You Don't Own Starfield

[ZDuB]

Valve says you don't own Starfield here on Steam

"The Content and Services are licensed, not sold. Your license confers no title or ownership in the Content and Services"

i wonder what Bethesda says about this. Starfield coming to GOG?

[dannyj147]

Isn't that the same for every game? Nobody owns a game, just a license to play it.

[Dagtag]

Originally posted by ZDuB:

Valve says you don't own Starfield here on Steam

"The Content and Services are licensed, not sold. Your license confers no title or ownership in the Content and Services"

i wonder what Bethesda says about this. Starfield coming to GOG?

are you new to digital content?

you always buy a license that grants you access, you never actually buy a game, not even on GOG.

GOG games are DRM FREE which means regardless of servers being on/off, you can play them. you still don't own the game though

[wyodinosaur]

I do have a slight bias towards GOG. This may be just me, but it seems GOG games run better than Steam ones.

As for the licence issue, I think that is becoming more and more then norm with IP content.

[kdodds]

ROFLMAO, Gen Z discovering something "new" that's existed before they were born.

[dannyj147]

Originally posted by wyodinosaur:

I do have a slight bias towards GOG. This may be just me, but it seems GOG games run better than Steam ones.

As for the licence issue, I think that is becoming more and more then norm with IP content.

Likely because of the steam api running in the background. It can cause some performance issues for many games.

[Cephei]

Originally posted by kdodds:

ROFLMAO, Gen Z discovering something "new" that's existed before they were born.

Just because you’ve been around longer doesn’t mean you actually know anything worthwhile. Acting like Gen Z discovering something "new"is a crime against your precious nostalgia is just sad.

[Neo]

I wonder if op is going to post this in every steam forum for every game on Steam?

[dannyj147]

Originally posted by Cephei:

Originally posted by kdodds:

ROFLMAO, Gen Z discovering something "new" that's existed before they were born.

Just because you’ve been around longer doesn’t mean you actually know anything worthwhile. Acting like Gen Z discovering something "new"is a crime against your precious nostalgia is just sad.

What's sadder is continuing to post on a games forum you clearly dislike....

[-|Nur|-]

Originally posted by Xenophobe:

been that way since digital downloads became the standard and physical media bit the dust.

The method of distribution makes no difference. If Starfield was sold on CD-ROM, it'd still be merely licensed to users.
It's the same with movies. Take any DVD or Blu-Ray movie and see what's written in the back: "Licensed for private home exhibition only", or something along those lines. If you tried to exhibit your copy at a movie theater without a license, you'd get sued and every court in the civilized world would rule against you, as they'd correctly see that all you truly own is the physical product (the container, the disk and even the bits inside) but not the "work" itself.

[=CrimsoN=]

You are extremely late to this... it's been this way since Steam first existed... probably before then as well.

Nothing to really do with Starfield either.

[Defective Dopamine Pez Dispenser]

We have never owned our video games. We have always merely been granted a license to play them. That said, when physical media was the standard, there were certain protected consumer rights, such as right of resale, that gave us much more leeway with respect to how we were able to transfer or use that license.

If you want to own your games, or at least secure perpetual access to licensed copies of their installers in a portable form, shop exclusively at places like GOG, use their standalone, client-less installers, and save those on media of your choice, and maintain secure access to those copies forever.

Failing that, build a time machine, go back to when some of us were telling everyone not to let physical media die because it would mean the loss of previously legally enshrined consumer rights such as right of resale, and convince people to actually listen to us this time, and to not just accept it when Valve makes everyone install Steam even for physical copies of HL2. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Carlos Spicywiener]

Originally posted by Xenophobe:

been that way since digital downloads became the standard and physical media bit the dust.

No, its been like this for physical media as well. Always has

[dannyj147]

Originally posted by Carlos Spicywiener:

Originally posted by Xenophobe:

been that way since digital downloads became the standard and physical media bit the dust.

No, its been like this for physical media as well. Always has

Yup, you just owned the physical media, not the content.

[-|Nur|-]

Originally posted by Defective Dopamine Pez Dispenser:

Failing that, build a time machine, go back to when some of us were telling everyone not to let physical media die because it would mean the loss of previously legally enshrined consumer rights such as right of resale,

Well technically we still have that right; it's just that Valve and other platforms are under no obligation to design a system to facilitate the resale of licenses (just as sellers of physical goods aren't obligated to design such systems for the resale of physical products).

[chakkman]

Originally posted by dannyj147:

Isn't that the same for every game?

It's the same for every software, yes.

I'm glad the OP had his 2 minutes of scandal though.