What happens to our games if steam closes down ?

[32anChips]

what with all these uncertain times coming up, would we all still be able to play our games off line. Because they don't work if your not connected or signed in?
I'm just thinking as lots of stuff is happening like electric price going up, big shops an business's closing overnight

[eram]

if steam "closes down" you can be sure the world is about to end. so no worries really. buy some drm free single player games just in case you have some electrically still.

[Psykrom]

I personally think you should read/watch less propaganda. It is not healthy to live in fear.

[Kuroodo]

You should be more worried about your country banning Steam, as that is extremely more likely to happen than Steam shutting down. For example, this year the Indonesian government blocked Steam and other game platforms. The people were pissed, but fortunately they were unblocked after pressure from the public.

The best thing to do in such cases is move to a different country or take matters into your own hands.

[Asfalt]

I used to play offline mode when I went to the countryside on summers. I had no internet there.
Look into how to be able to launch into offline mode.

That being said, if you end up in the situation that you don't have internet access for a long time (caused by political/economical events) or if steam closes down because of the same causes, I think there would be more important aspects to be worried about (food, water, survival and well being).

Though I don't think its worth worrying about this.
Play some games, I guess.

[Muppet among Puppets]

Originally posted by Number32anChips:

I'm just thinking as lots of stuff is happening like electric price going up

Obstacles are motors of invention and change.
Look how many decades stuff was burnt instead of using solar energy. It looked as if there was no need for change.

There was allways a deadline for stuff that could be burnt. You never wondered about why that does not seem to bother most people? Should their next step be to give up?

[xAlphaStarOmegax]

If Steam shuts down you and anyone else who relies on Steam will lose their games more than likely, that's because Steam isn't drm free. When you purchase a game from Steam you're basically just getting a license to use the game, sucks I know. I stopped buying games from Steam a few months ago, I only do drm free now that way if something does happen I won't ever lose my games. I'm old fashioned, I feel like when you purchase a game it should be yours ya know. So yea, I personally recommend building a library up of drm free games that don't require any launchers or internet access.

[AustrAlien2010]

Then we would have to make backups.

There's a backup feature if people need this. You can read about it here:
https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/4593-5CB7-DC3C-64F0

[mejwen]

Originally posted by Number32anChips:

what with all these uncertain times coming up, would we all still be able to play our games off line. Because they don't work if your not connected or signed in?
I'm just thinking as lots of stuff is happening like electric price going up, big shops an business's closing:jcdenton: overnight

If Steam closes down, your games will be gone too, because you rent them from Steam only. I believe that stashing these games on drive won't work, because Steam might need some updates from your every now and then when you play their games.

To fully own games, buy them on GOG and have them on additional hard drive in case of SHTF.

[Jaunitta 🌸]

If Valve was shutting down very likely it would be sold off to another busness and the transfer of Steam would continue. It is a business. And like developers selling off their games and rights to other developers that take them over. Happening as we speak with games moving ownership.
Been asked before many times.
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/0/1711816076697921219/

[32anChips]

Just wondering that's all, I did hope a steam HR employee would message in an say "blaa blaa blaaar" 🤣 or something.

[Aachen]

They’re user forums — it’s very rare for anyone to speak for Valve hereüpon.

[Blupanda]

Valve is a multi-billion dollar company. They will stay afloat for many more years to come. I know there is some competition coming from Epic Games Store and Microsoft PC Game Pass, but Steam is still the biggest player in this area. So nothing to fear.

[Paratech2008]

They just should sticky a post about this issue as it's asked so often.

[rawWwRrr]

Originally posted by Paratech2008:

They just should sticky a post about this issue as it's asked so often.

Not that anyone actually reads stickies, but Valve wouldn't want the answer to be "official". If they should sticky anything, it would be about warning users about believing random Discord users telling them they were reported by accident, because we see those posts ALL THE TIME.

[Paratech2008]

We see these posts all the time and the answer is always the same, there are no promises and the licenses can be revoked at any time for any reason.

Heck, that's true of all digital content, even GOG. Nothing is guaranteed. Treat digital games, music, movies, tv shows as disposable, as they could disappear one day.

Do we need to discuss this over and over again?