzard all force you to be online to activate and to play half the time now.

      I'd love it if what you say is true, but it's not, I can't even buy a physical DVD of a game in store now and not have to activate it online for the PC. In fact, Blizzard's games no longer even come with the game, you buy a DVD case with a CD key and a DVD in it that has what, a 2mb installer that downloads the whole thing off the internet? At least with the XBox One/PS4 I wont have to use 16gb or whatever of my monthly cap and wait for a few hours before I can play the damn game I just bought a physical disc for - I'll just be able to stick it in, activate it, and play immediately. This isn't to defend the DRM systems on these consoles, fuck no, I think all DRM is bad and should just die, there's literally no benefit to the consumer of it and it's entirely about subverting people's legal right to second hand sales of products they've bought, but even the PC's most prominent developer Blizzard has worse DRM than any console current or planned.

      There are many reasons to prefer PC gaming over consoles (like having a non-retarded set of inputs for MMOs and RTS games for example) but DRM definitely isn't one of them.

    10. Re:Humble by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

      Steam works for 30 days at a time with zero connection, or if you don't want DRM at all there are the Humble Indie bundles, GOG, and several other sites that will be more than happy to sell you a 100% DRM free.

      So unlike the consoles YOU get to choose what is and is not acceptable, whereas the consoles are strictly "my way or the highway". So if you buy a game that clearly says that it has this or that DRM? Again that is YOUR choice and you DO have options, with more and more games added to the DRM free camp daily. Personally I like Steam because it gives me cheaper prices, chat, updates, MP matchmaking, and much better customer support than I've seen from any retailer BAR NONE, hell I had a rep in less than an hour going "How can i help?" on Xmas eve, now THAT is service!

      But if you don't like it there is Desura, GFWL, GOG, Indie Gala, Humble Bundle, you have choices up the ying yang friend, go choose what is right for YOU and have fun. Hell if you buy that Serious Sam bundle i linked to there is only 3 games out of 9 that require Steam, so you can still give to charity and have some fun.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
  2. So... redudant to the steam store by i+kan+reed · · Score: 1

    I don't see the point. Amazon sells indie games. Steam sells indie games. Once amazon gets you to install steam, why would you use amazon for the next purchase?

    1. Re:So... redudant to the steam store by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Amazon credit and exclusive discounts come to mind.

    2. Re:So... redudant to the steam store by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are they still indie at this point? Just wondering.

    3. Re:So... redudant to the steam store by slim · · Score: 3, Insightful

      An indie record label is one that's not owned/controlled by a major corporation. If its records are stocked by HMV, or Amazon, the label is no less independent.

      By analogy, if an indie games developer gets their product stocked by a corporate retailer, that doesn't stop them being an indie developer.

    4. Re:So... redudant to the steam store by Ranbot · · Score: 1

      Amazon must think there's room in the market for more digital download services than just Steam and Origin, and I think I agree with them. If you consider the trends in gaming towards mobile devices, Amazon/Kindle are in a much better position than Steam to with the growing mobile games market, and if they can convince some people to purchase the next big PC game from them instead of Steam, then all the better.

    5. Re:So... redudant to the steam store by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It does, however, lower their hipster cred.

    6. Re:So... redudant to the steam store by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Steam store has pretty mediocre prices. In the EU they're outright bad as far as digital download stores go. So, while you're forced to use their DRM client, it's usually better to buy elsewhere.

    7. Re:So... redudant to the steam store by Baloroth · · Score: 3, Funny

      So, not really any downsides to this, then.

      --
      "None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
    8. Re:So... redudant to the steam store by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thank you.

    9. Re:So... redudant to the steam store by Russ1642 · · Score: 1

      You absolutely must factor in the cost of getting it elsewhere, you know like driving to a store or paying someone to ship you a box with a DVD in it. And you should factor in the time it takes you as well.

