Steam now tells gamers up front that they're buying a license, not a game(www.engadget.com)
21 pointsby markx214 hours ago5 comments
  • FloNeu10 hours ago
    So can I refund all games I ‚bought‘ under false pretenses? I only have few games and opted out of this garbage ecosystem a while ago. Would be nice to recover some investment
    • txredking6 hours ago
      The new California law only requires that Steam makes it clear you are buying a digital license.

      So per the history of Steam’s terms and agreements users could have been buying digital licenses for a while and Steam just wasn’t upfront about it.

      Also depending the lingo in their T&A, digital licensing could apply to all purchases moving forward, all past purchases, or only specified purchases.

      Either way if you made a purchase without clear acknowledgement that your ownership and it’s characteristics was terminable or could be altered in the future then I could see legitimate cause for refunds due to false pretenses, bait and switch, or something like that.

      Granted Steam also just changed arbitration clauses so they may already be prepping for responses like mass refund requests.

      Anyways, time to get rid of steam, save what games I can, find an alternative.

  • markx214 hours ago
    They need to change the text on your profile - it still says "Games Owned. DLC Owned"
    • mrkramer14 hours ago
      Idk, maybe but it probably means you own license which grants you the right to play the game. Imo it should say "Games Licensed. DLC Licensed."
      • beretguy13 hours ago
        Have fun playing with your license after company shuts down game’s central server.

        I personally don’t care about buying licenses. I’m interested in buying games. I’m not finding licenses particularly fun or useful for… anything, really. I could print them out and wipe a… table with them, but paper towels are better suited for that purpose.

        • e_y_5 hours ago
          That very much depends on the game. Multiplayer games are at the highest risk of becoming unplayable. Most single player game should in theory survive the death of the developer/publisher as long as Steam is around.

          Some single player games require a central server for no particularly good reason, or for some functionality that could be disabled without much loss to the game's playability. I think these are the ones that should be called out, and required to either have an end-of-life plan (a flag ready to go that disables online functionality) or a big warning "whelp this game will stop working eventually buy at your own risk".

        • FloNeu10 hours ago
          All for that - but I am rather sceptical if this is even possible anymore. Sure you can have a disk which - best case scenario - contains a game in a executable state. But I can’t remember playing a game without installing an gb sized day one patch. Do even when buying a physical copy - you probably don’t have the full thing anymore after the (whatever) server goes bye bye.
        • mrkramer12 hours ago
          I'm also against licenses and I'm pro-owning games. I was just saying how Steam and games' publishers interpret it.
          • beretguy9 hours ago
            Got it. Great! Sorry for my asshole reply.
  • beretguy13 hours ago
    So, I’m confused.

    Since Steam is a form of DRM itself does that mean that ALL games on Steam, even the ones that are not “online-only”/“rely on central server” will be marked with “You are buying license only” message?

    • haunter13 hours ago
      >Since Steam is a form of DRM itself

      Not really.

      Steam the launcher itself lets you download the games.

      But Steam DRM is entirely optional, it's up to the publishers to use it or not. There are countless games on Steam that you can download and play without DRM (say copy to other PCs without Steam and play there)

      • beretguy12 hours ago
        I see, hmm… So, pardon me, just want to make things clear.

        I can download game through steam, then copy the entire downloaded directory to external drive, copy that game directory to another computer, “double click game.exe” and play the game?

        Right?

        • ElevenLathe11 hours ago
          Yes, if the game doesn't have its own DRM or use Valve's (this is admittedly mostly older and indie games these days). You can even use it to manage/sync games/applications that aren't distributed on Steam: https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/4B8B-9697-2338-40.... I believe this will actually sync those files to Valve's servers and allow you to install them on other machines with Steam installed. This was a feature to drive adoption in the very early days of Steam when basically all it was good for was downloading Counterstrike patches.
          • beretguy9 hours ago
            Sounds good. Thank you.
        • mrkramer12 hours ago
          Steam was always meant as an easy way to distribute and update games. It was never meant as a licensing machine.
    • m4635 hours ago
      I doubt they would alienate their AAA games with DRM in favor of the fewer games on steam that can be downloaded and actually don't need DRM to run.

      Though as the other kind of steam customer it would be nice to break their catalog into License and Downloadable.

      Meanwhile, I think GOG.com will quietly gain market share.

  • WhereIsTheTruth14 hours ago
    Notice the change in tone when it is Microsoft or Valve vs the competition

    https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/09/sony-ubisoft-sca...

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