Steam Removes Game From User Libraries

more like SE made the call to pull it from users account NOT Valve
 
Ravynmagi said:
Sounds like a big non-issue to me. A game I never heard of was shut down because nobody was playing it and Valve just removed the decaying corpse from the library.
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O look, someone who can't see future consequences of this....
 
Spire3660 said:
O look, someone who can't see future consequences of this....
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I think folks have been complaining about always on online DRM since it first appeared ... this does validate people's concerns with that ... had it not been for that Valve would not have removed the game from their systems so I don't think there is any real concern on the Valve side regarding this ;)
 
Valve didn't revoke the license. You just have to go after SE in the hopes that your game will someday be reactivated, DRM free.
 
They should erase that cluster of a game called the War Z or survivor stories what ever it's called.
 
Spire3660 said:
O look, someone who can't see future consequences of this....
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Games that don't work because the publisher/developer won't keep servers online so I can play it on THEIR terms, no longer in my game library?

Oh, man...what am I going to do with one less game out of my 286 title library that is forever expanding?
 
Digital is the Future!
Digital is the Future!
Digital is the Future!
Digital is the Future!

....Yea, keep right on repeating that. Meanwhile I still can play games that even if they required a Server to authenticate, someone somewhere patched that little problem out.
 
If I had the game on a physical disk would someone come to my house in the middle of the night and steal it from me cause the servers shut down and made my game worthless? NO. ;)
 
03grandam said:
If I had the game on a physical disk would someone come to my house in the middle of the night and steal it from me cause the servers shut down and made my game worthless? NO. ;)
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From the article:
.... due to always-online DRM, even the single-player portion of the game requires the servers to be up and running.....

Nope, but even if you had the CD, you couldn't even play the single player portion anyways.
 
03grandam said:
If I had the game on a physical disk would someone come to my house in the middle of the night and steal it from me cause the servers shut down and made my game worthless? NO. ;)
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Yes, the physical disc would be 100% worthless.
 
canna said:
From the article:
.... due to always-online DRM, even the single-player portion of the game requires the servers to be up and running.....

Nope, but even if you had the CD, you couldn't even play the single player portion anyways.
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In the end though if I had it on disk I would still be able to keep the game laying around even if all it did was take up space, or hope that someone made a mod that would bypass the DRM. Whatever the choice it should be my decision to make as for keeping the game around, not someone elses. Digital or physical.
 
03grandam said:
Again , it would be my choice as to keep it or toss it.
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You could make a hat out of it, too. That doesn't mean you'd have a valid license or the ability to even install the software if SE did what they did.

If someone came out with a DRM crack, you'd still have access to a cracked game. You'd just have to download it.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
You could make a hat out of it, too. That doesn't mean you'd have a valid license or the ability to even install the software if SE did what they did.

If someone came out with a DRM crack, you'd still have access to a cracked game. You'd just have to download it.
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It is a long long list of games I can think of over the years that the "crack" required a very specific install version. Many of which were quite difficult to find. The notion of just download is often easily said but not so easily done.

Sorry but this kind of garbage just reinforces that the DD only group is flatly wrong about this stuff. You all have been screaming for years now that this crap wouldn't happen, or if it did Steam would clearly never stoop so low. Well guess what, it has happened a bunch and Steam is no exception. It is also going to continue happening and no amount of denial from you is going to change that simple fact. Oh don't get me wrong, that doesn't make DD a bad option or even one that should be avoided. I simply point out that it just reinforces why some of us still want the "majority" of our game collections on a physical disc. There are Pros and Cons to both methods, the smart ones will take advantage of BOTH.
 
I have over 600 games in my steam library. In an instant, I could lose them all. I love Steam but I also agree that Steam sucks. They could take all these games away tomorrow. 1000's of dollars gone with India Tech Support. Must be nice to work for Valve in Seattle. Most of the employees drive BMW's and Ferrari's. MUST BE NICE. I send a cake to GABE.....:)
 
Dekoth-E- said:
It is a long long list of games I can think of over the years that the "crack" required a very specific install version. Many of which were quite difficult to find. The notion of just download is often easily said but not so easily done.

Sorry but this kind of garbage just reinforces that the DD only group is flatly wrong about this stuff. You all have been screaming for years now that this crap wouldn't happen, or if it did Steam would clearly never stoop so low. Well guess what, it has happened a bunch and Steam is no exception. It is also going to continue happening and no amount of denial from you is going to change that simple fact. Oh don't get me wrong, that doesn't make DD a bad option or even one that should be avoided. I simply point out that it just reinforces why some of us still want the "majority" of our game collections on a physical disc. There are Pros and Cons to both methods, the smart ones will take advantage of BOTH.
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No, it has everything to do with always online drm and very little to do with digital distribution. A boxed version is as equally bricked and finding a crack for a boxed version or a cracked version is the exact same thing, legally.

