GameStop isn’t the most popular name among gamers (unless you’re very keen on pre-ordering things and signing up for extra services), and it certainly isn’t popular among indie PC developers, as it almost never carries indie games. Last week, GameStop took over Impulse, a PC game download service, and with it, got access to the downloadable scene and a lot of downloadable titles.

Except one: Star Ruler. Developer Blind Mind Studios has removed their indie title Star Ruler from the now GameStop-owned Impulse, in protest over how GameStop treats PC indie developers. The developer issued a statement, saying:

“We are ending sales through Impulse due to GameStop’s long, negative behavior toward the PC platform and independent games. We would never have signed onto distribution through GameStop, and being forced into this situation has only made it worse for us.”

Blind Mind Studios reassured that they’ll continue to deliver updates and patches through Impulse, they just won’t be selling the game through the service any longer.

Steam has become the de facto standard in digital distribution, with Valve and major publishers now supporting it. However, there are quite a few competitors out there right now, and Stardock is one of them with their Impulse service. Company CEO Brad Wardell recently took exception to a Edge editorial proclaiming the “Age of Steam,” writing a defense of competition in the digital distribution market.

Wardell argues that it is too early to name a clear winner: “I must confess that I am surprised to see Edge, or anyone else for that matter, imply that Steam’s early lead in digital distribution translates to permanent dominance.”

He added that Valve’s customers can partly be attributed to “shrewd business practices” such as acquiring Counter-Strike and its user base. Furthermore, he notes the use of Steamworks, which he points would have alarmed gamers if it were employed by EA, Microsoft or even Google.

"Steam does a lot of things right," admitted Wardell. "But there’s certainly room for improvement which viable competition encourages. After all, MySpace once looked unbeatable in the social networking world but such premature assumptions look quaint in ‘the age of Facebook’."