Smaller sites have a huge barrier to entry for consumers though. For a large percentage of gamers, myself included, if it's not on Steam, it might as well not exist. I'm far more hesitant to download/purchase from other services.
The nice thing about steam is that:
1: They're established, I don't have to worry about my CC security
2: I can re-download forever* on any computer. It is impossible to overstate how big of a deal this is.
3: Nothing to remember. No serials/keys to keep track of. No installers to back-up. IT JUST WORKS.
1. itch.io uses PayPal. Assuming you trust them, there is nothing to worry about.
2. itch.io provides the same mechanism. You are paying for the game, not the single download.
3. As long as you can re-download the game, then there is no reason to save the installer. Serials/keys are up to the discretion of the game developer and I don't see why giving the game developers control is a bad thing. I think most indie games are against DRM anyway.
4. In order to support auto-updates, the game developer has to invest in the Steam APIs. There is nothing stopping games on itch.io to using out-of-band updates.
The developer doesn't need to do anything to enable steam updates. Steam just does a binary diff vs the master copy.
For 2 & 3, that's great, but to be honest there is a huge burden of proof - frankly, I don't really expect any random startup that doesn't even have a .com domain to be around in 5 years.
I think you're right, there is a barrier for most consumers who love Steam. But for another percentage of gamers, like me, there's zero barrier to entry.
1: I like not having to launch Steam to play my games.
2: I know there are good games that exist that aren't on Steam and am more than willing to go through a CC form or PayPal.
3: I'm slowly getting irrated with games with DRM, online-only, DLC.
I think itch.io is a win for these niches of indie game developers and consumers who buy indie games.
I am far more likely to buy something on steam. However, you sometimes find motivated customers. I some how ended up watching a really long let's play of UnrealWorld at which point I really wanted to buy the game even though the registration process is a horrible the developer still got my money.
The nice thing about steam is that:
1: They're established, I don't have to worry about my CC security
2: I can re-download forever* on any computer. It is impossible to overstate how big of a deal this is.
3: Nothing to remember. No serials/keys to keep track of. No installers to back-up. IT JUST WORKS.
4: Auto-updates