So if we ignore the dislike for Steam here for a moment, what about this free package? Would it be a useful tool for indy games? What do you actually get and what do you actually give? What are the catches?

What I'm particularly interested in is WHY it is free. I doubt they would pay for all the bandwidth increase... Maybe you have to set up your own servers to be linked (or not) into the Steam network? So far the site isn't particularly filled up with details yet, only basic descriptions of the supplied services are given.

What is interesting is that it could mean that indy game developers could just "self-publish" easily and effectively instead of trying to find a publisher. Since it's "free" it seems more cost-effective too.