I have been an avid steam user for years, and as a PC gamer and enthusiast, this has been the One and only application that I have been 100% loyal to like all in… But they updated the terms of use and apparently now, stating that buying is not owning, you just have a license that can be revoked whenever the publisher decides to.
** Several things I have purchased on there have been taken away, and I am considering not using it at all anymore**. First and most egregious thing that has been taken away from me are DLC. I played Destiny 2 for a really long while and after purchasing several DLC, came back to the game to find that stuff that I had planned on finishing later was completely removed from the game but I wasn’t given a refund. I reached out to support and was told that they can totally do this. They can just steal from you, you buy something, they just take it away and remove it from the game entirely, and no refund. So live service on Steam is a hell no for me. There have been numerous other games though that have been taken away as well, one example being Total War battles colon kingdoms, and Tom Clancy’s Ghost recon phantoms.
Just makes me wonder, what’s the point of even using Steam anymore if they can just take whatever you purchase away from you and no refund at all? It’s basically theft. Like, imagine You purchase a PlayStation 5 game and they send the police into your home to retrieve it to make sure that you no longer have it anymore simply because they stop selling it. Absolutely insane how anyone can support this business model
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Buying isn’t owning from literally any game company. When you buy digital you own a license to play that game. The license can be revoked at any time.
When you buy a physical game you still only buy a license to play that game, and the license can be revoked at any time. The only difference here is you own the physical disk that media is on, and it’s harder (not impossible) for the owner of that media (the one who sells the license) to revoke the license to that media.
I appreciate that people are pissed about this but it was a thing before digital media took off and the only difference between a steam game and a game from Epic is the inclusion (on Epic) of an offline installer store that allows you to install the game without connecting to the internet.
It’s the same license.
I’m also going to add the PlayStation, Xbox, and even Nintendo have removed titles from people’s libraries when their agreement to license the media to the users lapsed or were removed. So it’s not just Valve.
You always bought a license you always buy licenses for digital product’s, even GOG is technically a licens, shure you get a offline installer, but the game in your library is a license.
A game without Servers is also not doing much nowadays, shire you can install it but most games need a Server connection.
even GOG is technically a licens, shure you get a offline installer
IMO, that’s a major difference. Like, a crucial and critical difference.
If a game is yanked from steam, it’s gone. I paid for a license and ended up with absolutely zero.
If it’s removed from GOG, and I have the installer, then I have the installer. I still have what I paid for, and not a big bucket of fuck you.
Steam isn’t giving you a bucket of fuck you, even games that are no longer available in the store can be downloaded from the library or did I miss something? And again, what will you do with a game that you bought and installed but the server is gone so you can’t start it?
Also, GOG has a lot of games, however many are unavailable on GOG.
You always bought a license and the storefronts aren’t the ones in charge, they are just retailers and both Steam and GOG don’t want to take their customers things away.
This has always been the case when “buying” things on Steam. Almost every digital good you buy is like that
Only thing that changed is legislation is finally catching up and these companies won’t be allowed to use the word purchase/buy anymore in the near future
It’s always been the case when buying games period.
Your anger is entirely justified, and I share it. This whole licensing issue is a massive problem and shows how little publishers care about their customers. That said, this has always been the case, they’ve just covered their legal bases by updating their TOS.
But to answer your question, there’s no reason to keep using steam, other than it’s one of the easiest ways to legally game. It’s totally your preference if you want to keep supporting their business. There are lots of ways to illegally game, or pay way more for some DRM-free games that you can actually own, but then you’ll be extremely limited in your selection. I’ve invested so much time and money in my steam library, that I’m basically locked in (they count on this, of course). Sure I own a bunch of games on GOG, but they represent a tiny fraction of my overall library.
This is a totally unsatisfying answer, but your only actual recourse, if you want to keep using steam, is to reach out to them and express your displeasure at their updated TOS and its implications. But it’s an industry-wide problem, so I think we’re out of luck until Congress gets involved and changes how digital ownership works.
This is a totally unsatisfying answer, but your only actual recourse, if you want to keep using steam, is to reach out to them and express your displeasure at their updated TOS and its implications.
Valve’s TOS hasn’t actually changed. The new law just requires them to more clearly disclose that a license is not ownership, but that was always the case.
That said, this has always been the case, they’ve just covered their legal bases by updating their TOS.
Can you be a little more specific with your definition of this and always? I am old enough to remember that when you purchased a physical copy of a game, you got the game in it’s entirety in perpetuity. Eg: I still have my Donkey Kong cartridge for my Atari 800. To be a little more current, I have a copy of Kerbal Space Program from the company that I can download the entire copy of the game and install it on my pc. So what do you mean by your comment, as I remember a time when it wasn’t the case that you were only purchasing a license? Or do you mean that it’s always been the case with these services?
