Once upon a time, Steam didn’t exist – I know, I can’t believe it either. You used to have to wander into game stores to pick up plastic-wrapped videogame cases, containing colorful manuals, easily scratched CD-ROMs, and worlds beyond limit. Valve’s digital storefront launched in 2003, but initially just provided updates for the developer’s games. It became a bona fide storefront with third-party releases in 2005, but while it was in its infancy, Gabe Newell himself approached The Astronauts and People Can Fly founder Adrian Chmielarz about adding Painkiller, his cult classic FPS game, to the fledgling Steam. Chmielarz, however, wasn’t convinced.
“Here’s an anecdote I don’t think I’ve shared with anyone yet,” Chmielarz tells me, sending my ‘potential story’ senses into overdrive. “Right now, an online shop is such an obvious thing. But I remember getting an email from Gabe [Newell] – I can’t recall when, but it was before Steam launched. He said ‘hey guys! We’ll be launching this very small shop and want a couple of games to be there, and we’re fans of Painkiller. What do you think? Do you want to be involved?'”
Chmielarz hits me with a smile, then a shrug, and says “I was like, ‘ehhh, I don’t know…” I start to laugh, and we dissolve into a fit of giggles. “Imagine this: we had the opportunity to be [among Steam]’s very first games, but we didn’t have the rights to Painkiller so that wasn’t an issue anyway. But I remember my genuine reaction was like ‘haha.’ I was really hesitant!” Painkiller’s Black Edition did eventually hit Steam in 2007.
In theory, digital storefronts like Valve’s allow smaller developers easier access to a larger potential audience. While devs were often forced to rely on publishers or big-money sponsorships back in the ’90s and early 2000s, not least due to the cost of creating physical media, Valve’s platform made distribution easier than ever.
“Today [something like Steam] is obvious, but [back then] it was not. A lot of developers realized [they] don’t need to deal with this shit anymore. I can actually do the game I want to do. It isn’t that easy; you still need money to make games, but when you get some from your own savings or you get investors that aren’t interfering too much in your work, then boom! You get things like Expedition 33 happening.” Chmielarz describes Sandfall’s turn-based behemoth as his personal Game of the Year, and you can read his full thoughts here.
While Steam has its faults and limitations, not least the sheer influx of games making discoverability a real challenge, it has ultimately revolutionized how we buy and sell videogames. I’m still very much a physical media person myself, but a lot of the best indie games I’ve played simply don’t have the funds to explore that avenue. Steam is an essential part of our PC gaming ecosystem, and it’s hard to imagine life without it.