I was of this view but now more and more games these days insist you have steam in order to play them even if you bought the disc from a shop like shogun 2 and metro 2033 etc.
IF steam goes bust?
- Thread starter Fragg
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I was of this view but now more and more games these days insist you have steam in order to play them even if you bought the disc from a shop like shogun 2 and metro 2033 etc.
I'd like to see a reference for Valve saying this. I'd like to believe it but i don't think it can be true.
Also, it would be very difficult for them to do, now that a lot of games bought through steam have third party DRM as well. Should Valve go out of business, they wouldn't be able to legally negotiate with the rights owners to make those things available.
Valve could have course release a tool to remove the parts of each game that are dependent on steam when launched. However, I doubt that would happen - there are so many games, and it would be so much work, a company that has just gone under isn't going to be able to do that.
All that said, I don't think it's worth worrying about. Valve is a privately owned company, not on the public exchange. Valve can't be bought out as long as Gabe wants to run the company, and as long as steam continues to be a viable gaming platform - that looks safe for a long time to come.
Soldato
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As bad as steam going bust would be it could be worse.....
EA buys them out with an offer thay cannot refuse?)
That's another scenario that does not bear thinking about
EA buys them out with an offer thay cannot refuse?)
That's another scenario that does not bear thinking about
Soldato
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In the early days I used to worry about this. But eventually I realised (a) it's unlikely to happen and (b) we're only talking about games here. If my Steam catalogue disappeared I'd be miffed, but life would go on.... quite possibly better than before because I'd have far fewer virtual distractions. 
Soldato
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As bad as steam going bust would be it could be worse.....
EA buys them out with an offer thay cannot refuse?)
That's another scenario that does not bear thinking about
I doubt that EA are sitting on the kind of cash to outright buy Valve, and even that Vivendi wouldn't.
Man of Honour
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There unlikely to happen tbh - someone would buy them up. Considering out few outgoings they must actually have, I am not expecting it.
Soldato
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if steam went down i think they would either have a basic server which will enable games and nothing more (ie no updating) OR just enable any game in your steam list that has been downloaded to be offline. Cant imagine it would be that hard and if trash like APB can rise from the ashes im sure a massive service like steam will have no problems in contining in a basic form should they run out of cash.
at the end of the day the biggest cost to steam must be servers, and if they were that screwed for money they would just restrict bandwidth coming out of it or reduce the amount they have.
at the end of the day the biggest cost to steam must be servers, and if they were that screwed for money they would just restrict bandwidth coming out of it or reduce the amount they have.
Not to mention EA are currently trying (badly) to compete with Origin.
Besides, Steam is part of Valve who are an independent developer, Steam is just a method of distribution. In the event that EA became the owners of Steam I can't imagine all the other big name publishers who have there games on Steam would continue to use it as there would be directly funding there competitors.
Bottom line if steam goes bust it wouldn't be a single publisher that bought them out as they'd lose a substantial amount of business from other publishers.
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2011/0228/technology-gabe-newell-videogames-valve-online-mayhem.html
Don't think i'm going to worry about valve going bankrupt any time soon
and anyone that uses the possibility as an excuse not to buy games from there is a fool
Don't think i'm going to worry about valve going bankrupt any time soon
and anyone that uses the possibility as an excuse not to buy games from there is a fool
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I think if Valve were to die, they would either be bought out or would provide all the games to be downloaded locally for a few months before they fully close their servers. I'm guessing by that time Steam probably wouldn't be providing many new games (hence why they are going busy/closing the service) so it would be more of a Retro download service.
I do think Steam will change over the next 5-10 years into more of a cloud gaming experience (if that is the way the market sways) which would mean all the games we download and install now probably will start to be removed from the servers depending on much it is costing Valve each month to keep them running, or they would port them all to the cloud.
I do think Steam will change over the next 5-10 years into more of a cloud gaming experience (if that is the way the market sways) which would mean all the games we download and install now probably will start to be removed from the servers depending on much it is costing Valve each month to keep them running, or they would port them all to the cloud.
Unlikely. It doesn't cost them much in storage to keep a back catalogue of games. Internet connections aren't fast enough to stream game files as and when we need them.
you lose the right to download all of your games again but you can still use offline mode
*cough*
In 5-10 years it might be
Set your steam to use one of the Eastern Europe servers if you need to download big files on busy days
"I like to buy games because I have a disc and key"
Looking at my old games before the digital download era I very much doubt I would be able to sell them for much, or play them again. They are old. I have fond memories of them but I would rather not play a really dated game from the 1990s on my pc I built in 2011. I only really play old games if I haven't played them before.
There are no advantages to owning a cd anymore because the internet has become so fast.
Steam wont just fold, as others have said if they reach financial difficulty they will be sold on.
Looking at my old games before the digital download era I very much doubt I would be able to sell them for much, or play them again. They are old. I have fond memories of them but I would rather not play a really dated game from the 1990s on my pc I built in 2011. I only really play old games if I haven't played them before.
There are no advantages to owning a cd anymore because the internet has become so fast.
Steam wont just fold, as others have said if they reach financial difficulty they will be sold on.
In 5-10 years it might be
The US has very mixed high-speed broadband coverage.
I doubt it. Whilst they're the most popular Digital Download service at the moment, there are many alternatives that could easily take Steam's place if it was ever to go down.