Digital distribution stunt could scare gamers away

Direct-download game services like Steam are convenient and quick, but they come with caveats. This week, fans of a popular classic games download service received an unwelcome reminder of one of the biggies: if the seller goes out of business, gamers could lose access to the downloadable titles they own.

[Letros]

I don't think anyone really took CDProjekt seriously with the fake gog.com "closure"...

[HeroXIV]

I took it seriously until wise people like yourself made comments on "it's just going out of beta" but when I did think it had gone under I had complete faith I'd be able to download and back-up any games.

Also this stunt hasn't put me of gog. Gog do a great job and actually bought Baldur's Gate today. Good game but REALLY D+D inspired/entrenched.

[JsonHenry]

Steam has in its EULA that if they do go to close down one day that you will be given the tools and the chance to burn all of your purchased games to disc.

[El-Fenemeno1213]

i'm scared :'(

[theonlylolking]

As long as I can play and buy my games on a disc I am fine.

[Christopher]

Uh... they are legally required to give you a notice of them going out of business as well as the opportunity to download all items you own prior to the full closure of the business.

If you were scared by this, you didn't even know to read their initial posting which said they would allow everyone to download all of their items at a later point.

[imvix]

Lol true but consider under current circumstances its sony and microsoft more liable to go out of business then services like steam. Both micro and sony have done nothing but make losses this gen. Steam and other DD atleast make a profit.

If sony or micro went under users would have no hope of playing mp games. The situation is quite different with DD services on PC.

[Chris_TC]

They're not legally required to notify you. Read their terms of service.
They clearly state that the service may close at any time. It's your responsibility to download and backup all the stuff you buy from them.

[Christopher]

They are LEGALLLY REQUIRED to notify you if THEY ARE GOING OUT OF BUSINESS.

This is the same as if you buy a warranty from a retailer that's going out of business and will no longer be able to support said warranty.

[gamingdroid]

What is in the "Terms of Service" is only enforceable if it complies with state/local laws.

All business are required to comply with local/state laws. Because it is in writing and agreed to it, doesn't make it legal nor enforceable.

[DrillaKid]

I'd never support full DD; I always want hard copies of games that I can keep, sell or trade. I dont think even MS or Apple (who dont support Blu Ray) truly believe in full scale DD.

[TurkeySub]

It was nothing more than a PR stunt, everyone took the bate without even considering the information surrounding it...

[Roper316]

The day games are DD only I will just quit gaming and find a new hobby.

[house]

in a way i agree with you if it does become dd only i will have to think hard if i still want to game and that's because i been gaming since i was about 3 or 4 so hopefully it never really becomes a reality for a while or never for that matter.

[monkeys]

dd is just a way devs can control what we do with the content we buy. i want real copies of games

[Wolf873]

So if Steam shuts down, my games are useless!!? I hope Steam guys have a backup plan, say even if this does happen, they can send out some sort of a code or patch so games can play without signing in.

[punisher99]

Since you dont actually own downloads. I'd never download anything that cost 50 or 60 bucks.

[ATi_Elite]

I only download from Steam because their EULA states that if they go out of business they will provide the tools so you can burn all your games to a disc.

and release software updates to run the game from the steam folder without a Steam server.

[hazelamy]

they may say they will but i doubt they'll bother putting out patches for every game on steam so they can be played without access to the steam servers.

[hazelamy]

this is why i don't like drm, and why i will never use a service like onlive.
when, and i do mean when, onlive shuts down everybody who "bought" games on there will lose them, will they let everybody who paid for a game on there download a copy, or will they send them a copy?

that stunt has achieved one thing though, i'd never heard of gog before this.