The end of steam as a centralized game collection platform?

[....]

When steam was released many people had reservations but it all worked out to some extent and valve made a rather practical platform.

So over the years i started to collect games on steam - even paid more to have all my games on one platform and avoided games that used steam as some sort of "hyperlink" to their own platform with an account. I was sure that the games i bought on steam - will stay on steam as they are - that was one of my main reasons for my purchase on steam.

The problem is - more and more publishers and companys seem to either change that themselves afterwards - often years later - or companies buying games and forcing people to make accounts on their own sites. I never agreed to this and i have no real way to get my money back after access was taken away from me - not to mention that my games library is spread out over dozens of third party accounts - after purchase.

This also is a huge issue when it comes to the avaliability of games. Normally i was rather sure that steam wont go down - therfore i was sure to have access to games even if the publishers of a single game will dissapear. But now with more and more third party accounts and launchers that also means - correct me if im wrong - that if a company dissapears i will also lose access to said game even if i bought it on steam since it wont work without the third party account/launcher?

If this is the future of steam i m really starting to question why i should buy further games on steam and not simply - if i really want a game - always use the cheapest shop.

[ShelLuser]

Początkowo opublikowane przez ....:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Tev:

I bought GTA5 day one, so yes it did. I can take a screenshot of the pre-order bonus DLC if you want me to.

Please just stop responding with this pointless posts - thanks ...

GTA 5 PC release - 2015
Rockstar Launcher release - 2019 ...

Sorry, but it's you who is spouting pointless nonsense. I own GTA5 from the moment it got released... on PS3 and guess what? Even during console release you had to be registered to R*'s social club[socialclub.rockstargames.com] in order to play. Back then your PS3 account would get auto-linked with the social club account.

This existed from the very moment the game got released, not only in 2019.

Heck, I'm playing on PC now (Steam FTW!) and if I go to said social club website I can still see my progress on PS3. Because, from R*'s pov, the SC account is the one which counts.

It's nothing new.... even existed back on PS3.

[Tev]

Yeah, because your example is the good ol' "Epic hates Steam so Epic makes games exclusive to their platform because exclusives are all their client is good for"

Sure, the only thing that's new is that Epic does it to third party games (they did buy Fall Guys and Rocket League's studios though)

Everything else has been done before. EA did it with their own games after Crysis 2 (until they returned to Steam years later) and Ubisoft does it with Uplay now (although they release on EGS as well)

You could even as much as look at my link on the Rockstar Social Club as it's from 2015, but whatever. Keep at it.

[....]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Crazy Tiger:

Początkowo opublikowane przez ragefifty50:

thanks Crazy Tiger

this is where i will be when it gets real bad....

I haven't used it myself yet, mind. But I hear good things about it.

Sadly this doesnt really solve the problem - it would probably be a better solution if all just made one platform together but that wont happen.

How does a service like Playnite ensure account security?

[Start_Running]

Początkowo opublikowane przez ....:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Tev:

Yeah because you're FACTUALLY WRONG ON THE SUBJECT

I've owned the game from day 1, stop being an ignorant tool spreading bs.

Yeah sure buddy you had Rockstar Launcher before it even was released ;)
And yes keep ignoring my other example thats mainly what this is about.

Maybe not Rockstar, but GoG has been around near as Stteam.
And Battle.net predates both if I'm not mistaken.

Początkowo opublikowane przez ....:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Crazy Tiger:

I haven't used it myself yet, mind. But I hear good things about it.

Sadly this doesnt really solve the problem - it would probably be a better solution if all just made one platform together but that wont happen.

How does a service like Playnite ensure account security?

Yeah but then they get arguing over who should get what cut, etc etc.
As for Playrite...it doesn't really as far as I know. It's a use at risk third-party app with no affiliation, and no warranties or gaurantees.

[Crazy Tiger]

Początkowo opublikowane przez ShelLuser:

Początkowo opublikowane przez ....:

Please just stop responding with this pointless posts - thanks ...

GTA 5 PC release - 2015
Rockstar Launcher release - 2019 ...

