So, what happens to our games if Steam goes out of business?

[Sputnik]

Read a thread started by some guy boasting 1000 Steam games. Got me wondering roughly how much he paid for all that, and then what happens if Steam goes under one day.

[LowJack_VA1]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Sputnik:

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย LowJack_VA1:

ROFL, Oh no, I'm not getting pulled into this discussion again!!

Don't Panic! The gravitational attraction of this discussion is still slight, and we have far to travel before crossing the moral event horizon beyond which there is no return to reasoned discussion.

ROFL Read my post history, I won't bite this bait again lol

[LowJack_VA1]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Sputnik:

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย LowJack_VA1:

ROFL, Oh no, I'm not getting pulled into this discussion again!!

Don't Panic! The gravitational attraction of this discussion is still slight, and we have far to travel before crossing the moral event horizon beyond which there is no return to reasoned discussion.

Read my post history

[Ruse]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Sputnik:

Read a thread started by some guy boasting 1000 Steam games. Got me wondering roughly how much he paid for all that, and then what happens if Steam goes under one day.

Steam is a program. You mean Valve. Get it right.

[The•Siscus]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Eisberg:

If nobody buys up the failing business, then the games disappear.

Now I know some forum post here on Steam from an empoyee stated they have a plan for that, but I have my doubts, so when it comes down to it, it is better to assume that if Valve went out of business, then your games are gone.

This.
Yea, you can still find on old forums answers like "Valve will patch game for an offline use", "Valve will give free access to your library", "Valve here, Steam there", but in all honesty, I stopped trusting Valve as a fair company long ago (and consequentially buying games too), so my guess is "bye bye to your games".
Remote case: another company buys the fallen Valve, but It's not a 100% option you should rely on.

[Sleepy Yoshi]

A) Someone buys Steam (would likely depend heavily on why it's bankrupt)
B) They release a patch like they said so many years ago
C) Game's go poof
D) Other platforms are willing to transfer ownership of some game's to their platform based on agreements with publishers/developers. Something similar to GoG connect.
E) Some developers provide the game if proof of purchase can be shown
F) insert other random occurrence that could happen here.

Take your pick of any of the above, cause no one really knows.

[Sputnik]

I guess any Steam VALVE contingency plans for this lies buried in a policy document somewhere.

[GunsForBucks]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Sputnik:

I guess any Steam VALVE contingency plans for this lies buried in a policy document somewhere.

There is no policy they could make that any new owner couldn't just ignore.

Was their not a thing in the news recently about a keyseller and paying back for bad keys or something??? Then when some companies tried to take them up on it they were like .. oh that wasn't us?

[Sputnik]

By policy, I mean what steps Valve would undertake to redress any customer losses in the event that they no longer want/can keep Steam online.

I admit that sounds about as unlikely as Apple shutting down iTunes

[Start_Running]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Sputnik:

By policy, I mean what steps Valve would undertake to redress any customer losses in the event that they no longer want/can keep Steam online.

I admit that sounds about as unlikely as Apple shutting down iTunes

Simoply release a steam patch that shorts out the ownership check and allow people a reasonable time to download all their games. Businesses do not just go poof over night.. especially not large ones.

[Drakensson]

I've read that some games that you own, become impossible to download after they have been removed from the store, despite you owning them. I personally don't agree with such treatment, but I suppose there isn't much to be done

[Hannibal]

Best recommendation spread where you buy your games. I dont make steam my primary source anymore. Their lack of care for their own client or service doesnt bode well. I'll spread my purchases around so no one source takes it all away.

[GunsForBucks]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย ~☆ Jim ☆~:

Best recommendation spread where you buy your games. I dont make steam my primary source anymore. Their lack of care for their own client or service doesnt bode well. I'll spread my purchases around so no one source takes it all away.

I kind of gave up getting games just to get games. I like to play one thing for a while then move on. There really are not too many good games anyway and while it is nice to be able to revisit them I wouldn't miss much if they vanished. Currently into warframe mostly and that has its own launcher anyway so steam is a non issue and more of an add-on with some features.

Honestly I would like to see more games go with the Warframe model where the storefront is just one access out of many you can use. Putting full choice in the consumers hands is the way to go.

Frankly they should make a law that any DRM from any service needs to be disabled if they decide to remove the log in servers.

[fu]

Steam is a launcher for those games Steam doesn't own them 100% but I am pretty sure if stream closes which it won't, they would have to sort something out where you can keep the games maybe another company might take a few games to host,

[Tito Shivan]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Staccato:

I've read that some games that you own, become impossible to download after they have been removed from the store, despite you owning them. I personally don't agree with such treatment, but I suppose there isn't much to be done

The very few games that have been removed from the store have been some that were purely multiplayer, the developer went out of business and all their servers were disconnected, thus leaving you with no way at all to even play the game.

In every other instance of a game being removed from the store you've always kept the ability to download and play your games.

[Kelthorian]

If Steam fails and nobody buys them then most likely the games are lost.

Kinda makes you think how a digital only, cloud based future will be like. Governments really need to start thinking about this and defining how ownership actually works for digital data that isn't even in your possession but on some corporate server potentially even outside your own country.