If SE pulled the licenses for these games, Valve can't legally host them. They would be unlicensed games.

In this day and age, if there is a crack, there is also that specific install version available as well. Not so much in the past.

Focus on the fuckers that bricked the game.
 
I don't see why people are blaming Valve for this. If the DRM activation servers are shut down the game wasn't going to be playable whether it was removed from your Steam library or not. The real problem was requiring server authentication even to play single-player, which had nothing to do with Valve in this particular case.

I could see this happening with a lot of MMOs in the future too as more MMOs are being put on Steam, since most MMOs die a slow lonely death until they can no longer afford to keep the servers up.
 
I don't see what other choice Steam had. Why would you want a dead game in your library. If anything, be pissed at Square for providing a means to play the single player.

I did look on steam, and at least one guy had his $2.49 credited to his account. I can imagine the look in small claims court if someone actually sued someone for $2.49. Really? Come on.
 
Anybody who thinks this is ok is just not right. Do you think its ok for people to come into your house without permission and take your trash out to the dumpster? I didn't think so...
 
Come to think of it, it is pretty fucked up that they didn't even notify owners (?) of this.
 
Valve chose to be a digital game distributor. If a dev decides to shut servers down then that is the problem with the dev, but when Valve decides to pull said game from peoples library after they bought it then that is a problem with Valve. Both parties fucked users over so no I'm not bashing just Valve in this.

As far a legal issues with them still hosting the game for those who already bought it, well that's Valves problem to deal with and either deal with the dev on that issue or offer the buyer something else to replace it before just taking it from them.
 
92miata said:
I have over 600 games in my steam library. In an instant, I could lose them all. I love Steam but I also agree that Steam sucks.
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Yep is Valve ever shut down or went bankrupt a lot of our Steam games would be lost forever. It's just so convenient and cheap though, and even most of the other places to digitally buy games from you are just buying a Steam code. I can't see Valve going bankrupt any time soon though. They must be making a boatload of money getting a cut of nearly all PC game sales other than EA and Blizzard games.

I think people overestimate how many old games they'll still be playing in the future though. How many people are actually still playing games from 10-20 years ago? There are a few older games people still play (like counter-strike), but the vast majority don't really get played.
 
munkle said:
Anybody who thinks this is ok is just not right. Do you think its ok for people to come into your house without permission and take your trash out to the dumpster? I didn't think so...
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I didn't say I thought it was OK. I just said I didn't see what choice steam had. Perhaps the best thing they could have done is sent something to the buyer's of said game and let them know what was going on. I think we can all agree it could have been handled better by both steam and square.

Perhaps they should have given a credit, but you have to remember...This is like expecting Amazon (or any other store) to refund your money because they sold you a product from a company that went bankrupt or just disappeared.
 
I think valve should modify the game to use the steam drm instead. Or make it a future requirement that when game companies abandon their game's servers drm functionality, they must enable functionality or give valve the right to enable functionality.

maybe steam should give a refund or credit equivalent to the game's final store value.
 
Dick move by Square Enix to not simply release a patch removing the online DRM check.
 
The only fault I see in Steam is (if) they didnt give the purchasers credit for the game. If the game is shut down by the manufacturer, Steam should offer a refund - even a partial one (say within 6-12 monthis, 100%, >12 months 50%) - when they remove it. I actually aplaude steam for premptively stopping a volley of complaints about the MFG breaking the game --- but they should have compensated their users.

This is not a problem with steam, this is a problem with "always on" DRM...

Now the creator, that's another story. I can see them shutting down the servers, but offer a patch that makes single-player work fine. It's not like the pirates arent likely already on top of this to "fix" it and it will just be another game that's pirated instead of bought. Hell there are dozens of "abandonware" titles where the manufacturers passed out patches/codes/etc when they shut them down... whatever the game is there will always be people willing to actually pay for it if only for nostalgia purposes if it's still playable...
 
Looking at some of the comments on the Steam page for the game it appears that Square Enix (the publisher) requested the removal ... I think everyone who buys digital copies goes into the purchase with both eyes open ... returns will be potentially more difficult due to the store refund policies and the ownership question could be cloudier ... however, the cost and convenience generally offset those risks ... I still think people are making more of this than it warrants ... I do not think we will see a trend of either always on DRM or retroactively rescinding the ownership of a game (both of which have penalities that may outweigh any rewards)
 
OMG Valve removed a game that was utterly and completely unplayable! Queue the drama queens and fucktards...