Sorry, but it's you who is spouting pointless nonsense. I own GTA5 from the moment it got released... on PS3 and guess what? Even during console release you had to be registered to R*'s social club[socialclub.rockstargames.com] in order to play. Back then your PS3 account would get auto-linked with the social club account.

This existed from the very moment the game got released, not only in 2019.

Heck, I'm playing on PC now (Steam FTW!) and if I go to said social club website I can still see my progress on PS3. Because, from R*'s pov, the SC account is the one which counts.

It's nothing new.... even existed back on PS3.

I assume you had to do that for the online play? Cause I played the single player GTA5 on my 360 without ever creating such an account.

[....]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Start_Running:

Początkowo opublikowane przez ....:

Yeah sure buddy you had Rockstar Launcher before it even was released ;)
And yes keep ignoring my other example thats mainly what this is about.

Maybe not Rockstar, but GoG has been around near as Stteam.
And Battle.net predates both if I'm not mistaken.

Yes and as i said before i dont like it but i have no issue at all if a publisher does this from the start. I have a problem when such things happen after purchase.

Battlenet to me isnt really a store since they almost exclusively sell their own games. I dislike that aswell but at least it was clear from the start. I'm glad this "1 launcher per publisher" seems to have stopped a bit. But its pretty clear why they do it - if your game is popular enough why give a cut to a third party store.

[Tev]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Crazy Tiger:

Początkowo opublikowane przez ShelLuser:

Sorry, but it's you who is spouting pointless nonsense. I own GTA5 from the moment it got released... on PS3 and guess what? Even during console release you had to be registered to R*'s social club[socialclub.rockstargames.com] in order to play. Back then your PS3 account would get auto-linked with the social club account.

This existed from the very moment the game got released, not only in 2019.

Heck, I'm playing on PC now (Steam FTW!) and if I go to said social club website I can still see my progress on PS3. Because, from R*'s pov, the SC account is the one which counts.

It's nothing new.... even existed back on PS3.

I assume you had to do that for the online play? Cause I played the single player GTA5 on my 360 without ever creating such an account.

Would assume so, since the GTA:O character transferral was a thing on GTA5's PC release.

Początkowo opublikowane przez ....:

But its pretty clear why they do it - if your game is popular enough why give a cut to a third party store.

Well, Epic owns Rocket League and Fall Guys now, so they're first party studios.

So apply your own logic to it.

I agree it sucks retroactively, but Epic is Epic and I don't like them any more than you do.

[ShelLuser]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Crazy Tiger:

I assume you had to do that for the online play? Cause I played the single player GTA5 on my 360 without ever creating such an account.

Good point, that's certainly possible, yups. Online was still very premature back in those days, the whole GTAO concept was even delayed by half a year or so after the original release.

But even so, the point still stands: the only way for R* to set up such a connection on console and PC is courtesy of a dedicated launcher to make it happen.. You also see this phenomenon in the R* gamehubs where some people on Steam got auto-linked while starting a new R* game (long before 2019 I might add); the launcher picked up their Steam account, noticed the existing link with a SC account and carried on, automatically.

[Start_Running]

Początkowo opublikowane przez ....:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Start_Running:

Maybe not Rockstar, but GoG has been around near as Stteam.
And Battle.net predates both if I'm not mistaken.

Yes and as i said before i dont like it but i have no issue at all if a publisher does this from the start. I have a problem when such things happen after purchase.

Why?
I mean you can still use steam to launch afterwards.

Początkowo opublikowane przez ....:

I'm glad this "1 launcher per publisher" seems to have stopped a bit. But its pretty clear why they do it - if your game is popular enough why give a cut to a third party store.

Not stopped. More just a matter that the publishers with catalogs large/popular enough to make it worth their while have all done it now.

[Tev]

Początkowo opublikowane przez ShelLuser:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Crazy Tiger:

I assume you had to do that for the online play? Cause I played the single player GTA5 on my 360 without ever creating such an account.

Good point, that's certainly possible, yups. Online was still very premature back in those days, the whole GTAO concept was even delayed by half a year or so after the original release.

