Triton was a digital delivery and digital rights management service created by Digital Interactive Streams, which abruptly went out of business in early October 2006. Triton was a new competitor in the rapidly growing market for electronic distribution of video games. Triton was being used to serve budget-oriented games from such publishers as

Strategy First Strategy First Inc. is a Canadian video game publisher based in Montreal. Founded in 1988 by Don McFatridge, Steve Wall and Dave Hill, the company filed for bankruptcy in 2004 and was subsequently acquired by Silverstar Holdings in 2005. Initia ...

and Global Star Software, and was most known for distributing ''

Prey Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill ...

''.

History

Triton was launched on November 10, 2004, under the name Game xStream. The service signed several smaller publishers shortly thereafter, and announced its first high-profile deal in May 2005, signing

3D Realms 3D Realms Entertainment ApS is a video game publisher based in Aalborg, Denmark. Scott Miller (entrepreneur), Scott Miller founded the company in his parents' home in Garland, Texas, in 1987 as Apogee Software Productions to release his game ' ...

and its then in-development FPS ''

''. Game xStream was renamed to its current title of Triton on May 8, 2006. In early October, 2006, owners of Prey who had purchased it via Triton began to complain about problems purchasing the game, activating it, and reaching customer service. 3D Realms' webmaster Joe Siegler managed to find out that Triton and Digital Interactive Streams had gone out of business suddenly and apparently without warning. A follow-up from Royal O'Brien of Triton said that Prey owners who use Triton won't lose their game. A patch was in development to remove the dependency from the live system and allow you to back up/copy and play your games. However, customers who purchased the game through Triton will receive a retail copy. ''Prey'' was released on

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fitting ...

's Steam service, which allows any existing Prey owners to register their game through Steam by entering the activation code, including those who bought Prey through Triton.Steam Message
/ref> The game is, however, no longer available for purchase through Steam.

Technology

Although similar to competing services, the primary selling point of Triton was its "dynamic streaming" technology, which allows for games to be played before they have been completely downloaded - new content is sent to the client as it is needed. All games on the service required the user to be online to be able to play purchased games.

References

{{reflist Digital rights management Computer-related introductions in 2004 Products and services discontinued in 2006