http://eon.businesswire.com/news/eon/20110331006842/en

Looks like Gamestop wants to get more into Digital Distribution. So they're acquiring both Spawn Labs and Impulse.

So will Stardock games start to show up on Steam and other DD sites?

Is this a reputable news source? You know it's already April 1 in some parts of the world.

It was tweeted by Mike Crassweller (AKA Zoomba). He's based in the US at Stardock, so if it's an April Fools joke, it's a little early.

He just confirmed to me that it's not an April Fools joke. The Impulsedriven and Stardock feeds just announced it as well.

This better not mean any changes in my ability to download and install the two games I have bought through Impulse.

Wait for some confirmation, regardless. EON claims to be CA based but I've never heard of them until now. I tend to quit listening to the news around now until sometime April 2nd every year.

If it is true it does make a little sense, Gamestop has always known its model can only last as long as brick and mortar retail dominance, after most stuff goes digital their entire business model collapses.

Impulse has a lot of brand recognition and an infrastructure in place, yet is largely irrelevant. It makes sense for someone like Gamestop, looking to get more into PC digital in a hurry, to buy a platform like that wholesale.

They should rebrand it Gamestop Impulse or something.

Also competition for Steam is a good thing.

http://islanddog.impulsedriven.net/article/407119/Stardock_Community_FAQ_about_Impulse_Acquisition_by_GameStop

It appears to be official. It's unlikely that Sins and Elemental will go to other DD sites because Stardock is keeping their IPs. I wonder what will happen to the development of the Impulse API that would compete with Steam.

http://islanddog.impulsedriven.net/article/407119/Stardock_Community_FAQ_about_Impulse_Acquisition_by_GameStop

OKAY, NINJA'D FOR REAL.

You may not have heard of EON but they're part of Business Wire, who is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, which I'd be surprised if you've never heard of either of those.

That's interesting. I'm guessing Stardock is trying to fix financial trouble due to the relative failure of its two previous games.

If they're refocusing on games, I hope we'll see an increase in quality of their products.
Maybe Impulse will also improve and finally be a viable DD service for the rest of the world.

Or maybe that's too optimistic. ;)

I have, sorry, I meant to append "which doesn't necessarily mean anything for sure" to that comment. I got going too fast and didn't proof my own post.

Doubt it... that's like saying Microsoft is worried that it's PC game division made some failed games. Stardock makes most of its money from non-entertainment applications.

Maybe, except that Bill gates never commented about the games Microsoft made, while Brad Wardell was certainly vocal about Elemental and Demigod.
So I'm guessing it's important to them.

WHAT?

Might be related to their failure of a DRM project (poop, oops, goo), and the failure of their latest game. Sold out, then.

Also IGN is going crazy, by creating a second DD store (IGN PC Store), since they already own D2D. Don't know if there's any reason behind, apart from low sales at D2D.

EDIT: By Goo, I also mean Reactor.

Not too shocked about this I guess. Impulse, just reading their own forums, felt too much like a 'fixerupper' for me to really bother buying anything there except maybe Stardock's own games/software.

Let's hope this brings some improvements