how safe is my game collection on steam?

[saaya]

Steam is my platform of choice because i trust it wont just shut down or lock some games like other platforms have in the past.

BUT... i noticed several games i bought on steam have vanished...
i still have the game in my library, but the store page is gone
the discussion forums for that game are gone

this is highly unsettling for me...
so does this mean a game publisher can pull a game from steam at any moment?
i thought games that are sold on steam cant just be removed?
I thought games i buy on steam will definitely be around for years and years to come, decades hopefully...

[mimizukari]

Once you own the game it won't ever leave your library, yes, developers/producers can pull their game, and often do when a new yearly release comes out for example, or the game just tanks, or they stop supporting online functions

[saaya]

Originally posted by Shiki Ryougi:

Once you own the game it won't ever leave your library, yes, developers/producers can pull their game, and often do when a new yearly release comes out for example, or the game just tanks, or they stop supporting online functions

thx for the quick reply!

do you know...
are there any requirements for the devs to maintain the game in any way?
or could the game just stop working with the latest windows service pack and... too bad... money down the toilet?

[Astraea Kisaragi]

Licensing issues, trying to advertise games on other platforms, extremly negative responses, can be many reasons. But once you buy a game, is yours, even if it poofs from Steam.

[Lucas]

Originally posted by saaya:

Originally posted by Shiki Ryougi:

Once you own the game it won't ever leave your library, yes, developers/producers can pull their game, and often do when a new yearly release comes out for example, or the game just tanks, or they stop supporting online functions

are there any requirements for the devs to maintain the game in any way?
or could the game just stop working with the latest windows service pack and... too bad... money down the toilet?

There is no real requirment for devs to update their games to the latest software/operating systems.

But games are games, they get old and sometimes stop working so it's only "Money down the toilet" if you don't play/enjoy the game.

[mimizukari]

Originally posted by Lucas:

Originally posted by saaya:

are there any requirements for the devs to maintain the game in any way?
or could the game just stop working with the latest windows service pack and... too bad... money down the toilet?

There is no real requirment for devs to update their games to the latest software/operating systems.

But games are games, they get old and sometimes stop working so it's only "Money down the toilet" if you don't play/enjoy the game.

that's why compatibility mode exists, you can run a game in compatibility mode as far back as XP even iirc.

[saaya]

Originally posted by Astraea Kisaragi:

Licensing issues, trying to advertise games on other platforms, extremly negative responses, can be many reasons. But once you buy a game, is yours, even if it poofs from Steam.

is it though? i bought bullet storm, which, i didnt even know at the time, is a GAME FOR WINDOWS LIVE.
which... is kinda dead...
windows 10 tells me NOT SUPPORTED... huh?
yeah i know there are hacks to make it work, but essentially, the game is unplayable and broken right now...

this really scares me...
it sounds silly, but i bought this game on STEAM, not the shoddy microsoft store, FOR A REASON! but the game is unplayable...

since microsoft gets away with this, does that mean any publisher can get away with it?
could any publisher/dev do the same?
is this legal? it doesnt sound like it SHOULD be legal...?

and valve doesnt seem to care about microsoft fking over people that BOUGHT A GAME ON STEAM?

[76561198218426745]

Operating systems aside, it's certainly possible for a developer to release a patch or update that breaks the game for some of its users, and then simply leave it that way. All games will reach a stage where they are no longer supported by the developer, but a good developer will leave the game in a working state.

[saaya]

Originally posted by habitualaction:

Operating systems aside, it's certainly possible for a developer to release a patch or update that breaks the game for some of its users, and then simply leave it that way. All games will reach a stage where they are no longer supported by the developer, but a good developer will leave the game in a working state.

but there are no rules about this?
so i could put a game on steam that only works after my private server allows it to via auth
and 1 year later i shut the server down?
and thats ok with steam?
really?
there is no rule against this?

[76561198218426745]

I do not know what the developer's agreement with Steam is. Those agreements are generally not made public, and may even be covered by a NDA (non-disclosure agreement.)

I would speculate that developers agree to support the game up to a point, but no game gets permanent support. It's just not financially viable.

[Astraea Kisaragi]

Windows Live (the original) was destined to die, everybody knew it from the start. It was a buggy mess with poor game selection. Luckily many games from there are now ported over to Steam, Batman and Bioshock with no cost.
Bulletstorm is a different story, thanks to EA. I also own the original and the price on Steam, well...guess I wait for a discount in a year or so.
Generally Steam should have a much longer lifespan and they once commented if it happens they will find a way so we can play our games.

[saaya]

Originally posted by habitualaction:

I do not know what the developer's agreement with Steam is. Those agreements are generally not made public, and may even be covered by a NDA (non-disclosure agreement.)

I would speculate that developers agree to support the game up to a point, but no game gets permanent support. It's just not financially viable.

sure, i understand...
but there HAS to be a rule that if a game requires a special server or service, and that shuts down, that the dev has to patch the game before doing so... so he doesnt BRICK the game...
i just cannot believe that its perfectly ok and legal for a publisher/dev to BRICK their game on steam if they feel like it or just dont care...

[saaya]

Originally posted by Astraea Kisaragi:

Windows Live (the original) was destined to die, everybody knew it from the start. It was a buggy mess with poor game selection. Luckily many games from there are now ported over to Steam, Batman and Bioshock with no cost.
Bulletstorm is a different story, thanks to EA. I also own the original and the price on Steam, well...guess I wait for a discount in a year or so.
Generally Steam should have a much longer lifespan and they once commented if it happens they will find a way so we can play our games.

the latter is what im curious about!
thats what i expect from steam, and actually any platform...
if they ever shut down, they remove any DRM or whatever else would brick the game once the platform is gone.

lets assume steam shuts down...
if it happens right now, all my games are essentially gone... right?
is there any agreement or legal statement that valve will FIX all our games before they shut down to make them work without steam?

[76561198218426745]

Valve would remove the requirement to use Steam to play your games. Valve does not offer technical support for third-party games, and would not fix bugs etc. for those games.

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by saaya:

Originally posted by habitualaction:

I do not know what the developer's agreement with Steam is. Those agreements are generally not made public, and may even be covered by a NDA (non-disclosure agreement.)

I would speculate that developers agree to support the game up to a point, but no game gets permanent support. It's just not financially viable.

sure, i understand...
but there HAS to be a rule that if a game requires a special server or service, and that shuts down, that the dev has to patch the game before doing so... so he doesnt BRICK the game...
i just cannot believe that its perfectly ok and legal for a publisher/dev to BRICK their game on steam if they feel like it or just dont care...

That's sort of a think in software development. It's rather unreasonable for a developer to maintain a server in perpetuty throughout all time. You'll find thatthe EULA specifically mentions that clause.

Though to be fair. In many cases, fans are able to release their own serverkits.

[MancSoulja]

Originally posted by Astraea Kisaragi:

Windows Live (the original) was destined to die, everybody knew it from the start. It was a buggy mess with poor game selection. Luckily many games from there are now ported over to Steam, Batman and Bioshock with no cost.
Bulletstorm is a different story, thanks to EA. I also own the original and the price on Steam, well...guess I wait for a discount in a year or so.
Generally Steam should have a much longer lifespan and they once commented if it happens they will find a way so we can play our games.

GFWL is still up and running, It will never die as long as Xbox still exists. Major Nelson said so himself.

As for Steam, Valve have conducted tests as to how Steam will behave when Valve shuts down, they confirmed that everyones installed games would contunue to function as normal.