Why Not Digitial Distribution?

[Cheezeninja]

I can understand some hostility on the part of Shrapnel, half the people in this thread are talking about using steam, a completely different distributor. While it would almost certainly sell more copies on steam due to the added exposure, it's pretty darned likely that Shrapnel already has Dominions 3 locked up on the distribution front with binding legal documents and whatnot. Not that I blame them, they've got a business to run and Dominions has a pretty good following for an Indy title.

I've also got a gut feeling that tells me they don't want to go to digital distribution because either they have a large stockpile of printed CD's/Manuals in backstock that are far less likely to get sold that way, or they have their own printing setup which lets them in on an extra sliver of profit through publishing costs. Either way, I think it's obvious that if they felt they could make more money through Digital Distribution right now, that's the route they would go.

On the other hand, the digital distribution topic is going to keep cropping up because, lets face it, Dominions 3 costs a pretty penny for an indy game, and digital distribution is cheaper. Especially since the most commonly given reason for it's high price tag (highest on shrapnel?) is printing costs for the manual.

Personally, I feel far more money could be made by dropping the price tag and selling that many more copies of the game. Especially if you could get some exposure on some gaming websites like Penny-Arcade or TheEscapist or something. But Shrapnel games knows everything I know, and they're the ones successfully running a business so meh, maybe I'm missing something.