Garry's Mod for HL2 Shifts To Steam

Third-party Half-Life 2 physics sandbox mod Garry's Mod (GMod) will be sold over Valve's Steam digital distribution system, it has been announced, as part of that company's continuing drive toward digital distribution for both its own titles and mods based on the Source engine, alongside standalone independent games. Version 9.1 of GMod will sell for for $10, with profits being split 50/50 between both the developer and Valve. The current version, 9.04, will remain a free downloadable demo. While some from the mod's fan community have donated money to the project during its development, they too will be required to pay the required fee in order to obtain the latest version over Steam. However, the upside is that the deal ensures regular updates for the popular mod. “I was pretty much done with GMod”, Garry commented to fan site SteamReview. “There was no reason for me to fix all the bugs (which required a whole lot of work). I planned to release a few bug/security fixes and leave it at that. This deal bought GMod back. There was a reason for me to work on it…the community wins that way." A plethora of other companies have also recently announced plans to take advantage of the digital distribution services offered by Steam, including Introversion Software, whose action-strategy title Darwinia, a title that recently won the $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the 2006 Independent Games Festival Awards. Other titles either being sold or to be sold via the network include Rag Doll Kung Fu, Narbacular Drop, They Hunger: Lost Souls, Pirates Of The Burning Sea, and SiN Episodes, showing an intriguing blend of indie PC titles, expansions to popular mods, and episodic efforts from larger developers.