Skip to Content

AOL Games

Valve: Steam sales even boost retail games


Worried that those pesky digital shelves are going to put your local brick-and-mortar out of business in the next few weeks? Worry not, friends, as Valve's Doug Lombardi is here to put all your worries to bed. Talking to GamesIndustry.biz, Lombardi claimed that "free weekend" sales on Steam (among others) actually help to bolster sales at physical retail locations as well as online.

"Recently we've seen data that shows Left 4 Dead free weekends increase the sales of Left 4 Dead on Steam, at retail and on the Xbox 360, which we would never have guessed could have happened, but it's just that word of mouth," says Lombardi. Furthermore, he waves off talk of bad blood between Valve and GameStop over the developer's Steam service, saying, "We spent more money at GameStop in the US promoting Left 4 Dead than we did at any other chain ... we sold more copies of Left 4 Dead at Gamestop than we did at any other chain ... for us, whichever cash register you want to pay at, that's fine." Not that it matters to GameStop anyway, given the lack of a threat posed for at least another five years, right?

Tags: business, doug-lombardi, gamesindustry.biz, gamestop, left-4-dead, pc, retail, steam, valve

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Joystiq Features





Featured Galleries

Transformers Avatar items

Transformers Avatar items

Uncharted 2: Battle of the Doughnuts

Uncharted 2: Battle of the Doughnuts

Shiren the Wanderer (Wii)

Shiren the Wanderer (Wii)

Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition

Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition

Star Wars: Trench Run (iPhone)

Star Wars: Trench Run (iPhone)

No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise (PS3/Xbox 360)

No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise (PS3/Xbox 360)

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (WiiWare)

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (WiiWare)

Ubisoft's Uplay

Ubisoft's Uplay

BioShock 2 box art

BioShock 2 box art

 


Team Joystiq

 
Chris Grant
Editor-in-Chief, Email
James Ransom-Wiley
Managing Editor, Email
Ludwig Kietzmann
Senior Editor, Email
Andrew Yoon
East Coast Editor, Email
Randy Nelson
West Coast Editor, Email
Justin McElroy
Reviews Editor, Email
Justin Glow
Developer, Email

Joystiq Podcast

New episodes every Friday! Now playing: Joystiq Podcast 115, for Friday, Oct., 30.



Archive | RSS | iTunes