[Edi]

I see a lot of praise for Steam. Personally, I detest that particular model of distribution for one simple reason: If I buy a game, I should be able to run it without needing a massive system resource hog third party application on my machine, which additionally requires registration and all that sort of thing.

There are other distribution channels even online which don't have such onerous handicaps associated with them, the most famous probably being Good Old Games. Sure, they require registration, but you don't need a massive software infrastructure associated with it.

However, as Gandalf said, the publishing discussion won't be happening here.