Officials from Japanese publisher and developer Capcom have announced that the company has signed an agreement with Valve to release current and future PC titles on the Steam digital distribution service, including the forthcoming
Lost Planet.
The first title due on the service is
Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition later this week, with
Onimusha 3 to follow shortly thereafter,
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition is due on June 26th, and
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix later in the year.
As a result, Capcom becomes the first Japanese publisher to support the service, although since the PC is not a widely used gaming platform in Japan, few other publishers have a significant number of PC titles. Capcom has long been known for producing PC ports of its console hits, although many have been criticized for their quality – with
Lost Planet being the first to be produced in-house.
"With the PC market becoming a larger part of our business, we're naturally focusing our attention on digital distribution," said Capcom executive vice president Mark Beaumont. "Steam is the right place for us to go with our titles. Valve has created a huge installed base of gamers who naturally fit with the profiles of the titles that Capcom develops."
"Capcom is a worldwide leader in development and publishing of action adventure titles," added Valve co-founder and president Gabe Newell. "This initial set of Capcom titles coming to Steam, as well as those coming at a later date, are a perfect fit for the millions of action gaming fans connecting to Steam each week."
