The End of Steam: Imagining the Future of How We Buy Games

DarkStar_WNY said:
You might make that choice, but I think most people will choose the convenience of having all of their titles in one place, and let's be honest, as much as I like GOG, you can't beat the convenience of the Steam app.

Additionally one "complain" about Steam, that I have literally been hearing since it was first released was "When Valve closes everyone will be screwed" and while it's become a joke, which platform is more likely to fold, be purchased or just close it's doors the soonest, GOG or Steam?
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Trading user control for convenience has gotten us into an endless amount of problems with companies. We really don't want one software monopoly to rule them all. Sure, things may be fine NOW, but say it's 20 years later, Gabe Newell has retired, the company decided to go public, shareholders are demanding more quarterly profits, so more shortsighted decisions start being made. Say they decide to take a page from the consoles and start charging for online multiplayer functionality, next they get rid of Steam offline mode since they prefer you be connected at all times for data collection, then they decide to get rid of steam sales altogether, then they offered metered account packages of how much you can download through them a month to save on server costs, etc. You can't trust companies, it's that simple. Valve enjoys less cash-grabby tactics than the vast majority of the industry because it's privately owned, but that could easily change in the future.

I don't know why you consider "if online service closes, people will be screwed" a joke, I consider it a liability. Any company where a point of failure means I can never play the game again I think is a potential problem. You're sitting here saying which is more likely to close, GOG or Steam, but I think you're missing the point. With GOG, it DOESN'T MATTER if they close or not. I still own the game, can back it up and will be able to run it forever, essentially.
 
ole-m said:
Can I use windows store on a MAC? No.
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Can you use the App Store on anything but Apple devices? No.

ole-m said:
Can I use Windows store on a Linux Machine? No.

Can I use it on Windows: yes.

Given the fact that my time in Windows is about 2% and linux 95% currently I don't see the reason to move to a platform specific product.
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You can use Steam on Macs and Linux devices but about 75% of the content on Steam is still Windows only. So a multiplatform store has nothing to do with the content being multiplatform.
 
tetris42 said:
Trading user control for convenience has gotten us into an endless amount of problems with companies. We really don't want one software monopoly to rule them all. Sure, things may be fine NOW, but say it's 20 years later, Gabe Newell has retired, the company decided to go public, shareholders are demanding more quarterly profits, so more shortsighted decisions start being made. Say they decide to take a page from the consoles and start charging for online multiplayer functionality, next they get rid of Steam offline mode since they prefer you be connected at all times for data collection, then they decide to get rid of steam sales altogether, then they offered metered account packages of how much you can download through them a month to save on server costs, etc. You can't trust companies, it's that simple. Valve enjoys less cash-grabby tactics than the vast majority of the industry because it's privately owned, but that could easily change in the future.

I don't know why you consider "if online service closes, people will be screwed" a joke, I consider it a liability. Any company where a point of failure means I can never play the game again I think is a potential problem. You're sitting here saying which is more likely to close, GOG or Steam, but I think you're missing the point. With GOG, it DOESN'T MATTER if they close or not. I still own the game, can back it up and will be able to run it forever, essentially.
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I don't consider it a joke, I'm just saying you are no safer with GOG then you are Steam, and in fact GOG is more likely to close than Steam.

Yes you can play the game forever, but there are also ways to do that with Steam games, so that's basically a wash so it's just a question of continued access to get the files, and as I said, Steam is less likely to collapse than GOG (don't get me wrong, I love GOG, but they are more susceptible to crash or be sold than Steam just due to their size and limited scope.)

So basically your asking what happens if Steam gets rid of everything that makes Steam what it is and the reason people use it? Well I would buy my games on a different platform, just as I would if GOG did the same things. While spreading your titles among multiple services such as Steam, EA, GOG does reduce the number of titles lost if the company "goes under" it also increases the likelihood that you will loose some of your games to a service going under.