    10. Re:So... redudant to the steam store by aztracker1 · · Score: 1

      Personally, I don't get why Amazon didn't just make a cross-licensing deal with Steam. That may well be the case here, and given Amazon's support for independent authors, it makes a lot of sense. Though with the money Amazon has, I'm interested in why Amazon didn't try to buy Valve outright. Amazon has done an above average job of allowing their purchased companies a lot of leeway in terms of management, so I think it could be a really good fit.

      --
      Michael J. Ryan - tracker1.info
    11. Re:So... redudant to the steam store by ezelkow1 · · Score: 1

      except this isnt factored in when purchasing steam keys, you get a key, you redeem it in seconds, same as buying it directly from Steam.

      Starting with their past winter sales steam has very much sucked compared to just about every other game retailer out there, greenman, gamersgate, amazon are among just a few who sold games (Steam keys) at much larger discounts than steam even came close to during their sales.

    12. Re:So... redudant to the steam store by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      An indie record label is one that's not owned/controlled by a major corporation. If its records are stocked by HMV, or Amazon, the label is no less independent.

      By analogy, if an indie games developer gets their product stocked by a corporate retailer, that doesn't stop them being an indie developer.

      so Blizzards StarCraft 2 is an indie title?

      there's some game titles now labeled as indie even though there is major marketing pushing banked by big players behind 'em who are also paying for the development.. *cough sony buying exclusivity AND SENDING FUCKING SCARFS TO EVERY FUCKING TV REVIEWER ON THE WORLD*.........

      imho putting them in indie or not baskets is stupid. there wasn't such distinction in computer games 20 years ago even though the mechanics how things went were exactly the same, just on a bit smaller scale. people just developed and published as best as they could.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  3. Do not want. Or need. by snarfies · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I don't buy games with any form of DRM, Steam included. Most of the last few games I've bought have been through the Humble Bundle Store, and not just the bundles - I bought FTL through the store, for example.

  4. So what's the point? by geminidomino · · Score: 1

    If they're just re-packaging steam crap, why waste the time and effort? If someone is willing to buy indie games off Steam, they will. Steam is hardly an unknown at this point. And it's no good to anyone who isn't willing to deal with Steam, either.

    So basically, they want to be yet another middle-man.

    1. Re:So what's the point? by jbmartin6 · · Score: 1

      Isn't that what retailers do? I don't think we would want there to be only one retailer of any given type of product.

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    2. Re:So what's the point? by geminidomino · · Score: 1

      Not usually, no. You don't often see Sweetbay going to Publix and buying up all their store-brand Cheerios to put on their own shelves.

      If they were setting up an ALTERNATIVE to Steam, your comparison might be more apt.

    3. Re:So what's the point? by Zerth · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Sometimes buying through Amazon to get a Steam license is actually cheaper than buying directly through Steam. I bought the Stronghold series plus Civ V and IV on Amazon, which were all redeemed as Steam licenses, because it was the same price as just the Stronghold series directly on Steam.

      The nice thing about middle-men is that sometimes they fight each other.

    4. Re:So what's the point? by geminidomino · · Score: 1

      Okay, I'll admit that I wasn't expecting that. So is Amazon taking the loss, I wonder, or is the publisher dissing Steam by letting them sell the licenses?

      Interesting.

    5. Re:So what's the point? by subanark · · Score: 1

      Steam allows the developer to distribute steam keys on their own at no cost (I think not 100% sure though). They can set any price they want too and subcontract out to other agencies. This is different from Apple which charges for every key you distribute on your own. If Amazon and the developer agrees to sell the game at a reduced price when its on special, then Amazon and the developer make money (but maybe the developer lost money by not having steam do the selling). Many developers will sell their game directly from their website as they get a bigger profit doing that. FTL (http://www.ftlgame.com/) has a buy link right on their page that the devleoper updates to match steam price whenever their game goes on sale.

    6. Re:So what's the point? by Oronar · · Score: 1

      Amazon and Greenmangaming buy a ton of keys in bulk. Valve gets money now in a lump sum instead of in individual sales. If they care at all, it's to encourage it.