But even so, the point still stands: the only way for R* to set up such a connection on console and PC is courtesy of a dedicated launcher to make it happen.. You also see this phenomenon in the R* gamehubs where some people on Steam got auto-linked while starting a new R* game (long before 2019 I might add); the launcher picked up their Steam account, noticed the existing link with a SC account and carried on, automatically.

The amount of threads on Help & Tips on "how do I unlink my game from my Social Club account" during those days, lol.

[Crazy Tiger]

Początkowo opublikowane przez ShelLuser:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Crazy Tiger:

I assume you had to do that for the online play? Cause I played the single player GTA5 on my 360 without ever creating such an account.

Good point, that's certainly possible, yups. Online was still very premature back in those days, the whole GTAO concept was even delayed by half a year or so after the original release.

But even so, the point still stands: the only way for R* to set up such a connection on console and PC is courtesy of a dedicated launcher to make it happen.. You also see this phenomenon in the R* gamehubs where some people on Steam got auto-linked while starting a new R* game (long before 2019 I might add); the launcher picked up their Steam account, noticed the existing link with a SC account and carried on, automatically.

Oh, not disputing that. But it's very much possible someone played that game without ever creating a Rockstar account, just as me.

Heck, I accidentally found out I have an Origin account due to me having the predecessor EA Account from The Sims games which I also used on the consoles. Regarding the EA Accounts, those were used to get your Dragon Age Origins and 2 choices into the Inquisition game since those were different console generations.

Such accounts are most certainly not a new phenomenon, no.

[( ( < < <🤖> > > ) )]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Crazy Tiger:

Początkowo opublikowane przez ragefifty50:

thanks Crazy Tiger

this is where i will be when it gets real bad....

I haven't used it myself yet, mind. But I hear good things about it.

I watched a youtube... playnite looks like its going to get better and better...

at the moment i havent got a need
as i only have one game that needs
a different launcher... and steam is fine...

but i can see a lot of people getting into playnite
if they currently have a few launchers and want to
really simplify their gaming experience...

[Judgmental Amaterasu]

What even is this whine? Companies deciding to use their own launcher for their products doesn't magically make the games unplayable or require any massive hoops to leap through.

[....]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Damp Wizard Sleeve:

What even is this whine? Companies deciding to use their own launcher for their products doesn't magically make the games unplayable or require any massive hoops to leap through.

You do realize that you are making a new contract with a third party (without the option to not do so because if you dont you lose access to something you already bought) that probably includes selling your data for marketing?

But yes its not new to me that people still dont seem to understand how valuable data is these days - even after companies like facebook have a net worth of almost 1000 Billion Dollars. I wouldnt even be suprised if data soon or is already beeing used for example for credit ratings, risk assessment for insurance etc.

[Mad Scientist]

Początkowo opublikowane przez ....:

The problem is - more and more publishers and companys seem to either change that themselves afterwards - often years later - or companies buying games and forcing people to make accounts on their own sites. I never agreed to this and i have no real way to get my money back after access was taken away from me

If you bought it on Steam you still have access to the game. If they remove it from the store, it'll not be available for purchase. You re not losing access to it whatsoever.

As for "forcing" people, no, again once you have a license on Steam you have access to it, just like Rocket League players can still play from Steam.

As for other games, they're available to purchase through Steam but on the Store Page may say an account is required there. That makes Steam the 3rd party app in that scenario, as the rights-holders want their site/service to be used for their game, which I must emphasize does not belong to Steam.

Początkowo opublikowane przez ....:

But now with more and more third party accounts and launchers that also means - correct me if im wrong - that if a company dissapears i will also lose access to said game even if i bought it on steam since it wont work without the third party account/launcher?

In that case, Steam is the 3rd party app when playing games that belong to a rights holder on another platform. Don't think because you buy it on Steam, that it makes Steam the original party. Often, Steam is the 3rd party app. So either buy a game or do not, but be aware on the Store Page when something tells you it requires an account for a specific service.

Początkowo opublikowane przez ....:

If this is the future of steam i m really starting to question why i should buy further games on steam and not simply - if i really want a game - always use the cheapest shop.

You can purchase wherever is convenient for you, but that does not make "the future of Steam" questionable or to worry about it, you're being worried about things where you don't seemingly understand half of it is Steam as the 3rd party.