Is it LEGAL to sell boxed games with MISSING install DVDs, Valve ?

[flowingriver777]

I am somebody who likes to walk into games shops and pick up physical copies of games. I like to put the game box on my shelf next to other games I have legally bought in the last 25 years. Unfortunately, just about any Steam-linked game comes with missing install DVDs in the box. Often there is just 1 install DVD in the box where there should be 3, 4 or 5. You have to download the rest of the game from Steam, which takes several hours on my slow internet connection and eats into my 50GB a month ADSL data download cap horribly.

These boxed games cost anywhere from 20 to 100 Dollars where I buy them. Install DVDs cost just a few cents a piece to press and include in a game box in 2018. Yet the install DVDs are ALWAYS - strangely - missing from the boxed Steam games I buy. You rattle the shrinkwrapped game box in the store a bit and think you hear the install DVDs included inside. You open the box post-purchase and it turns out there is just 1 DVD - the rest of the install DVDs are NOT in the box. About 80% of the game you just bought for 60 to 80 Dollars or so is NOT INCLUDED INSIDE THE PHYSICAL GAME BOX. It sits on an internet server operated by your company.

My question to you, Valve, is very simple. Is what you are doing actually LEGAL in the dozens of countries you appear to be doing this in?

You - the paying consumer - are being sold a physical box that APPEARS to include the full game on install DVDs. That is what you are paying money for in the store. Yet the install DVDs - costing just cents to include in the box - are NOT in the box when you open it.

Could a film studio sell a Blu-Ray collection called "The Complete Alien Films Collection" for 120 Dollars, and then get away with including just 1 Alien movie on Blu-Ray, and requiring you to download the rest of the Alien films from the Internet?

Might said film studio get SUED by consumers for trying to pull such a cheap stunt?

Then why do YOU, Valve, pull this exact stunt with just about every physical game box sold in bricks and mortar retail stores?

How many other products are there where you are sold something in a physical box that can perfectly hold 3 to 5 optical discs, and only the 1st install disc is included in the box?

Why does the box make a SOUND like several discs are in it when you shake it a bit, and then there is only 1 install disc included when you open it?

Have you people even CHECKED whether doing this is LEGAL in the countries you do this in?

Giving the APPEARANCE that you are buying a read-to-use physical copy of something, and then finding out AFTER opening the box that 80% of the GAME DATA you bought is NOT in the box?

Or did you just say "We are Steam. We are big now. We can do whatever we want."?

Please tell me, Valve. What does a man have to do these days to be able to get a complete set of install DVDs when buying a game in a store?

In the 1980s, you got all your game discs in the box.

In the 1990s, you got all your game discs in the box.

In the 2000s, you got all your game discs in the box.

In the 2010s, VALVE suddenly decided that there should only be 1 little disc in the box, and the other 3 or 4 or 5 floating somewhere in the Internet cloud.


One more time - Is what you are doing actually LEGAL, Valve?

Bonus question - If it is LEGAL in some countries - I'm guessing that in many it actually isn't - is doing business this way ETHICAL?

Is this how the game buying experience in a physical store should be? 60 to 100 Dollars for a physical game box with 3, 4, 5 install discs MISSING from the box?


Thank you for your time, Valve. Lets see if you people can provide an even halfway coherent answer to my questions.

[Falsus Te Deum]

No valve here. This is a user forum.

[SpunkyJones]

Steam doesn’t sell physical copies of games, your rant is for the publishers. They can put what they want in the box.

[Forcen]

First of all, I could see how this would be frustrating.

Still you your frustration is a bit misdirected, valve are not doing this.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Do they come with valid AND not used game keys?

It is fine.

[Start_Running]

It's legal. SO long as they include a valid key for steam or some other distro platform. THe disks were never what you were purchasing. WHat you were purchasing ijust happened to be housed on the discs.

[wowegoo]

I understand the frustration of paying expensive games to not have the entire phisical copy of the game (Valve give you this option once you downloaded all game in 2 formats and is easy to make a complete backup in your favorite format) but if is legal or ethical idk. If they do, is legal. All companies try to cut as much as they can to center efforts in other aspects of the game to make it competitive (i.e.: phisical copies, languages,...) even want money BEFORE the game is launched that is a thing i never goona do anymore. Time changes, the industry also.