      --
      1 4/\/\ 1337
  5. PC, Mac, and Web games? by pecosdave · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Not indie enough for me, I use Linux. I'll stick with the Humble Bundle, which gives me direct downloads, Ubuntu Software Center and Steam.

    I've been assured by many vendors that once I put Linux on it, it's no longer a PC - so I just shut off my brain and think on those terms.

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    1. Re:PC, Mac, and Web games? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've been assured by many vendors that once I put Linux on it, it's no longer a PC - so I just shut off my brain and think on those terms.

      I hate that (mis)use of the term PC as much as you do but technically a Mac is also a PC and Mac fanatics (users) would hate it if you referred to Macs as such so maybe we could reverse the thinking and start to think of a Linux system as something better than a regular PC. Which it of course is :)

    2. Re:PC, Mac, and Web games? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But it is ONLY a PC if you put Linux on it!

      Windows (esp. 8) is deliberately designed to make you PC into a fixed-function appliance. And OS X is heading in the same (iOS) direction. Of course Gnome (esp. Ubuntu) and KDE are too.
      Yes, because it's installed on a PC, you can still use it like a PC (a personal *universal* information processing automation device). But those environments make is as hard as they possibly can to do so. By intentionally crippling and dumbing it down until you have nothing more than a clickwheel with autotext as an input, and MS Clippy / Siri responding to you.

  6. Indie? by JohnG · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The first five games I see when I go there are from Microsoft, Sega, and Warner Brothers. If that is who us indies are competing with for space in Amazon's indie store, I'm not sure what they are calling it indie.

    1. Re:Indie? by slim · · Score: 2

      I didn't check past the first two, but Mark of the Ninja and The Cave are both written by indie developers, and published by large publishers.

      Although Double Fine might be getting too big to count; as if Creation was an "indie" record label when Oasis were at peak popularity.

    2. Re:Indie? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Big corporations have jumped on the "indie" bandwagon and brand their lower-budget games as "indie" for marketing purporses. EA is also one of those who love to do that.

    3. Re:Indie? by JohnG · · Score: 1

      I guess that's fair enough. But I don't think they really need Amazon's help getting noticed if companies like Microsoft and Sega are on the job.

    4. Re:Indie? by geminidomino · · Score: 3, Insightful

      and published by large publishers

      I think that's stretching the definition of "indie" unto meaninglessness.

    5. Re:Indie? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The first five games I see when I go there are from Microsoft, Sega, and Warner Brothers. If that is who us indies are competing with for space in Amazon's indie store, I'm not sure what they are calling it indie.

      It just started you dummy. You have to give it a chance to get going.

    6. Re:Indie? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you looking at the Digital Video Games Store? You want to be looking at the Indie Games Store. Both are linked in the OP.

  7. on the contrary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I love steam. It means I can keep my game catalog as I upgrade my machine, switch operating systems, switch platforms... my games are mine. While I can't sell used games, I always try them out non-steam first before I decide I'm going to purchase them. Steam guarantees that I'll have those games available to me no matter what happens to my computer. To me, it's the best DRM out there, and the benefits outweigh my dislike for DRM.

    1. Re:on the contrary by geminidomino · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Steam guarantees that I'll have those games available to me no matter what happens to my computer

      Unless you have the unmitigated gall to object to any change they might decide to shove into their TOS. If that's the case, well then fuck you, peasant. Eat it, or kiss your library goodbye.

      Steam is certainly "DRM done right," as so many love to parrot: You do what they say, or they take your games away. That's what DRM is supposed to do, after all.

    2. Re:on the contrary by tlhIngan · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Steam guarantees that I'll have those games available to me no matter what happens to my computer

      Unless you have the unmitigated gall to object to any change they might decide to shove into their TOS. If that's the case, well then fuck you, peasant. Eat it, or kiss your library goodbye.

      Steam is certainly "DRM done right," as so many love to parrot: You do what they say, or they take your games away. That's what DRM is supposed to do, after all.

