Do we actually 'own' our Steam games ?

[Utnac]

I also feel obliged to point out that Steam broke the law when they last changed their subscriber agreement by not offering us a way to continue to access our previously purchased games without agreeing to their new more stringent ToS policy. Anything you purchased BEFORE the ToS change falls under the old ToS rules i.e. you do own it.

 

[Utnac]

Your legal right is pretty irrelevent if you have no practical way of using it

So someone has to take Steam to court over it, I'm hoping the EU will do sooner or later. That's how these things work.

 

[HangTime]

The difference is Steam has almost no running costs compared to the income it generates.

It's not like Comet, they don't have to buy, store and transport stock, they don't have any expensive retail outlets rent and staff, their margins are high and it's the game's producers that are taking all the financial risks.

Steam must be one of the most profitable companies in the world, just like iTunes.

The thing is just because a company generates large incomes currently, it doesn't mean to say that it will in the future. Looking longer term if a new technology comes along that makes their service obselete then unless they can react and change to the new market, they could have difficulties. Low operating costs will help of course but if their market shrinks then then can't continue indefinitely.

Finally bear in mind that as far as I'm aware 'Steam' isn't a company in its own right, presumably it all falls under the Valve umbrella so Steam revenue may be subsidising losses elsewhere in the business.

 

[MeMeMeMe]

Steam isn't a company at all, it's the brand name for a piece of software and a service. Valve is the company that runs it, and steam is without a doubt the part of valve that costs the most money to run, and the part that brings in the most revenue and profit.

The games Valve makes are now pretty much a tiny side business. That's one of the reasons they can afford to take so long to release them, and make sure they are polished as close to perfection as they can be.

So someone has to take Steam to court over it, I'm hoping the EU will do sooner or later. That's how these things work.

Yes, exactly. The sooner the better, especially given as an earlier poster commented, valve did actually break consumer law in many countries with when they forced a retroactive change in T&Cs on us just to keep using our games.

But I'm not overly concerned about that, because, after all, local law overrides T&Cs and besides, it people start losing access to their games, think of the massive outcry and widespread return to piracy it will cause. Once consumers cant trust any of the people they buy their games from, they will acquire them some other way. Valve has done a fantastic job earning the trust and goodwill of their user base, I cant see them throwing it away.

 

[ZombieFan]

When you go out and you BUY a BOX, DISC, MANUAL e.t.c. then you DO, completely and UTTERLY OWN it. This has nothing to do with EU Law, or Steam's ToS, if you go out and you buy a box, you own that box. Period.

You will find that Steam will still transfer games between accounts where a proof of purchase is provided, in recognition of this FACT that when you buy a box and a disc, you do actually OWN that box and disc.

Steam will only transfer a license if the proof of purchase is from a authorized seller - https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=1673-IDGK-4694

Therefore, even though I own physical copies of L4D and The Orange Box, I cannot sell it on ebay etc and transfer the game to another account.

I would love to be mistaken, since I would like to sell my copy of L4D. If so, could you give me a detailed list of steps of how to disassociate the game with my account so I can sell it on? Thanks

 

[~Divine~Wind~]

With the new Digital License laws from the EU (One thing I respect about the EU at least is niceties like this), Steam will have to comply to them, the new Steam Market seems like it is a prototype of that...though I don't know entirely if that is the case.

However we in the UK are unique in that EULA's are void anyway, I don't know about other agreements and if the recent Steam one awhile ago applies.

I had a quick look at that steam market thing, I only found rubbish on there from the TF2 cash shop lol