Does anyone else also think that buying Steam games makes even less sense now that this has happened and Steam has clarified that we’re only buying licenses?
I’m asking this as it feels like right now Itch.io might be the only company that allows devs to directly sell and share their binaries/source code and even then, since Itch.io is under the MIT license there’s no guarantee that they wouldn’t go source available and then proprietary afterwards.
I feel like as gamers, we’re kind of in a shitty situation atm as old games are highly unlikely to go FOSS, Steam’s not “selling” games (they legally can’t say that anymore), and the last potential solution isn’t guaranteed :/
It’s hard to see games preservation going anywhere in North America with this ruling. We got dealt a real shit hand man
Sorry for the rambling, I’m just real unhappy about the state of the gaming ecosystem
Sorry to break it to you, but this has been the state of games purchasing/preservation since at least the 90s. Check instruction manuals for old cartridge games, most have disclaimers in the back that you only purchased a license.
The bright side is that despite all of that, games preservation is still going quite strong. Just through piracy and not entirely legal means. This really doesn’t change anything, except online only games won’t be as easy to preserve as people had hoped. This isn’t a step back in any way. It’s just a confirmation that things are still what they have been for decades.
You were never actually able to buy a game, it has always been a “license” to play it. Even for physical cartridges and disks. The difference being, legally speaking, if you actually owned it, you could make and sell copies of it or take the assets from the game and make a new game with them and then sell that. Owning a license means you can play it, but cant make copies or reuse the assets.
Even with physical media, that license could in theory be taken away if the rights holder chose too. Realistically it would be impossible to enforce since there is no way of tracking down all the physical copies, so no one has ever tried to do it. But legally it works exactly the same as on steam. The only change is that a new california law is going to require steam, and other stores, to be transparent about it, but nothing is actually different.
Even on GOG, where they give you a DRM free binary, if the rights holder doesnt want it available anymore, they have to take it away. You wouldn’t be able to download it and if you had saved a copy of the DRM free binary, playing it would legally be the same as piracy at that point.
Despite all of this, game preservation is alive and well and isn’t going anywhere.
Buying isn’t owning from literally any game company. When you buy digital you own a license to play that game. The license can be revoked at any time.
When you buy a physical game you still only buy a license to play that game, and the license can be revoked at any time. The only difference here is you own the physical disk that media is on, and it’s harder (not impossible) for the owner of that media (the one who sells the license) to revoke the license to that media.
I appreciate that people are pissed about this but it was a thing before digital media took off and the only difference between a steam game and a game from Epic is the inclusion (on Epic) of an offline installer store that allows you to install the game without connecting to the internet.
It’s the same license.
I’m also going to add the PlayStation, Xbox, and even Nintendo have removed titles from people’s libraries when their agreement to license the media to the users lapsed or were removed. So it’s not just Valve.
I only buy games on steam when they’re like $5 or less.
I have less than $200 spent in total over the last 16/17 years on steam, and I don’t see myself breaking the $5 limit.
I even pay GOG non sale prices if a steam sale jogs my memory of a game I want.
Sailing the high seas isn’t feasible right now since I don’t control the internet here and I’m not going to risk me not knowing something and landing the owner with potential legal trouble. But I will hopefully be dusting my hat off soon.
Does anyone else also think that buying Steam games makes even less sense now that this has happened and Steam has clarified that we’re only buying licenses?
I’m asking this as it feels like right now Itch.io might be the only company that allows devs to directly sell and share their binaries/source code and even then, since Itch.io is under the MIT license there’s no guarantee that they wouldn’t go source available and then proprietary afterwards.
I feel like as gamers, we’re kind of in a shitty situation atm as old games are highly unlikely to go FOSS, Steam’s not “selling” games (they legally can’t say that anymore), and the last potential solution isn’t guaranteed :/
It’s hard to see games preservation going anywhere in North America with this ruling. We got dealt a real shit hand man
Sorry for the rambling, I’m just real unhappy about the state of the gaming ecosystem
Sorry to break it to you, but this has been the state of games purchasing/preservation since at least the 90s. Check instruction manuals for old cartridge games, most have disclaimers in the back that you only purchased a license.
The bright side is that despite all of that, games preservation is still going quite strong. Just through piracy and not entirely legal means. This really doesn’t change anything, except online only games won’t be as easy to preserve as people had hoped. This isn’t a step back in any way. It’s just a confirmation that things are still what they have been for decades.
You were never actually able to buy a game, it has always been a “license” to play it. Even for physical cartridges and disks. The difference being, legally speaking, if you actually owned it, you could make and sell copies of it or take the assets from the game and make a new game with them and then sell that. Owning a license means you can play it, but cant make copies or reuse the assets.
Even with physical media, that license could in theory be taken away if the rights holder chose too. Realistically it would be impossible to enforce since there is no way of tracking down all the physical copies, so no one has ever tried to do it. But legally it works exactly the same as on steam. The only change is that a new california law is going to require steam, and other stores, to be transparent about it, but nothing is actually different.
Even on GOG, where they give you a DRM free binary, if the rights holder doesnt want it available anymore, they have to take it away. You wouldn’t be able to download it and if you had saved a copy of the DRM free binary, playing it would legally be the same as piracy at that point.
Despite all of this, game preservation is alive and well and isn’t going anywhere.
Buying isn’t owning from literally any game company. When you buy digital you own a license to play that game. The license can be revoked at any time.
When you buy a physical game you still only buy a license to play that game, and the license can be revoked at any time. The only difference here is you own the physical disk that media is on, and it’s harder (not impossible) for the owner of that media (the one who sells the license) to revoke the license to that media.
I appreciate that people are pissed about this but it was a thing before digital media took off and the only difference between a steam game and a game from Epic is the inclusion (on Epic) of an offline installer store that allows you to install the game without connecting to the internet.
It’s the same license.
I’m also going to add the PlayStation, Xbox, and even Nintendo have removed titles from people’s libraries when their agreement to license the media to the users lapsed or were removed. So it’s not just Valve.
Valve even gives you the possibility to backup your game installer, if the game is not DRM protected
A very good point. Thank you.
I only buy games on steam when they’re like $5 or less.
I have less than $200 spent in total over the last 16/17 years on steam, and I don’t see myself breaking the $5 limit.
I even pay GOG non sale prices if a steam sale jogs my memory of a game I want.
Sailing the high seas isn’t feasible right now since I don’t control the internet here and I’m not going to risk me not knowing something and landing the owner with potential legal trouble. But I will hopefully be dusting my hat off soon.