Points for creativity go to Full Tilt Poker. In an effort to expand its player base, Full Tilt is attempting to get its play-money game client, FullTilt.net, listed on the Steam entertainment platform. The poker software is currently in the voting process on Steam Greenlight.
Steam is a software distribution platform developed by the Valve Corporation, the software house that brought gamers such titles as the Half Life series, the Left 4 Dead series, and the long-running comedic first-person shooter, Team Fortress 2. As the days of off-the-shelf purchases gave way to software downloads, Steam arose to give gamers a one-stop-shop for all of their games. Part app store, part personal games library, the steam client allows players to browse, purchase, and download games. One of the big benefits to Steam, though, is that all of a user’s game purchases are stored in the cloud and can be downloaded onto any computer at any time, as long as the person installing the game has the proper account login credentials. Users must also be logged into their Steam account to play games after installation, but this serves to prevent piracy, as copies of games can’t simply be shared with friends (games can actually be shared now, but the game’s owner must authorize access and while it is being played by one person, it cannot be played by another).
As a user of Steam for years, it has become the platform via which I play the vast majority of my games. It does get annoying sometimes that I absolutely have to be logged in with an internet connection, but at the same time, being able to keep games in the cloud is great and many games keep saved progress in the cloud, too, so if I delete the game and re-install it later, I can pick up where I left off. Steam also has several massive sales a year during which many great games can be bought for next to nothing.
As for Full Tilt, it is currently in the Steam Greenlight section; it is not available to play just yet. Steam Greenlight is a system in which game developers submit their creations for review and users, in turn, vote on whether or not they want the game to be made available on the Steam platform. Get enough interest relative to the competition, and Steam puts the game up for download.
Steam has millions of subscribers; the goal for Full Tilt is clearly to farm this potentially fertile ground for new players, albeit players who would be playing for free. Of course, once they starting playing for fake money, there is always the chance they would decide to dive into real money competition if they live in a jurisdiction where that is permitted. It is an interesting move for Full Tilt and one with no real downside. If it doesn’t get up-voted enough on Greenlight to make it onto Steam, Amaya Gaming, the owner of Full Tilt, is only out the $100 application fee and any time spent promoting the product (which likely isn’t much). If it is accepted and doesn’t garner many downloads or active players, that is still more than the zero it would have had without Steam.