I'm not anti, Steam, EA, GOG or anyone else, I'm just stating the reality of it.

Yes some day Steam will end, but if we all listened to he naysayers we would have all lost the benefit of the platform for the last 14 year. Will it be different in 20 years? Most definitely, as will every other company and gaming as a whole, but refusing to do business now because of what might happen in 20 years is sort of silly (I would hate to loose my 200+ titles on Steam in 20 years, but honestly, most are already useless to me so the loss would be more sentimental value than anything else.)
 
DarkStar_WNY said:
Yes some day Steam will end, but if we all listened to he naysayers we would have all lost the benefit of the platform for the last 14 year. Will it be different in 20 years? Most definitely, as will every other company and gaming as a whole, but refusing to do business now because of what might happen in 20 years is sort of silly (I would hate to loose my 200+ titles on Steam in 20 years, but honestly, most are already useless to me so the loss would be more sentimental value than anything else.)
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Steam will be Steam at least until Gabe and the founding crew are gone. - When the visionaries leave is when a company begins to be run by committee and begins focusing on next quarters profits. This is when it is vulnerable to takeover/buyout and short-sighted decisions that can ultimately cause ill tidings for the company.
 
DarkStar_WNY said:
I don't consider it a joke, I'm just saying you are no safer with GOG then you are Steam, and in fact GOG is more likely to close than Steam.

Yes you can play the game forever, but there are also ways to do that with Steam games, so that's basically a wash so it's just a question of continued access to get the files, and as I said, Steam is less likely to collapse than GOG (don't get me wrong, I love GOG, but they are more susceptible to crash or be sold than Steam just due to their size and limited scope.)

So basically your asking what happens if Steam gets rid of everything that makes Steam what it is and the reason people use it? Well I would buy my games on a different platform, just as I would if GOG did the same things. While spreading your titles among multiple services such as Steam, EA, GOG does reduce the number of titles lost if the company "goes under" it also increases the likelihood that you will loose some of your games to a service going under.

I'm not anti, Steam, EA, GOG or anyone else, I'm just stating the reality of it.

Yes some day Steam will end, but if we all listened to he naysayers we would have all lost the benefit of the platform for the last 14 year. Will it be different in 20 years? Most definitely, as will every other company and gaming as a whole, but refusing to do business now because of what might happen in 20 years is sort of silly (I would hate to loose my 200+ titles on Steam in 20 years, but honestly, most are already useless to me so the loss would be more sentimental value than anything else.)
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Some games you can run with the Steam files, plenty you can't. It's more of a complete crapshoot involving hunting down cracks for specific versions, you really can't equivocate the two. It it ABSOLUTELY a safer purchase buying through GOG, because not only do you get to keep the game forever, but they'll refund it to you if you can't get it working. The point is you don't lose ANY games on GOG if you download them and back them up. Your account could be hacked and it wouldn't matter. You BUY the game, it does not get any safer than GOG. The same simply cannot be said for Steam. With Steam, if it actually went down AND you had the downloaded the game files, it would be all over the place as to what games you could get running or not. You would definitely lose some games.

Now you say sentimental value, for me, I can take a while before I get around to playing games (still need to play Planescape Torment). I like to know if I'm buying a game, I own the copy and it will run. Steam's history is "mostly good so far, but no future assurances." With GOG, I have assurances. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying GOG can do no wrong, anything can change. The point is, I'm covered even if they DO change.
 
tetris42 said:
Some games you can run with the Steam files, plenty you can't. It's more of a complete crapshoot involving hunting down cracks for specific versions, you really can't equivocate the two. It it ABSOLUTELY a safer purchase buying through GOG, because not only do you get to keep the game forever, but they'll refund it to you if you can't get it working. The point is you don't lose ANY games on GOG if you download them and back them up. Your account could be hacked and it wouldn't matter. You BUY the game, it does not get any safer than GOG. The same simply cannot be said for Steam. With Steam, if it actually went down AND you had the downloaded the game files, it would be all over the place as to what games you could get running or not. You would definitely lose some games.

