Holtman: “Steam has changed the industry”

In an exclusive interview with Developmag.com, Valve’s director of business development, Jason Holtman, has spoken of how the company thinks its Steam service has changed the industry.

"I think it’s changed it in some really positive ways – the first thing is that I think it’s made the PC very very strong," he said.

"I know there are 15 million Steam users out there, and they’re having far better experiences on their PCs than they were before. They don’t have to patch, the communities are kept together… so I know for PC games in general it’s been wonderful."

But Holtman doesn’t believe that the service has just been great for players – it’s also given independent developers a chance to reach a huge audience with quirky, original, low-price titles.

"Steam has also been great for people like Dylan Fitterer with Audiosurf – he had an Independent Games Festival game and was able to integrate pieces of Steamworks and release his game for $9.99, and he’s on top of the world. So that kind of access to being able to get a game out that maybe couldn’t find a retail shelf has helped a lot."

For more from Holtman on Steamworks and the growth of Steam as the dominant digital delivery platform, check out the full interview here.