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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

#71

Post by thfuran »

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #42
thfuran wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that has no sound legal basis but I also don't think that's practical. A launcher like steam isn't just a client-side application and I don't think it makes sense to compel some company to incur the costs of supporting their competitor's customers, which is what that would amount to.

Surprisingly, Disney figured this out for movies with their "Movies Anywhere" service, powered by something they call KeyChest. You create a "Movies Anywhere" account, and then link digital stores (iTunes, Prime Video, Vudu) to that account. All movies that you purchased from participating studios then appear on all of the linked stores. It actually works quite well. I can purchase a movie on the Roku Movie Store (po…

I'm not saying that Disney should be precluded from undertaking that (and probably exchanging a lot of money with each of the integrated platforms). But I am saying that new streaming start up example.com shouldn't be legally obligated to—at no charge—serve traffic to the entire customer base of prime video, Netflix, Disney+, etc should they decide that they want to get their content through a third party that they didn't buy it from.

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

#72

Post by [deleted] »

agilob wrote: post #54
stingraycharles wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

[deleted]

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

#73

Post by vlunkr »

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),…

I always thought it would be cool if a publisher managed this themselves. If you buy the game directly from them they give you download codes for every platform. Obviously the financial incentive is backwards, and stores might get angry, but I would love it!

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

#74

Post by Ekaros »

agilob wrote: post #63
Ekaros wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

How is "delisted" different from "purchase disabled"?

Store page is removed for example you can still see community hub: Duke Nukem 3D Megaton Edition https://steamcommunity.com/app/225140/

On other hand purchase might be disabled by developer, but game page is still visible: https://store.steampowered.com/app/210550/Angry_Birds_Space/

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

#75

Post by simion314 »

charcircuit wrote: post #37
mFixman wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is a launcher even needed? Isn't it better to provide downloads and payments from their website rather than paying 25% of transactions to Valve?

>to provide downloads There are 2 problems with this. 1. You can't downloaded patches of game updates (with good ux). You would need to downloaded the entire game for every update which is bad. 2. You can't install the game to the system without a program. >and payments from their website Steam can provide less friction to make a payment since someone likely already has payment information attached to their account.…

>1. You can't downloaded patches of game updates

And with Steam(at this moment) there is no way to tell it to "please don't update this game and let me play this version". You can disable the automatic updates but you won't be able to run a game from the launcher if you are not uptodate because the Play button is changed to Update.

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

#76

Post by jay_kyburz »

zeusk wrote: post #20
cuteboy19 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows store is really bad. The UI, the UX, the lag, the jank, all designed to spoil your day

and until a couple months ago, it was a crappy web app.

Steam is a web app.

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

#77

Post by vlunkr »

sbarre wrote: post #58
causi wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

It's pretty amazing the Stadia happened at all. From day one everyone predicted how it would die, and so far it has not deviated from that course at all.

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

#78

Post by nouveaux »

TOMDM wrote: post #50
stingraycharles wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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),…

This sounds like it could produce nightmare scenarios for some platforms/consumers. Say I'm a publisher; I can sell my games for 5% cheaper than all the competing platforms and let my installer/store languish. All it needs to do is let people buy the game, and my competitors can do the hard work of actually distributing the game, updating it, supporting features like community pages, friend lists, steam workshop etc.…

You can charge a small porting fee to compensate for this.

In practice, I think this actually hurts the established guys. A big reason I prefer to buy on Steam is because the majority of my library is in Steam. A PC gaming library also has more longevity.

In general, I would be reluctant to buy multi-platform titles on the Switch. If porting was available, I would buy certain titles on the Switch or pay to move it to Switch. I would then pay to move everything over to Steam if my Switch died.

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

#79

Post by art0rz »

TOMDM wrote: post #50
stingraycharles wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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),…

This sounds like it could produce nightmare scenarios for some platforms/consumers. Say I'm a publisher; I can sell my games for 5% cheaper than all the competing platforms and let my installer/store languish. All it needs to do is let people buy the game, and my competitors can do the hard work of actually distributing the game, updating it, supporting features like community pages, friend lists, steam workshop etc.…

You can already do that with Steam[0]. They allow publishers to generate keys for free. You could sell the keys on your own store and skip Steam's 30%(?) cut while reaping the benefits of their software delivery infrastructure. There's a fair use policy[1] involved, though.

[0] https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/keys

[1] https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/keys#3

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

#80

Post by TOMDM »

mastax wrote: post #68
TOMDM wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds like it could produce nightmare scenarios for some platforms/consumers. Say I'm a publisher; I can sell my games for 5% cheaper than all the competing platforms and let my installer/store languish. All it needs to do is let people buy the game, and my competitors can do the hard work of actually distributing the game, updating it, supporting features like community pages, friend lists, steam workshop etc.…

Steam (and other stores, to a lesser extent) already does this voluntarily. There's an ecosystem of key sellers of various levels of sketchiness - greenmangaming, g2a, cdkoffers - check isthereanydeal.com. It's almost always cheaper than steam, and you get a steam key. Steam gets most of the upkeep cost, and none (?) of the revenue.

I'd hardly call 3rd party grey market key resellers like g2a something that steam accepts voluntarily.

These keys are often stolen or pirated.

The Steam subreddit has a page dedicated to it https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/wiki/dangersofkeyresellers

The keys from these sites are frequently revoked after they're discovered stolen.

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