steve-nix
Latest
Steam Wallet exclusive to GameStop, doesn't change company investment in Impulse
On the surface, GameStop providing Steam Wallet cards would seem like a white flag, a sign of surrender by the old brick-and-mortar giant to the king of digital distribution. Business is never so simple. Frenemies they may be, both sides will profit greatly from this deal. Valve's Steam service just obtained access to thousands of GameStop stores (and its army of associates) across North America, and GameStop gets a cut of Steam, particularly from Steam users without credit cards or access to electronic payment methods."We are currently the only retailer with it," Steve Nix, manager of PC digital distribution for GameStop told us today. He expressed there's no specific exclusivity window for the company, but that GameStop's proprietary tech for selling DLC, which allows the company to go directly to digital distribution holders instead of going through a third-party vendor, helped make the deal possible.Nix explains that he went to Valve with the deal a few months ago, with factoids like 84 percent of GameStop customers claim to play PC games, and made his case for this deal to occur. Nix's background probably helped grease the wheels. The executive was formerly an early supporter of Steam as the CEO of Ritual Entertainment (SiN Episodes) and director of business development and digital platforms at id Software, adding the company's catalog to Steam in 2007.Nix also told us the Steam deal will not alter the company's plans for its own digital distribution service, Impulse. He also mentioned the company already sells Origin points and is open to doing something similar with GoG."Really, this doesn't affect anything we're doing with Impulse," Nix said. "We doubled the PC download business with the Impulse technology we acquired. We're happy with that. We're now online over 1600 SKUs, we'll continue to grow that and continue to invest in that.""We're just offering options for customers. This in no way changes our investment or what we're doing with that business."
GameStop sees majority of digital sales from cash; won't pursue used PC game sales
GameStop is building its digital distribution business, having seen a 158 percent growth year-over-year in the third quarter, with strong returns thanks to customers who don't use credit cards."70 percent of our sales for DLC is non credit card. So that's a customer either paying with cash, GameStop gift card or trade credit," Steve Nix, manager of PC digital distribution for GameStop told us at DICE 2012. "Think about all those Call of Duty Elite subscriptions and all those customers who aren't using a credit card to purchase them.""We're actually growing [the downloadable content] market, because about half our DLC customers never purchased DLC previously. So, for game developers that want to sell more DLC, we're introducing gamers to DLC for the first time in our stores."Nix recognized that it may seem odd the retail chain's brick and mortar stores are so successful selling digital content. It's clearly servicing customers who don't have credit cards or don't want to use credit cards, but still wish to extend their favorite games. He "absolutely" feels this same situation is what's pushing their in-store PC full game sales, despite PC gamers having so many online purchasing options.Since Gamestop purchased Stardock's Impulse digital distribution store, we wanted to know if it would continue to pursue Goo, which would have essentially created a "used PC games market."Nixing the idea, he said "We don't see a lot of interest in that model from our publishing partners." He recognizes customers would be interested, but is not really seeing publisher support for such a model.
id Software exec departs for GameStop's digital distribution branch
id Software digital distribution manager Steve Nix recently confirmed that he's leaving the developer to fill the very same position at the gaming retail juggernaut GameStop. His new employer released a statement accompanying the announcement, which says, "Steve will lead the strategic development and execution of GameStop's digital download business," where he'll work with the company's other business units "to optimize GameStop's digital download shopping experience." GameStop's got high hopes for the profitability of digital content -- and it sounds like a large portion of those hopes are balanced upon Nix's shoulders. We wish him luck, and cordially remind him to lift with his knees.
Cryptic's Steve Nix explains character progression in Star Trek Online
The next Cryptic Studios MMO Star Trek Online should be an interesting mix of avatar 'away mission' gameplay with the ship-based combat that existing sci-fi titles like EVE Online offer, as well as what's on the way with Jumpgate Evolution and Black Prophecy. We'd mentioned that the STO devs would be answering questions from Star Trek fans for their dev chat yesterday. If you missed it, however, you can still read the transcript on the official Star Trek Online forums. Cryptic Systems Designer Steve Nix (aka "Snix") was on hand to field questions from the fans about player progression in Star Trek Online. Snix discussed a number of aspects of how players will interact and progress, from race selection/Species Traits that allow for character customization beyond aesthetics to STO's take on a sidekick system, which will allow for grouping of players at different levels. He also mentioned some of the tactics involved with avatar ground combat as well. If you're following the development of Star Trek Online, be sure to check out what Cryptic's Steve Nix revealed about the upcoming title in the latest dev chat transcript.
id Software rep 'saddened' by death of Duke Nukem Forever
If you think id Software would gloat openly about the cancellation of its one-time competitor, Duke Nukem Forever, you may be surprised to hear the reaction of Steve Nix, director of business development for id:"For me it was personally sad," he told Videogamer. "I know a lot of people at the studio were really surprised and saddened for sure." He went on to explain the historical connection between the two companies: "We had originally moved to Dallas because Apogee, who morphed into 3D Realms, was our original publisher. So id might not even be in Dallas and a lot of us wouldn't even be working in the games industry if it wasn't for Apogee and 3D Realms."Nix said that he "thought (the news of the cancellation) was a joke when I heard the other day." He also noted that id is currently hiring, and that "There are some really talented guys in (3D Realms) so it very well could happen that some of them end up at id." Overall, it's a pretty measured and sensitive response from the company who popularized "gibs."
id software showing some cautious Wii interest
In an interview with GameDaily, id Software's Director of Business Development Steve Nix spoke a little about the Wii. While he had nothing but praise for what the Wii is doing to grow the gaming market, he also remarked that id's latest works couldn't perform on the less powerful console. He didn't close off any chance of the company's franchises appearing on the console, however; Nix said that "some" of their brands could show up on the Wii, even though "there's just not a lot of horsepower there." While Nix indicated that these might be "older technology," don't expect a rough port if any of id's games make a Wii showing. He was careful to stress the care id Software will take if they do work on a Wii title. As they are cautiously interested, so are we cautiously optimistic about id on Wii.
