I think this is due to the new California law. I wonder if there will be any carveouts for some games that let you make an offline backup, or if the Steam licensing scheme means that all products offered on Steam are licensed.
But at the end of the day, I’d rather own what I pay for. It’s good to make the distinction, though.
I don’t care.
I’ve used Steam (legally) for almost two decades. If something were to suddenly go wrong and it’s done and I lose everything, I’ll just be thankful for all that time I didn’t have to deal with the alternarives.
I don’t care about owning games, I just play them until I’m done, and that’s all I’ve ever done thanks to Steam, just play.
Okay but if you’re renting for life, what happens if the game is delisted or the online store closes?
if a game gets delisted you still have it on steam (common for games that get remasters, or expiring licences).
a very recent example is horizon zero dawn (owners of the original have the original). historical owners of skyrim legendary edition still own legendary edition and is not a copy of special/anniversary edition
if the store closes, iirc Gaben has claimed that in the case they shut down for some reason, they will remove steam drm from the executables, but thats a game of trustmebro.
I guess steam is a good actor (doing a lot for Linux too), but sadly it’s not the case of every business
I think you know the answer: your copy goes poof. It’s up to you to decide if the convenience is worth it.
Steam’s TOS does cover you a bit on the first part; an unlisted game must still be available for previous purchasers, but the publisher or developer is not obligated to keep it functioning. They aren’t allowed to intentionally sabotage the files on the depot though; steam can and has rolled back changes when a developer tries this.
I’m actually fine with this distinction; most games I buy are Indies anyway, and most can easily be backed up outside of Steam. On top of that, nothing lasts forever, even software. Hardware platforms change, dependencies shift, and over time things break.
We should try to preserve games, and not accept them artificially breaking, but we shouldn’t expect things to last forever, for free, either.
Likewise, no online platform lives forever. I quite like Steam, I think it’s been a positive force for players and developers, and I think it will be around for quite some time. Someday, eventually, it will go away. But you have to trust someone, at some point.
If that is a problem for you, buy from a place that gives you more control, like GOG.
