Yet another DD store gets bought by a physical retailer/rentals whatever. D2D was owned by IGN. Strangely, IGN created a second DD store a few months ago, called IGN PC Store. GameFly is also the owner of MobyGames.

I think this will bring the matter of rentals and ownership to a lot more DD sites, Steam for example doesn't allow you to return or gift a game you currently own (subscription, actually), and it doesn't allow you to rent a game. And we still don't know what GameStop is going to do with Impulse...

It started with a rumor...
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/44420/IGN-sells-Direct2Drive

and today:
http://blog.direct2drive.com/2011/05/special-announcement-from-d2d/

http://www.shacknews.com/article/68567/gamefly-acquires-pc-digital-distributor

Finally the motives behind the creation of IGN Store become apparent. Although it's not quite so clear as to why it has the same account info as D2D. Is that to protect D2D customers from Gamefly completely changing D2D? Could be. We'll have to see. But one less thing owned by Murdoch isn't a bad thing.

w-hat

1) Create new company exactly like old company.
2) Sell old company.
3) Profit?

Meh, not a big deal for me, I rarely used D2D.

The Internet dream. Ask Tweetdeck's developers.

I've only used D2D once - I bought Trine recently (a few days before the Humble Frozenbyte Bundle was announced; life's funny sometimes). and the service seemed pretty good. The only thing that bugged me was the Murdoch association, but I guess that's gone now.

I really can't imagine the reason behind the IGN PC Store... since indeed they share the accounts data between the two stores.

There are some rumors floating that they'll use the second store for agreements and pre-order bonuses whatever with GameStop. And Impulse at the same time has started selling Steamworks titles, and GG sells them too. Things are getting hot... better for us, the less we pay.

GameSpot is still around, right? Haven't they ever thought of doing "a D2D" just like IGN did? heh :) Me too.

But I like that it can bring changes to the games distribution market, AKA Steam, GOG and GG for me. The same for Impulse being bought, I don't use it much but I like that it can bring change, Mr. Rohan. $40 mi bucks. Profit? Yes.

... shit.

Maybe now they'll update the D2D download client/manager.

I got "sword of the stars" for 5-bucks and "world of goo" but I was generally leery of D2D as their website looked awfully low end in comparison to similar sites. Made me feel like they were just a month or two away from going under.

Now that these on-line stores are changing hands its going to be interesting to see what happens and if any users start having issues with games purchased under the old owners. Seems like it would take a couple of changes of hands and some additional time for that kind of funny business starts but I'm still watching how things will unfold.

Boy, the business world can be strange. Make a copy of your store, and then sell the original. You make money selling nothing you actually lost.

:/

Hmm just found an article about going from physical to digital:
http://www.vg247.com/2011/05/24/driving-digital-charting-the-inevitable-death-of-discs/

and here about the IGN+GameStop marketing effort thingie:
http://allthingsd.com/20101206/ign-and-gamestop-combine-online-content-and-media-sites/

Well put, that's what I think out of it too.

I don't know if D2D was being successful with digital rentals, but they've been selling a lot of Steamworks titles at pre-orders, since they are constantly offering 10,20,30% off when Steam offers like err 0%.

Steam typically offers a 10% discount on preorders.

I thought steam was basicaly a glorified rental system?

Kinda yes. You own the games on Steam as much as you own any game by the fact you buy a license you never actually own the game itself. Steam however has the option of revoking your license which most other DRM 'solutions' can't do effectively.