GameFly to Launch Digital Game Distribution Service Later this Year

When Valve launched its Steam platform in 2004, the company entered an unknown territory and I’m sure had no real idea of what to expect with regards to its success. Well, it goes without saying that creating Steam was the best decision the company ever made, and though it doesn’t disclose revenue, it can be assumed that the revenue earned from Steam itself far surpasses that of Valve’s own game sales.

With major success comes major copy-cats, and it didn’t take long after Steam started to take off that we began to see clones all over the place. Direct2Drive has had its own share of success, and EA’s Origin is still in its earlier stages. There’s also Desura, a Steam-like service that seems to focus more on indie titles than major ones (and, it’s soon to be cross-platform across the three major OSes).

The latest entry into the fray? GameFly, the Netflix-like company that focuses entirely on mail-based console game rentals. Launching later this year, GameFly’s service should have about 100 games available, including Battlefield 3, Plants and Zombies, Red Faction and Ghost Recon.

The odd thing, to me, is that GameFly purchased Direct2Drive earlier this year, which offers 1,500 different computer games, but its own service will only offer 100 later this year. It would seem sensible to combine the two services since they offer the same exact thing, but it could also be that brand recognition is important enough that both names are preferred to remain.

Nonetheless, it’ll be difficult for any newcomer to take on the likes of Steam, but with GameFly already in possession of Direct2Drive, we could see an interesting future where digital game downloads are concerned.

Update: I managed to overlook the fact that GameFly’s digital client is going to be like its mail service in that games can be rented, not owned. This makes things a whole lot more interesting.