Mark Rein: Piracy is a problem, but Steam is great.

[Onyxmeth]

naznatips said:
Onyxmeth, PC hard copy and Steam sales are not coexisting. Steam is killing PC retail software sales. As steam sales increase, retail sales decrease. This is easily evident in NPD numbers. Also, poor software sales can kill retail support too. Remember Best Buy was threatening to drop the PSP last year for poor software sales.

Piracy plays a big part in the demise of boxed product on PC also which isn't nearly as large an issue for consoles. This also ties into the PSP comment as it's very heavily affected by piracy as opposed to the three consoles and DS handheld. I wasn't trying to point out that a co-existing system would work, as no one could possibly see it in foresight. I was just pointing out that everyone arguing was taking one side and not realizing that there could be a middle ground of a downloadable service and boxed product in stores.