Distribution Channels

In Software Inc., distribution channels are a means of selling your products. They function as stores. By default, the player is given multiple channels.

Distribution!
Well, duh. The player is able to make deals with multiple channels, which impact the sales of your products. This is crucial to making money as, obviously, if you have no means of distribution, your game won't sell.

Player-owned Distribution
The player is able to create their own distribution channel via the distribution channel window. Player-owned distribution can be useful or a waste of time, depending on the company's popularity and other factors.

The player is able to set the cut of their store to bring in a profit from NPC companies.

The player requires a server to create their own store. They can also take their store down at will, but be careful! If you have many contracts with other companies, they won't be pleased when you disrupt their sales. Neither will their customers. This can lead to a huge drop in reputation.

Cut
Each channel has a different cut that they take out of the sales from the software. The player also has the ability to change the cut on their channel. The lower the cut, the less money, the more clients, the more popularity. The higher the cut, the higher the money, the less clients, the less popularity. The trick is finding the balance.

Popularity
Popularity is what causes a channel to thrive. Without popularity, a channel makes no money and dies. Popularity comes from a good reputation (to get clients) and popular software being used on that channel.

Active
This tiny column simply states if you're actively using that channel for distribution. To begin using a channel, simply click on it so it's highlighted white, and then click on the "make deal" button underneath the popularity graph. You can even take yourself off your own store, if you want.

Physical Store
This states if the store is, well, physically or virtually there. Physical stores are typically more popular, but usually have a higher cut, whereas virtual stores are vice versa. There is no way at the current moment for the player to create a physical distribution channel.

Release Cost
Only physical channels have these. Release costs are small amounts of money the player has to pay to cancel a deal with a physical channel.

Contracts
This column states how many companies are using that distribution channel. Obviously, more popular ones will have more contracts.