Now you say sentimental value, for me, I can take a while before I get around to playing games (still need to play Planescape Torment). I like to know if I'm buying a game, I own the copy and it will run. Steam's history is "mostly good so far, but no future assurances." With GOG, I have assurances. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying GOG can do no wrong, anything can change. The point is, I'm covered even if they DO change.
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I think this is pretty reasonable. I use GoG and buy from there from time to time but it's mostly older stuff and no VR. We could go with a million different what if scenarios about Steam folding or changing but I'm not really sure what Steam would be worth if billions of dollars of purchases across countless millions of customers stopped working.
 
DarkStar_WNY said:
Yes some day Steam will end, but if we all listened to he naysayers we would have all lost the benefit of the platform for the last 14 year. Will it be different in 20 years? Most definitely, as will every other company and gaming as a whole, but refusing to do business now because of what might happen in 20 years is sort of silly (I would hate to loose my 200+ titles on Steam in 20 years, but honestly, most are already useless to me so the loss would be more sentimental value than anything else.)
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Gabe did say long ago that they would remove all DRM from the games if they did shut down but I doubt that would be true in reality.

How do you make Steam games work without needing the Steam client? I can only do that with some of the older games. With gog games I have physical backups that need no client.
 
tetris42 said:
Some games you can run with the Steam files, plenty you can't. It's more of a complete crapshoot involving hunting down cracks for specific versions, you really can't equivocate the two. It it ABSOLUTELY a safer purchase buying through GOG, because not only do you get to keep the game forever, but they'll refund it to you if you can't get it working. The point is you don't lose ANY games on GOG if you download them and back them up. Your account could be hacked and it wouldn't matter. You BUY the game, it does not get any safer than GOG. The same simply cannot be said for Steam. With Steam, if it actually went down AND you had the downloaded the game files, it would be all over the place as to what games you could get running or not. You would definitely lose some games.

Now you say sentimental value, for me, I can take a while before I get around to playing games (still need to play Planescape Torment). I like to know if I'm buying a game, I own the copy and it will run. Steam's history is "mostly good so far, but no future assurances." With GOG, I have assurances. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying GOG can do no wrong, anything can change. The point is, I'm covered even if they DO change.
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rezerekted said:
Gabe did say long ago that they would remove all DRM from the games if they did shut down but I doubt that would be true in reality.

How do you make Steam games work without needing the Steam client? I can only do that with some of the older games. With gog games I have physical backups that need no client.
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Yes, many can be made to work via various hacks, if need be. And yes with GOG you have physical backups, but as game after game comes out as 40, 50 and even 60+ GB files, how many games you do you actually have a physical backup of?

According to my Steam profile I have hundreds of games, yes many are old and small, but enough of them are new enough that I would need large arrays of HDDs, or stacks of DVDs to have them all downloaded at once. Which is my point, with digital distribution very few people make physical copies of games, so DRM or no, once they aren't available for download they will be gone for those users no matter which platform they were purchased on.
 
rezerekted said:
Gabe did say long ago that they would remove all DRM from the games if they did shut down but I doubt that would be true in reality.
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I've only heard this as a rumor. Does anyone have an actual source on that? And again, that doesn't apply if he retires.

DarkStar_WNY said:
Yes, many can be made to work via various hacks, if need be. And yes with GOG you have physical backups, but as game after game comes out as 40, 50 and even 60+ GB files, how many games you do you actually have a physical backup of?

According to my Steam profile I have hundreds of games, yes many are old and small, but enough of them are new enough that I would need large arrays of HDDs, or stacks of DVDs to have them all downloaded at once. Which is my point, with digital distribution very few people make physical copies of games, so DRM or no, once they aren't available for download they will be gone for those users no matter which platform they were purchased on.
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I actually keep physical backups of everything I can that I deem worth saving, and I do have external drives for that. I agree though, I'm the outlier. My point is I want the OPTION of being able to do that. Besides, if a game goes down, people can still play the game through copies from people like me. If NO ONE can back it up, then the game is completely dead.
 