I was just had by rockstar when they cut off certain people who paid to play GTA Online and are now blocked. I will be voting with my wallet and never purchasing another rockstar game in the future, and in case they ever happened to see this, I was considering picking up the rdr games not only on pc, but my xbox and maybe even the switch. It has soured me to the point where this steam issue more of a concern and something I will be keeping an eye on.
Also, one last comment about your last line. We don’t need congress to get involved if we as a collective of gamers just gathered together and stopped “licensing” their games. Just like if everyone, instead of complaining about the price of beer and hotdogs at stadiums, would just stop buying them for a while, the people raping our wallets would be forced to bring prices down. But alas, I think the chances of that happening are next to zero.
old enough to remember that when you purchased a physical copy of a game, you got the game in it’s entirety in perpetuity
There’s a lot of conflation about the method of delivery vs what you actually bought.
You’ve always been buying a license to use the software in perpetuity, and because there was no other option, you got the software that was licensed delivered to you on physical media.
The only thing that’s changed is we’ve stopped doing physical media and now do digital distribution which isn’t a thing you can put on a bookshelf.
And then we layered DRM on top of it, and so you are in a position where they actually can revoke your license, and yank the software out from under you, which is another lovely new “improvement” that didn’t exist prior.
Highly, highly recommend using GOG. Buying is owning. There is no DRM and they even provide offline installers for the games you buy.
But they updated the terms of use and apparently now, stating that buying is not owning
This has always been the case for Steam and every other service that isn’t GOG.
You do not own the games you buy on gog either, they just let you download it drm-free, which lets you keep it even if they revoke your liscence
Destiny is a little different because the vaulting was done by Bungie, not by steam.
So if you’re talking about Mercury, Mars, etc, that was removed from the game ENTIRELY. It’s not a Steam thing.
I know enough people have already said it, but the whole “you’re licensing not buying” has been a thing for as long as I’ve used Steam.
The answer to your question though, for me anyhow, is convenience. It is very easy to buy games on Steam, there are frequently sales where you can get games for lower prices. It’s super easy to play your games with a friend using Steam’s in-game overlay, and it also gives a unified platform where you can show off achievements, clips from your gameplay, screenshots, share guides about games, browse forums about your games, etc.
On top of that, Steam has become a trusted name for many people, myself included. While they can take your games, legally speaking, they don’t- and they’re very often pro-consumer in a way that many other companies aren’t. (To address your Destiny example, Destiny is the one that decided to sunset half their fuckin’ games it was one of many reasons I stopped playing. Didn’t matter where you bought it from, you gotta connect to Destiny’s servers to play at the end of the day.)
On the contrary, they’ve done many things that are helpful to gamers- and yes they also help Valve/Steam, but comparing to others in their field, it’s worth noting imo. Steam pushed VR adoption ahead significantly with their Index headset. They’ve done phenomonal work in making gaming on Linux viable without extra work from game devs, which is especially great with how Windows keeps getting worse and worse. Up until recently, if you had a legal dispute with them, while it WAS subject to arbitrition, they would pay all legal costs, whether you win or lose. (that has since changed after a law firm took advantage of that to try to pin Valve with hundreds of individual claims in order to get a payout, but I digress).
I’ve got my issues with them- being a TF2 player, I’m still sore over their treatment of the TF2 bot crisis and their overall neglect for their older titles. They need to get their shit together for moderation purposes, the amount of bot accounts and scams are downright shameful, especially with how obvious it is once you know the patterns. But overall, when compared to their competitors such as Epic (for game distribution) or Ubisoft, Activision, etc (for game development), they’re one of the better companies imo.
This is why above all I prefer roms and emulators. I have already paid my dues years ago on the consoles. I have steam and the deck to support Linux as the rest are anti consumer and dont give a shit about linux.
The problem is worse with consoles as they can have short life-cycles and the discs are tied to the hardware or console specific online service eg eshop.
Sounds like your problem is with live service games, not Steam.
Not live service the whole buy now*
By purchasing this you down own it, you are purchasing a license.
Aside from live service games that are dependent on the devs’ servers, and anything that uses more intrusive DRM (note that while Steamworks DRM is a thing, quite a lot of games don’t use it anymore and ones that do are very easily cracked), they can’t actually take the bits off my computer.
DRM-free games are still considered a license too, at least as far as the law is concerned. Even physical games are. But I’m not worried about anything that can’t be enforced.
