Valve created the digital game stores as we know today, away from the expensive physical copies into the digital distribution. Before that, to release a game,

Valve created the digital game stores as we know today, away from the expensive physical copies into the digital distribution. Before that, to release a game, one would need a publisher, a distribution deal, a ton of money wasted to get the game into the player's hard drives. What Valve did is much much more significant for the gaming industry and sparked a ton of indie developers. That's much more impactful than half life 3 could have ever been.