AAMEDEN said:
I guess I am even more of a dinosaur than I thought. I still prefer media. Even shuffling through a stack of disks beats the 12+ hour download for Skyrim and the 24 hour download for Fallout 4. And hope it loads right the first time, (F4 didn't) so
you don't have to deal with support and a second 24 hour D/L.
AAMEDEN
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I'm in an entirely different situation, the time it takes me to dl and install a game is less than going out to the store, buying it, driving back, and installing it. These changes we are seeing are really hurting gamers with limited pipes. I remember it taking 9 hours or so to download the 109mb demo of half-life over 56k modem. 4KB/sec was positively screaming. ;)
 
tetris42 said:
I've only heard this as a rumor. Does anyone have an actual source on that? And again, that doesn't apply if he retires.
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And it only applies if they actually own the IP, or get permission from the rights holders.

Part of the reason Steam gets a lot more games than GOG, is because it has DRM, and many game studios still demand DRM.

Valve can't simply remove DRM from games, that game companies want DRM on.

So Steam shutting down would create a massive mess, but it is VERY unlikely.
 
Snowdog said:
And it only applies if they actually own the IP, or get permission from the rights holders.

Part of the reason Steam gets a lot more games than GOG, is because it has DRM, and many game studios still demand DRM.

Valve can't simply remove DRM from games, that game companies want DRM on.

So Steam shutting down would create a massive mess, but it is VERY unlikely.
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Why is that? If Valve runs the DRM couldn't they just make it useless?
 
nomu said:
Why is that? If Valve runs the DRM couldn't they just make it useless?
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Do you really have no idea how the world works?

Do you think Valve could unilaterally decide tomorrow to remove all the DRM from every game?

IP right holders get to decide this, Not Valve.
 
DeathFromBelow said:
How? This is the Facebook audience we're talking about. Unless they're making a VR Jerry Springer MMO I don't really see how they're going to make money off that crowd.
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If that's true, then gaming is dead, because almost everyone uses facebook (roughly 75% of the U.S. pop over 13)

U.S. FB Users as of January 2017 by age
13-17 5.9
18-24 38.25
25-34 52.82
35-44 38.42
45-54 32.34
55-64 14.06
65+ 20.02
 
I used to back up my Steam folder but it is now 850+GB and that doesn't even include all games I own on Steam, sorry, rent.
 
My main kicker with GoG is that it's absolute PITA to keep all of your games updated in installer form, you have to manually check every game for the latest updates. Galaxy currently only auto updates for your installed games.

I'd love a version of galaxy where it keeps your games in installer form updated, but that is unlikely given there is barely any need for it.

I'd still recommend that owners of their GoG games that they keep a copy of every game they have downloaded, because GoG DRM-Free game exist only for as long as its service exist, if you didn't download before its servers go bye bye, it's still a bust.
 
Snowdog said:
And it only applies if they actually own the IP, or get permission from the rights holders.

Part of the reason Steam gets a lot more games than GOG, is because it has DRM, and many game studios still demand DRM.

Valve can't simply remove DRM from games, that game companies want DRM on.

So Steam shutting down would create a massive mess, but it is VERY unlikely.
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When Gabe said this I didn't take it to mean he would remove all types of DRM from the games, instead I assumed it would be a single "patch" that basically allowed your Steam client to launch all games without an online connection to Steam as is now required.

The removal would be the online component on Steam, which would make sense, I mean if Steam were going to close up shop would anyone really expect them to patch thousands of games, most of which they don't even own nor have the source code for, to remove DRM from them? That's unrealistic and could never happen, patching Steam to allow titles to run without an online component, on the other hand, could possibly be done fairly easily, at least by Valve
 
You can't blame Gabe for greed. Look at him? Jelly donuts are not cheap. Neither is cheesecake.
 