      Or a more common case - the game is no longer able to be distributed. I have stuff in my steam library that cannot be downloaded. They don't show up anymore. I can install them from backups (a good idea to backup your library), but if you don't download and back up your library regularly, you can find yourself with the inability to play games you bought.

      Yes, you own the license, but you just cannot reinstall it from Steam via download. You can restore a backup and authorize it against your account, though.

      Anyhow, I did come across something interesting - people were dissing the Xbox One because of the used game fees and saying they're going to get a PC and play on that. Of course, used gaming on PCs is dead since Steam doesn't let you transfer purchases (without account trickery, that is). Which made things interesting - you don't want an xbox because of the used game fees, so you get a PC and buy games new?

    3. Re:on the contrary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      This is the first I've ever heard of this - could you provide some evidence?

    4. Re:on the contrary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      With PC gaming, usually you just download the game off a torrent site, not buy it off Steam Steam

    5. Re:on the contrary by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      This is the first I've ever heard of this - could you provide some evidence?

      iirc some bigger title did it last year.. like you have the usual 3 installs, steam or not.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    6. Re:on the contrary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Desura and GOG manage this without the straightjacket...

    7. Re:on the contrary by Xest · · Score: 2

      "I love steam. It means I can keep my game catalog as I upgrade my machine, switch operating systems, switch platforms... my games are mine. While I can't sell used games, I always try them out non-steam first before I decide I'm going to purchase them. Steam guarantees that I'll have those games available to me no matter what happens to my computer. To me, it's the best DRM out there, and the benefits outweigh my dislike for DRM."

      A long time ago, in an age before Steam, we had these things called CDs, DVDs, and Floppy Disks. We could buy games on them and they tended not to come with any DRM, and guess what? We got to do all the things you mention but without the second hand sales restriction you also mention.

      Remind me again what the benefit of Steam is? Remind me again why DRM helps you do any of these things at all when they can all be done without DRM? Remind me why the fuck such an obvious point got missed by the moderators who moderated your post up?

    8. Re:on the contrary by Xest · · Score: 1

      It can happen when a publisher goes bankrupt or gets taken over - Valve may then lose the right to distribute that publisher's games.

      It means that you don't just have to worry about Valve going bust, or changing hands as a risk for losing some or all of your games, but any games company you buy from - if it goes bust or gets sold you could arbitrarily be cut off from ever downloading or playing them again via Steam.

      Of course, they forget to make this clear to you until it actually happens.

    9. Re:on the contrary by ezelkow1 · · Score: 1

      Theres plenty of benefits over physical media, whether these are worth it to you or not is up to the person:

      -no physical media to lose, I cant count the number of games I've lost in moves over the years
      -also no lost keys to go along with the first one
      -no tedious installs, pick all the games you want and let it download/install, when its done everything is ready to go
      -no updating, all updates are handled automatically
      -dlc (if you consider that a benefit, could 50/50 on that one)
      -a built in online community for every game, direct access to game forums and the like
      -much cheaper prices than physical media, you can get 5-10 games for the price of one physical game if you time it right

    10. Re:on the contrary by Xest · · Score: 1

      "-no physical media to lose, I cant count the number of games I've lost in moves over the years"

      You can lose account details, or even have them hacked (not necessarily on your system) with varying degrees of success in getting them back.

      "-also no lost keys to go along with the first one"

      Irrelevant. You don't need keys in the first place if you don't have DRM. Or if you do have them anyway it doesn't matter if you lose some random key on the net if you lose yours.

      "-no tedious installs, pick all the games you want and let it download/install, when its done everything is ready to go"

      No difference. You still have to load up a program/insert a disc and click install then it goes off and does it.

      "-no updating, all updates are handled automatically
      -dlc (if you consider that a benefit, could 50/50 on that one)
      -a built in online community for every game, direct access to game forums and the like"

      No reason you can't have that anyway. You don't need DRM for it.

