To this day, Steam remains the most successful gaming retailer site, used daily by millions of users.ĭigital distribution has several benefits for both developers and players. Even those who purchased a CD for the new Half-Life 2 were directed through Valve, which helped to increase the platform’s popularity, although not everyone liked this method. When Valve released the long-awaited Half-Life 2 on Steam in 2004, a flood of Steam users rushed to buy the new game or purchased a CD for Half-Life 2. Valve’s platform Steam was one of the pioneers of digital distribution and completely revolutionized the purchase of video games. This was made possible only by the expansion of high-speed internet, which made the internet more affordable and made purchasing digital games profitable. In this article, we explore the history of video games and how they have evolved from physical form to digital downloads.ĭigital distribution refers to the sale of digital content over the internet, without the need for physical products to be exchanged.Īlthough the digital distribution system has been around since the 1980s, it wasn’t until the early 2000s that games were sold through this method. However, with advancements in technology, gamers now have the option to purchase games in digital form, which are immediately available on their console or PC without any waiting time. In the future, more and more games will be sold digitally.Īt the beginning of the video game era, the only way to get a new game was to buy a CD from a reseller.Steam was one of the first platforms to sell games digitally.

Since the 2000s, games have been sold digitally.

The history of game keys is a somewhat longer one that I would like to enlighten you about.

Rise of gaming download