Snowdog said:
Do you really have no idea how the world works?

Do you think Valve could unilaterally decide tomorrow to remove all the DRM from every game?

IP right holders get to decide this, Not Valve.
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If Valve is the one providing the DRM, why couldn't they just stop checking it? Surely they haven't committed to providing that service until the end of time. Someday Valve will no longer exist.
 
Valve isn't the one providing DRM for many games. That's why Steam highlights "This game uses 3rd party DRM" front and center on the store game for applicable games.
 
Better idea, buy a game on DVD/BR or download from a place like GOG without DRM!

If you have fast internet without a cap then download a 60 gig game otherwise physically buy it to install and keep.
 
ep0x73 said:
Better idea, buy a game on DVD/BR or download from a place like GOG without DRM!

If you have fast internet without a cap then download a 60 gig game otherwise physically buy it to install and keep.
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GoG currently has its short comings, but a crucial one is the total lack of a true catalyst.

GoG currently sell games that are old, (DA:O, etc) or ones developed by indie studios (Grim Dawn), and it's great for DOS games, but they lack a true catalyst that would actually convince AAA publishers that DRM-Free games sell better than DRM'ed games. The AAA's adoptions in turn, would be the catalyst for your average joe to hop onto the GoG ecosystem.

Witcher series doesn't really convince them because GoG and Witcher is made by the same people. Once a couple of AAA publishers start selling their games on GoG on release, GoG will then truly be a contender against Steam. It's slowly getting there, sure, but a good catalyst would speed that process immensely.

Personally however, I usually prefer Steam due to the way that Steam automatically keeps my game library in a neato list, GoG galaxy currently only lists games that I have installed. Also, I'd much prefer it if there is an "installer" mode, where it downloads the individual game installers, and keeps them updated automatically. That way I will always have most up to date copy of every game I own on it ready to be taken onto another one of my PCs and start playing, and I always have the latest version of every game.

I would prefer physical copies if it wasn't for the fact that my home country often sell translated games, which I don't want (I prefer them in English), and a few of them STILL require you to have the DVD in your drive to play, which is something I am not fond of. I usually prefer to either use virtual CDs or copies to take the wear and tear of using CDs, I prefer to keep the original intact. I lost too many CDs and DVDs that way.
 
chenw said:
GoG currently has its short comings, but a crucial one is the total lack of a true catalyst.

GoG currently sell games that are old, (DA:O, etc) or ones developed by indie studios (Grim Dawn), and it's great for DOS games, but they lack a true catalyst that would actually convince AAA publishers that DRM-Free games sell better than DRM'ed games. The AAA's adoptions in turn, would be the catalyst for your average joe to hop onto the GoG ecosystem.

Witcher series doesn't really convince them because GoG and Witcher is made by the same people. Once a couple of AAA publishers start selling their games on GoG on release, GoG will then truly be a contender against Steam. It's slowly getting there, sure, but a good catalyst would speed that process immensely..
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GOG sells any games that publishers allow. So lack of availability is on the publishers.

As far as Witcher not counting to the average Joe because it's the same company. That is bullshit because the average Joe wouldn't know that anyway.

What CDPR should have done is have a short early release exclusive window on GOG for new CDPR games on GOG, to get more people familiar with GOG.

GOG can really only just keep going as a slow burn. They are doing the right thing, we just need to keep supporting them with a GOG first attitude (GOG only for me) if freedom from DRM is something we value.
 
The "catalyst" I am talking about isn't consumer awareness, it will come in due time, AAA publishers will be the main consumer attraction points.

My issue with GoG is that we need a non CDPR AAA game in order to convince the publishers that DRM-Free model is a viable model, once that gets underway, AAA themselves will advertise the fact that it's on GoG, and the snowball will start to fall them.

