SEV on Steam?

[Phoenix-D]

Valve may not go bust..or they might. Game companies do go splat quite routinely, even when they make good games.

More to the point, there's nothing stopping Valve from saying "Ok, we're doing a major upgrade of Steam." ..and then "not supporting" older games with that upgrade. End result: they stop working.

[Fyron]

Raving Marsupial:

Valve will go bust; it is only a matter of time. It is the way of the industry. But even before then, they will stop supporting older games, so your purchased games will become unusable before they die off...

Valve and Steam are just a blip. Its the entire concept that has people riled up.

el Scoffo:

wilhil did actually address #2. I don't like the "unless they dropped prices" bit thrown on the end, but he did address it.

I think software should be free to trade as much as you want like that after you have bought it, and I compeltly disagree with what they do to charge people to transfer, I think you should be allowed to dis-associate your key with steam and give it to someone else for free... unless they droped prices.

[Combat Wombat]

Valve not only makes good games but popular games which is where it counts, and since they have become their own publisher they aren't being screwed over like other game makers. Also even if Valve stops making good games themselves they will continue to publish games using steam. Look at other games companies that have gone under anyways. Westwoods multiplayer was picked up by EA and every game all the way back to the original C&C still work and EA is 50x more evil than valve.

They are not going to stop supporting older games, that doesnt even make sense with the way steam is. All of the games use the same multiplayer system so any upgrade would be for all the games...

[Combat Wombat]

Also look at Valves support to this day they are still releasing updates for the original HL which was released in 1998, 8 years of support and updates and no sign that they are gonna stop updating it if theres a bug thats found. That is one of the great thing about steam they can release fixes whenever its needed and theres no extra hassle to the user because its updated automatically

[wilhil]

That is exactly what I think... and fyron, thanks for saying that! when I said about drop prices, I mean not for transfers but for games... but that is a complete change in strategy, for example I mean rather than £30ish for a new game then transfering costs £10 (not sure, never done it) if they only charged 5-15 for a game, I would not want to swap it... I dont want anything more said on this bit as it is just my personal view and not really on topic

as to number 1 and 3,

1, This is a bad thing to say, but if there was something like that to happen, I am sure that there will be a crack released to allow you to play without... a lot of game studios when they go down now infact offer a no-cd .exe version, or some sort of support, this will most likly happen officially or unofficially but I will bet that it would happen.

3, They would not do this, steam may seem evil, all large companies may seem evil to some, but at the end of the day they all rely on customers, Apart from ISP's, I can not think of a single circumstance where any company suddenly starts to charge for a service that was once free. even on ISP's it is only a change to the price or terms and conditions.

At the end of the day, you pay for the software, it is yours, if they did suddenly start charging, there would be law suits all around! I am almost 100% sure that in the future, there will be games on steam that require a monthly subscription, but they will never suddenly start to charge for a game that was a once off payment.

I want to remake a point ive said all throughout the posts here and my beleifs, I hate the fact that almost every big developer treats everyone on a pc that they are potential pirates, I think pc is superior for strategy, fps, and simulation, but with copy protection methods like star force coming in that interfear with other pc uses, gaming on the pc may soon be over... steam on the otherhand, not sure what it does to check, but it is the first thing I have used that really does not interfear and apart from the initial wait of loading a new game, there is no evidence of it working, and I only get the benefits such as instant patching... again this is a good feature from broadband... As I said, when everyone has broadband and faster machines so steam is invisible, and you ONLY get the benefits from it, that is when people will start liking it.

if you didnt before, read my post here http://www.gamedev.net/community/for...opic_id=353819 (again, I say I downloaded SE:IV, dont judge unless you read the whole post!)

[wilhil]

Combat Wombat said:
Also look at Valves support to this day they are still releasing updates for the original HL which was released in 1998, 8 years of support and updates and no sign that they are gonna stop updating it if theres a bug thats found. That is one of the great thing about steam they can release fixes whenever its needed and theres no extra hassle to the user because its updated automatically

This is why people hate it, patching and slow internet connections. This feature is a godsend for multiplayer users, but for solo players with slow internet, it is a nag... I am not sure you can turn auto updating off, if you can, ignore what I say. but anyway, this is why I think steam is ahead of its time, when everyone has broadband, that is when you can truly appreciate all the benefits of it.

[Combat Wombat]

Yes auto updating can be turned off

[Fyron]

Some people are a little too focused on Steam itself, rather than the concept that others have expressed dislike for...

[Arkcon]

Well, if Malfador has the time to do another question and answer session on the IRC, I'll get a client program so I can directly ask what STEAM means to Malfador, and what STEAM will mean to the enduser's execution of the game, and we'll see where program updates, Play-by-Web, Play-by-Email, and stand alone execution of the game stands with and without complying with STEAM's requirements.

After a clear response, I'll make a silent, personal decision to purchase SE5, or not.

[Phoenix-D]

Arkcon: SEV is *not* going to be published on STEAM at the moment, so asking would be silly. Its a hypothetical question.