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Sunsetting the Bethesda.net launcher and migrating to Steam

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Re: Sunsetting the Bethesda.net launcher and migrating to Steam

#51

Post by jabbany »

stingraycharles wrote: post #24
TillE wrote: post #5

You can theoretically solve a lot of problems with crappy, multitudinous game stores - easier payments, lighter software. But the real question is: do I trust that I'll be able to continue downloading my purchases for the foreseeable future? I trust that Steam will be around for a very long time. I can download DRM-free installers from GOG. Everyone else? I don't know, I have much less confidence.

I see this as is something that legislation could fix: digital licenses should be transferable between digital stores. If I buy a game in store X, and it’s available on store/platform Y, I should be able to play it on both. Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s the case. I recently bought a Nintendo Switch, and although I’m happy overall, some games have very heavy limits built in (think: max number of units in games),…

Ports are kind of special though... They require extra engineering so it seems unreasonable to require transferable license.

Mandating transferable licenses across platforms means that a PC player who has no intention of ever owning a console device now has to pay for the engineering of the port (and vice versa for console players).

On the same platform, OTOH, this seems like a decent idea.

Re: Sunsetting the Bethesda.net launcher and migrating to Steam

#52

Post by ivraatiems »

Thank goodness. Bethesda's launcher was uniquely awful in a number of unpleasant ways. Slow, prone to crashes, bad user communication, not suitable for use on small monitors. The worst of the launcher apps I have used - and there are so many!

I remember when it was in vogue for every game maker to build their own launcher or even full Steam clone - when EA pulled all its new games from Steam to get people to use Origin, when Ubisoft forced uPlay on you no matter how you bought the game, and so on. Now, it seems like we're pulling back from that situation somewhat - a lot of EA games are back on Steam, for example.

I wonder whether the experiment didn't work, or if it worked, but now the goals have changed again?

Re: Sunsetting the Bethesda.net launcher and migrating to Steam

#53

Post by ascagnel_ »

causi wrote: post #10
TillE wrote: post #5

You can theoretically solve a lot of problems with crappy, multitudinous game stores - easier payments, lighter software. But the real question is: do I trust that I'll be able to continue downloading my purchases for the foreseeable future? I trust that Steam will be around for a very long time. I can download DRM-free installers from GOG. Everyone else? I don't know, I have much less confidence.

I expect we're less than five years away from seeing everyone's Stadia purchases evaporate.

I've been saying from day one that Stadia should have offered a subscription service similar to what Microsoft is doing with Game Pass. I don't want to pay full-price for games that require someone else maintaining hardware, especially when they're not booking any recurring revenue.

Re: Sunsetting the Bethesda.net launcher and migrating to Steam

#54

Post by agilob »

stingraycharles wrote: post #24
TillE wrote: post #5

You can theoretically solve a lot of problems with crappy, multitudinous game stores - easier payments, lighter software. But the real question is: do I trust that I'll be able to continue downloading my purchases for the foreseeable future? I trust that Steam will be around for a very long time. I can download DRM-free installers from GOG. Everyone else? I don't know, I have much less confidence.

I see this as is something that legislation could fix: digital licenses should be transferable between digital stores. If I buy a game in store X, and it’s available on store/platform Y, I should be able to play it on both. Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s the case. I recently bought a Nintendo Switch, and although I’m happy overall, some games have very heavy limits built in (think: max number of units in games),…

PC games are a lot cheaper than console games, should I be able to buy for £9 on PC and transfer to Xbox where the same game is for £40?

Re: Sunsetting the Bethesda.net launcher and migrating to Steam

#55

Post by notafraudster »

NullPrefix wrote: post #30
Ekaros wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is package manager needed on Linux? Isn't it better to download everything as source code and compile yourself?

My package manager allows me to see the URL to download it and compile it manually. Does Steam/Bethesda/other game launcher allows this?

I mean, yes, you can add non-Steam games to Steam, which is the analogue here.

Re: Sunsetting the Bethesda.net launcher and migrating to Steam

#56

Post by jasonm89 »

adamrezich wrote: post #19

nice, about time. I wonder if e.g. Quake Champions would've flopped as hard as it did if it was just released on Steam at launch instead of moved there later. I had a ton of fun with it despite its controversial formula changes, and the soundtracks (there's two, you can pick one or both, the second one is by Andrew Hulshult) are really good.

TIL that there is a new Quake. I know what I'm doing tonight.

Re: Sunsetting the Bethesda.net launcher and migrating to Steam

#57

Post by Ekaros »

jka wrote: post #47
dtech wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if Steam will be going away at some point, I bed an archival effort will start similar to what we've seen for Geocities etc.

There's already at least one effort to gather a list of games that are no longer available* on Steam: https://steam-tracker.com/ I wonder how many of those can be retrieved (and are playable) from archived copies? Edit: available meaning "available for purchase" (my mistake, thanks for the corrections)

Delisted means no longer sold. Unless developer does something shady those games can still be downloaded and played (any third-party DRM not withstanding)

Re: Sunsetting the Bethesda.net launcher and migrating to Steam

#58

Post by sbarre »

causi wrote: post #10
TillE wrote: post #5

You can theoretically solve a lot of problems with crappy, multitudinous game stores - easier payments, lighter software. But the real question is: do I trust that I'll be able to continue downloading my purchases for the foreseeable future? I trust that Steam will be around for a very long time. I can download DRM-free installers from GOG. Everyone else? I don't know, I have much less confidence.

I expect we're less than five years away from seeing everyone's Stadia purchases evaporate.

The Stadia model was dead on arrival exactly because you were expected to pay full price to "buy" games that you would never actually own.

With Google's reputation of killing products, and the hubris of thinking they could just waltz into the gaming space and be competitive within a year, it's no wonder that no one took them seriously and the product never took off.

Other streaming services like GeForce Now (sp?) let you install games you already own on Steam and play them on a cloud computer, which is a much more attractive model I think.

Re: Sunsetting the Bethesda.net launcher and migrating to Steam

#59

Post by agilob »

jka wrote: post #47
dtech wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if Steam will be going away at some point, I bed an archival effort will start similar to what we've seen for Geocities etc.

There's already at least one effort to gather a list of games that are no longer available* on Steam: https://steam-tracker.com/ I wonder how many of those can be retrieved (and are playable) from archived copies? Edit: available meaning "available for purchase" (my mistake, thanks for the corrections)

It says "Dead Island Riptide" is delisted, but I still have it in my library and still can install it, background image doesn't load. There is another "Purchase disabled" category, looks like it cant be bought anymore, but can be installed.

Re: Sunsetting the Bethesda.net launcher and migrating to Steam

#60

Post by bastardoperator »

causi wrote: post #10
TillE wrote: post #5

You can theoretically solve a lot of problems with crappy, multitudinous game stores - easier payments, lighter software. But the real question is: do I trust that I'll be able to continue downloading my purchases for the foreseeable future? I trust that Steam will be around for a very long time. I can download DRM-free installers from GOG. Everyone else? I don't know, I have much less confidence.

I expect we're less than five years away from seeing everyone's Stadia purchases evaporate.

Sounds optimistic, I'm thinking less.
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