      "-much cheaper prices than physical media, you can get 5-10 games for the price of one physical game if you time it right"

      Rarely ever true. Physical copies are often cheaper than digital copies. Steam is usually full RRP on new copies, places like Amazon just about never is. Steam has sales, Amazon et. al. have sales.

      But fundamentally my point wasn't really just about physical media vs. online, but simply the point that DRM wasn't necessary then, and isn't necessary now. You could do everything you do now with Steam, minus the DRM.

      My point is simply that DRM adds nothing you couldn't have without DRM. For the consumer DRM is always nothing but a net negative.

  8. Re:Do not want. Or need. by wbr1 · · Score: 1
    Steam is the most unobtrusive DRM I have seen. It comes the closest to what I would call DRM done right. I personally do not have a problem with DRM if it does not get in the way of my enjoyment of the content and does not break other things or spy on my. Steam fits this bill.

    I do have a problem with IP being IP for too long, via excessive patent and copyright laws, but that is a legislative and societal issue, not a DRM or technical one.

    --
    Silence is a state of mime.
  9. Re:Do not want. Or need. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't buy games that don't have DRM. They're much easier to copy, so why would I? Come to think of it, I've never actually encountered DRM in any game I've copied.

  10. Re:Do not want. Or need. by Trepidity · · Score: 3, Informative

    If you're always online, Steam's DRM is reasonably unobtrusive. But if you regularly use its offline mode, it's a bit of a pain in the ass.

    --
    10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
  11. The word indie lost it's meaning by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Indie used to mean independently created, now it just means "looks like something that a 'quirky' sheepster would enjoy"

  12. Same thing happened to music by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Indie is now a music genre, not a description of the DIY ethics of the band, but rather they sound like a band that already did the work for them.

  13. What's in an address by benwad · · Score: 2

    "The store appears to be US-only, but if you don't live there you should be able to get away with just putting in an American address." So like what Amazon does on their tax form, but in reverse?

  14. No mention of linux anywhere by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's hardly a multiplatform store when the linux versions of these games are not listed anywhere in sight. What a pointless service.

    1. Re:No mention of linux anywhere by asjk · · Score: 1

      I feel your pain AC, even if you're being facetious. There is one Mac "game" listed, Second Life. If that isn't a giant middle finger then I'll go spit on Steve's grave ~Praise be the Jobs~.

  15. Humble no, Bundle yes by Walking+The+Walk · · Score: 1

    It's like the Humble Bundle but not humble and not a bundle!

    It may not be humble, but the front page clearly lists nine indie game bundles (5 games in each), under a heading "Indie Bundles - 100% of sales to developers".

    --
    A recursive sig
    Can impart wisdom and truth
    Call proc signature()
  16. to bad that ios and windows phone are locked into by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    to bad that ios and windows phone are locked into one app store.

    can they make there own Cydia store for ios?

  17. Re:Do not want. Or need. by Quirkz · · Score: 1

    I'd say offline mode has worked well for me most of the time, but a few times it has choked and refused to load the app I wanted. Maybe two or three times out of thirty-ish tries? So not a huge pain, but certainly aggravating when it fails.

    --
    The Quirkz Handbook of Self-Improvement for People Who Are Already Pretty Okay
  18. Re:Do not want. Or need. by Xest · · Score: 1

    It seems to depend partly on the game.

    Defcon just always kept reverting back to trial mode for me when I bought and played it via Steam and I had to reload it each time until it went into licensed mode.

    I've also had games I just couldn't activate for a few days when I tried which was annoying because I always felt there was something distinctly wrong about a third party telling me I couldn't use a product I'd paid for until they got their arse into gear.

    I agree 99% of the time it works fine, but fundamentally anything that makes something fail 1% of the time for a legitimate consumer is unacceptable given that it offers absolutely zero benefit to the consumer. If they want to have DRM it needs to work in every customer's circumstances perfectly 100% of the time, or it needs to go. The consumer shouldn't suffer because of publisher's greed to prevent second hand sales.