Blame sqaure for making it unplayable not steam for deciding not to waste bandwidth letting people download it from their servers.
 
Ashton said:
The only fault I see in Steam is (if) they didnt give the purchasers credit for the game. If the game is shut down by the manufacturer, Steam should offer a refund - even a partial one (say within 6-12 monthis, 100%, >12 months 50%) - when they remove it. I actually aplaude steam for premptively stopping a volley of complaints about the MFG breaking the game --- but they should have compensated their users.
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I dont see why Steam should be on the hook for a refund. For example i bought an EQ expansion a while back via steam, now if SOE up and shut down EQ should steam owe me a refund?

For those that dont know its a multiplayer game and all the "news" sites keep harping on the tacked on solo missions. It was part of the wargaming.net line (world of tanks, warplaes etc.).

Dont listen to the phony news blogs going on about the solo missions this game has no reason to exist whatsoever without active servers. Fuck, LoL has a solo tutorial and you can play custom vs bots but thats not a reason to play.
 
lenardo said:
it was square shutting off the server that means the game is 100% unplayable now.(even in single player mode)
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And that SE didn't even bother to patch the game to allow it to be playable offline shows exactly who is at fault here.
 
They removed a grey market Skyrim copy from my own library. This is definitely not the first time...
 
I should note that it's been quite a long time since it happened for me though.
 
lenardo said:
i can understand them pulling it from the store but removing it from the library is - to me- a no-no

the problem is, always online drm that came with the game- square shut off the server= you literally cannot play the game since it requires the server to be there to "check in"

which coincidentally was one of the main issues people had with the original xbone drm policy, what happens if the server is not "there" anymore.

we now know, no server=no game- even single player- anymore.
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What is sad is people payed for the game and now can't play it while the people that pirated the cracked version can play for as long as they want.

I can't see why they can't patch the game so that the people that bought the game can still play the single player portion of it.
 
Ocean said:
I think valve should modify the game to use the steam drm instead. Or make it a future requirement that when game companies abandon their game's servers drm functionality, they must enable functionality or give valve the right to enable functionality.

maybe steam should give a refund or credit equivalent to the game's final store value.
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That takes up resources, and it should be up to the publisher of the game to patch out DRM. Otherwise, in the future companies would simply shut down their DRM and all the burden of patching them gets shifted to Valve.

Valve is merely an online store, and we can't expect any store to fix the game they sold.

This is not a problem of online store (ie. Steam or Origin), rather it's a problem of online DRM that requires a game to connect to online servers in order to function. (ie. Diablo 3 server requirement, or SimCity server requirement)
 
this is the very first time in Valve/Steam's history that they have done something like this and the reason for removal is valid so no big deal...it's not like Steam just removed a game without a good reason...Square Enix abandoned the title and the single player was unavailable...the multiplayer servers were closed as well...not to mention that the game was not really popular to begin with

this is just a reason for the online distribution haters to get into an uproar and make a mountain out of a mole hill
 
CrimsonKnight13 said:
Right... :p Taking away something you've put money into regardless of the source isn't the same thing.
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A grey market copy of a game was a game illegally purchased outside of the country the steam code was released for.

You did this to save a few bucks. Valve did not remove the game from Steam. They disabled your illegal copy.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
No, it has everything to do with always online drm and very little to do with digital distribution. A boxed version is as equally bricked and finding a crack for a boxed version or a cracked version is the exact same thing, legally.

If SE pulled the licenses for these games, Valve can't legally host them. They would be unlicensed games.

In this day and age, if there is a crack, there is also that specific install version available as well. Not so much in the past.

Focus on the fuckers that bricked the game.
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I see nothing to suggest that Valve can't legally host them.

Valve has pulled many games from their store when the license agreement expired and all the rest are still available to those that previously purchased them, this suggests that the standard licensing agreement allows them to still offer it for download just not sell it.

I also think that your gamestop analogy was bad, a B&M store selling physical copies is not the same thing as a digital distribution service. I do agree that SE is more to blame but Valve isn't blameless.

This is my biggest fear with DD services and why I won't pay full price for a game tied to one. With all that said I don't think this is that big of a deal after reading the "order of war" forum, it sounds like this is a multiplayer only expansion other than a couple tutorial missions.
 
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