When Battlefront and Slitherine announced that they were bringing Combat Mission: Shock Force 2 to Steam, Editor Joe was surprised - "The pigs have flown," as he put it in the headline. Since the implosion of brick and mortar retailing for PC games, Battlefront has been content to offer the consumer versions of its Combat Mission simulations through its own website, ignoring storefronts like Steam that have generally insisted on a sizeable cut of the profits in exchange for placement on digital shelves.
And why not? Battlefront has also had the professional military training side of its business to see to, after all.
But thanks to a deal brokered by publisher Slitherine, Combat Mission is going to be on the radar for a whole new audience of gamers. We had the chance to talk with Battlefront co-founder Stephen Grammot, who also is one of the co-designers of Combat Mission, about how this new arrangement came to be, and the particular challenges of making high fidelity simulations for both consumer and military player bases.
RELATED LINKS:
If nothing else, Combat Mission Shock Force 2's move to Steam will make the game easier to patch
The pigs have flown: Combat Mission: Shock Force 2 is coming to Steam this month
Opinion: The CM:SF2 Demo Is a Good Sign of Things to Come