[Dagnabbit]

It is perfectly legal. The product you are buying is the license for the game, not the physical discs. The physical install discs are purely a convenience that they're not obligated to provide. As long as you are getting a valid license key, you got the product you paid for.

[cinedine]

You are buying the license for the game. Not the media. The game also comes with the big warning "requires a free Steam account to activate". Any game on Steam would need to be patched up-to-date anyway, so anything but a day-one purchase might require a near-full download anyway.

And unless it's a Valve game, it's not on Valve.

Also, WTF is with the whitepsace on the end of your post.

[J4MESOX4D]

Originally posted by flowingriver777:

I am somebody who likes to walk into games shops and pick up physical copies of games. I like to put the game box on my shelf next to other games I have legally bought in the last 25 years. Unfortunately, just about any Steam-linked game comes with missing install DVDs in the box. Often there is just 1 install DVD in the box where there should be 3, 4 or 5. You have to download the rest of the game from Steam, which takes several hours on my slow internet connection and eats into my 50GB a month ADSL data download cap horribly

You're not buying physical games anymore - you are buying a digital licence in box. The discs are provided by the publisher (Not Valve) and can contain whatever they want. GTA V for example had 7 discs and still required a 10gb download to complete the initial installation. It's also had many gigs worth of updates since. Discs have a very small capacity and games are growing in size.

Even console games require day one updates or further installation - COD WW2 needed a 10gb update just to get the game working. Soon discs will be completely obsolete altogether and publushers wont even bother including partial data for users to initiate with.

[Drab]

Yes, it's legal.

/Thread

[Joker]

My internet download speed is at least as fast as my DVD drive's read speed. Stuff like that is why this is happening. It is progress, and you just happen to be one being left behind. You should be mad/frustrated at your ISP if you can't download games in a reasonable amount of time.

50 GBs a month data cap? I download more than that in a single day.

[Paratech2008]

By the time you get the game, most of the data may be obsolete. Games frequently get updates even day 1 and for months after release. I couldn't use any retail DVDs I had to install those games at this point as they'd need massive updates to run.

Steam requires even single player games to be up to date, so using retail DVDs to install Steam games is unpractical at best.

[Gus the Crocodile]

Originally posted by flowingriver777:

Why does the box make a SOUND like several discs are in it when you shake it a bit, and then there is only 1 install disc included when you open it?

This was my favourite bit. They're not engineering advanced acoustic tricks, it's just a box. If there's only one install disc in the box, then the sound you hear when you shake it is, by definition, the sound one install disc in a box makes.

[Winged One]

couple things..


First, "Steam" is doing nothing, they are not the ones to ship physical copies, the publishers are..

Second, yes it is legal.. you are pruchasing a software license, as long as that license is included anything else is a bonus..

Third, do you have any idea how many DvD's it would take? games these days are often 50GB+. the average DvD contains a capacity around 4.7GB.. do the math on how many discs that takes..

Fourth, I hate to tell you but optical media is pretty much dead at this point as far as software goes.. Windows now gets shipped on USB, and most other "packaged software" just contains an activation key and a link of where to download it.. this isn't unique to gaming.. heck, most case manufacturers have already began phasing out a bay for an optical drive..

Fifth, Valve is not here.. this is a user forum, and even if they were here its not them sending out the physical copies, its the games publisher..

[J4MESOX4D]

Originally posted by Gus the Crocodile:

Originally posted by flowingriver777:

Why does the box make a SOUND like several discs are in it when you shake it a bit, and then there is only 1 install disc included when you open it?

This was my favourite bit. They're not engineering advanced acoustic tricks, it's just a box. If there's only one install disc in the box, then the sound you hear when you shake it is, by definition, the sound one install disc in a box makes.

It’s funny that the OP shakes the box rather than simply just reads how many discs are included which is no doubt written on the box anyway!