GameStop Buys Impulse

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Just the other day I wrote an article about Impulse, completely oblivious to the incoming mega deal that would shake up the digital distribution platform. Impulse, a smaller platform similar to Steam, has been purchased by GameStop. The brick-and-mortar retailer isn’t buying video game developer StarDock, instead they’re just buying Impulse for an undisclosed sum.

StarDock’s chief Brad Wardell spoke to gaming blog Joystiq on the deal. He told them:

Not everyone’s goal in life is to run a thousand person company. Certainly the path of least resistance would have been to just grow with Impulse and become a digital retailer, but that’s not what I signed up for. [...] Impulse obviously is not the number one by far in terms of market share, but it has three, four million users and is growing rapidly. So when you combine our technology, which is start-of-the-art and continuing, with GameStop’s user base and retail experience, you have a pretty compelling story.

It’s a great move for GameStop, who has become almost completely irrelevant in PC game sales as “hardcore” PC gamers have moved almost entirely to online platforms like Impulse, Steam, Direct2Drive and others. GameStop does offer digitally distributed PC games on their website, but from what I’ve heard their selection and interface isn’t great. Impulse is a great service, with great software and a budding selection – so this is a great nab for GameStop.

And great news for employees, as it seems that GameStop will let current Impulse employees continue to run the service, and instead of layoffs, the unit is said to be growing. Sounds like a win-win, unless you’re one of those gamers who refuses to step foot in a GameStop or patronize anything with that name on it. I suspect some people will uninstall Impulse and give up the service because they’ve been bought by “the man”, but probably not enough to make a difference.