As much as I like consumers themselves being the catalyst, we are in an age where only the newest games grab interest (and the interest quickly wanes, there are already a few people here who are only interested in playing games that work their hardware), and I am pretty certain that we are seeing more and more of the playerbase who were not even born when some of the GoG games were first published (anyone born in 1990's are now adults), so the current appeal of GoG is mainly towards the older crowds, we need something to draw the younger crowd in too.

Right now, I prefer buying on Steam than GoG when both are the same, due to the automatic updates were much more automated. Plus, except for AAA titles, games that are sold on GoG and steam costs less for me on steam (consistently 30% cheaper), so there is that.
 
chenw said:
The "catalyst" I am talking about isn't consumer awareness, it will come in due time, AAA publishers will be the main consumer attraction points.

My issue with GoG is that we need a non CDPR AAA game in order to convince the publishers that DRM-Free model is a viable model, once that gets underway, AAA themselves will advertise the fact that it's on GoG, and the snowball will start to fall them.

As much as I like consumers themselves being the catalyst, we are in an age where only the newest games grab interest (and the interest quickly wanes, there are already a few people here who are only interested in playing games that work their hardware), and I am pretty certain that we are seeing more and more of the playerbase who were not even born when some of the GoG games were first published (anyone born in 1990's are now adults), so the current appeal of GoG is mainly towards the older crowds, we need something to draw the younger crowd in too.

Right now, I prefer buying on Steam than GoG when both are the same, due to the automatic updates were much more automated. Plus, except for AAA titles, games that are sold on GoG and steam costs less for me on steam (consistently 30% cheaper), so there is that.
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If you want auto updates, use Galaxy, it does pretty much the same thing as Steam.

I have checked prices numerous times and for the same games on both, the prices are the same, they usually even have the exact same sale prices at the same time.

It's pretty clear that DRM freedom doesn't factor at all for you, if trivial complaints keep you buy the same games on Steam when you could get them on GOG.

You are part of the problem, not part of the solution.
 
Snowdog said:
If you want auto updates, use Galaxy, it does pretty much the same thing as Steam.

I have checked prices numerous times and for the same games on both, the prices are the same, they usually even have the exact same sale prices at the same time.

It's pretty clear that DRM freedom doesn't factor at all for you, if trivial complaints keep you buy the same games on Steam when you could get them on GOG.

You are part of the problem, not part of the solution.
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Steam has regional pricing, GoG don't. US have the same prices on both sides, most other places don't. Mine is one such example, the price range could be anywhere from 20% of US prices to 120%, depending on geographic location. GoG has a policy of no regional pricing, so it is an advantage in a few areas, but disadvtange in others.

Where I am, barring the $60 AAA games, most other games, when comparing base prices vs base prices, are cheaper than US base prices ever since they change the default currency from US$. GoG hasn't changed as per their policy.

GoG would have to be on sale when steam don't, or give a significantly better discount than steam for me the prices to be even, 30% is a pretty big price difference to match.
 
chenw said:
The "catalyst" I am talking about isn't consumer awareness, it will come in due time, AAA publishers will be the main consumer attraction points.

My issue with GoG is that we need a non CDPR AAA game in order to convince the publishers that DRM-Free model is a viable model, once that gets underway, AAA themselves will advertise the fact that it's on GoG, and the snowball will start to fall them.

As much as I like consumers themselves being the catalyst, we are in an age where only the newest games grab interest (and the interest quickly wanes, there are already a few people here who are only interested in playing games that work their hardware), and I am pretty certain that we are seeing more and more of the playerbase who were not even born when some of the GoG games were first published (anyone born in 1990's are now adults), so the current appeal of GoG is mainly towards the older crowds, we need something to draw the younger crowd in too.

Right now, I prefer buying on Steam than GoG when both are the same, due to the automatic updates were much more automated. Plus, except for AAA titles, games that are sold on GoG and steam costs less for me on steam (consistently 30% cheaper), so there is that.
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I prefer GOG because I woke up one morning and found my Steam accoun5 VAC banned for cheating when I never cheated. They basically did is so I'd have to repurchase hundreds of dollars worth of games again. It could happen to you too.
 
I just bought 3 games well technically 5 as one was a volume 1-3 for half or a third the cost of what they are on steam by buying physical media. And you can probably do better by buying steam keys from the various other sites but I like to make sure my dollars go to the developers.
 
Snowdog said:
If you want auto updates, use Galaxy, it does pretty much the same thing as Steam.

I have checked prices numerous times and for the same games on both, the prices are the same, they usually even have the exact same sale prices at the same time.

It's pretty clear that DRM freedom doesn't factor at all for you, if trivial complaints keep you buy the same games on Steam when you could get them on GOG.

You are part of the problem, not part of the solution.
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Well firstly GOG only has a fraction of the titles Steam has, plus you conveniently overlook that Steam is not the only place that offers sale of titles that for which you get Steam keys, so while Steam and GOG prices and sales might be the same, GMG, Amazon and many other places have sales at completely different times.

From your overly hostile attitude I have to assume overlooking this fact was intentional to justify the venom you spew because someone sees the issue differently than you do.
 
DarkStar_WNY said:
Well firstly GOG only has a fraction of the titles Steam has, plus you conveniently overlook that Steam is not the only place that offers sale of titles that for which you get Steam keys, so while Steam and GOG prices and sales might be the same, GMG, Amazon and many other places have sales at completely different times.

From your overly hostile attitude I have to assume overlooking this fact was intentional to justify the venom you spew because someone sees the issue differently than you do.
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Your post is completely laughable, because it completely misses the point.

It was specifically about someone claiming to support GOG, and yet not buying the exact same game when it was on GOG. So, having more games isn't exactly relevant to that point.

But chenw gave a reasonable answer that GOG is overpriced in his market (Europe/Asia?). I don't fault him for wanting to pay less.

This is something GOG will have to address to make headway in those markets.
 
I wouldn't say overpriced (Witcher 3 costed the same on both Steam and GoG when they were both released), and AAA titles still cost $60 roughly, depending on the currency exchange rate of the day of its release, but for some reason rest of the titles (particularly indie titles) were cheaper on Steam than GoG, so I believe partly it's the publisher's choices.

FTR, I bought Wasteland 2 and Witcher 3 off GoG, since the prices were the same at the time of release., which in that scenario I usually choose GoG over steam.
 
heatlesssun said:
Can you use the App Store on anything but Apple devices? No.

You can use Steam on Macs and Linux devices but about 75% of the content on Steam is still Windows only. So a multiplatform store has nothing to do with the content being multiplatform.
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While I do agree, it's the platforms but get real.
50% seemingly is the magic number of Windows only titles whilst 33% of games for most people are on the Linux platform (Yes I was surprised by the amount)
 
Last game I bought and it's been awhile was Witcher 3 through GOG because it was DRM free.

As for mounting, I would rip my DVD to drive and them mount it with alcohol and put the physical away.

As for the DVD mount there are still many sites that have no-DVD patches so you are not nagged each time.

The only issue, DVD and Blue-ray are on their way out as a hardware component of modern PC's.
 
alamox said:
i posted a comment there about my predictions but it was dismissed quickly :( , although i think it's probably a very likely scenario.
to me the whole gaming industry will eventualy shift to game streaming once we get 5G, which is supposed to be equivalent to 100MB connection with low latency, where streaming platforms like sony's Playstation Now would take over, from consoles ( and even PCs ), i mean i do not see why it wouldn't if you have sub 30ms, and even 4k needs about 15MB.
the pros outwheight the cons, for the publishers and even developers, represents the end of piracy, and contineous stream of revenue for devs, plus alot of cuts of hardware and logistics.
and this is ultimately where Steam need to be heading to keep up with sony and M$.
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The day gaming is only available via streaming is the day I find another hobby.
 
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