You gain access to the installer files. This means that, if you wanted, you could back up them up on as many hard drives as you want and have them for the rest of the your life. Steam, on the other hands, you are purchasing a license to play the game.
This depends on the game. The DRM is opt-in. A lot of the games that are available on GOG are also DRM free on Steam. For other games, they may have DRM, but its usually because the publisher isn’t willing to sell without, meaning its not on GOG anyway.
Ubisoft has proven itself to remove games from the market and become unplayable. You also legally agree in the Steam User Agreement that all games in Steam don’t belong to you. This isn’t a legal copyrighted material but the concept of ownership of the game at all in Steam is legally prohibited to own.
It’s way worse because it’s not EULA, it’s the Steam User Agreement contract. The same contract that says if you agree, you can not sue Valve corporation. The same contract that decides to sell your data to 3rd parties. The same contract for locking your account in any reason or time.
EULA protects games from being sold on shady websites and the developers. Steam User Agreement doesn’t protect anyone against Valve Corporation.
Ummm if you don’t think GOG or Itch don’t have similar clauses you’re in for bitter disappointment.
GOG also reserve the right to terminate your account. You have a license to use it. Almost all games on GOG have a ‘you don’t own it, you own a license to use it’ clause as well. No arbitration clauses though.
Itch has a class action waiver, and many games on it have a ‘you don’t own it, you own a license to use it’ clause.
That’s every license of every commercial game no matter how it’s sold, unless it’s open source. So technically even with GoG you only get the license to play. You can only use the installer to install and play the game. You can’t resell it or decompile it for commercial use since you don’t own the binary code.
You can do the same with the Steam installation files for games that do not have DRM - those that do wouldn’t appear in Itch or GOG in the first place.
You don’t own games generally. It’s always a license for software use. You may own the game, if you buy the company and the license is fully under its control.
Software is not a product. And there is no guarantee you will be able to run it forever, even if you made a copy of your entire setup. It’s especially the case with Windows, because it’s bound to a specific hardware that will break one day. Microsoft also cares less and less about gamers (see what they do with their operating system for consumers) and they have a way out with XBox. My bet is that Windows is not making money for Microsoft anymore and it will degrade more and more. Gabe knows it and has a strategy against it. If you’re a gamer and want have games on PC, use Linux and support the good cause.
Is that not also true of itch and GOG?
You gain access to the installer files. This means that, if you wanted, you could back up them up on as many hard drives as you want and have them for the rest of the your life. Steam, on the other hands, you are purchasing a license to play the game.
This depends on the game. The DRM is opt-in. A lot of the games that are available on GOG are also DRM free on Steam. For other games, they may have DRM, but its usually because the publisher isn’t willing to sell without, meaning its not on GOG anyway.
Ubisoft has proven itself to remove games from the market and become unplayable. You also legally agree in the Steam User Agreement that all games in Steam don’t belong to you. This isn’t a legal copyrighted material but the concept of ownership of the game at all in Steam is legally prohibited to own.
That sounds like a reason to stop buying Ubisoft games, not switch from Steam.
Pretty sure that’s in almost every game EULA ever. May be a 1-up for Itch but I’m pretty sure almost all games on GOG have similar terms.
It’s way worse because it’s not EULA, it’s the Steam User Agreement contract. The same contract that says if you agree, you can not sue Valve corporation. The same contract that decides to sell your data to 3rd parties. The same contract for locking your account in any reason or time.
EULA protects games from being sold on shady websites and the developers. Steam User Agreement doesn’t protect anyone against Valve Corporation.
Ummm if you don’t think GOG or Itch don’t have similar clauses you’re in for bitter disappointment.
GOG also reserve the right to terminate your account. You have a license to use it. Almost all games on GOG have a ‘you don’t own it, you own a license to use it’ clause as well. No arbitration clauses though.
Itch has a class action waiver, and many games on it have a ‘you don’t own it, you own a license to use it’ clause.
That’s why I only get my games from archive.org
That’s every license of every commercial game no matter how it’s sold, unless it’s open source. So technically even with GoG you only get the license to play. You can only use the installer to install and play the game. You can’t resell it or decompile it for commercial use since you don’t own the binary code.
You can do the same with the Steam installation files for games that do not have DRM - those that do wouldn’t appear in Itch or GOG in the first place.
You don’t own games generally. It’s always a license for software use. You may own the game, if you buy the company and the license is fully under its control.
Software is not a product. And there is no guarantee you will be able to run it forever, even if you made a copy of your entire setup. It’s especially the case with Windows, because it’s bound to a specific hardware that will break one day. Microsoft also cares less and less about gamers (see what they do with their operating system for consumers) and they have a way out with XBox. My bet is that Windows is not making money for Microsoft anymore and it will degrade more and more. Gabe knows it and has a strategy against it. If you’re a gamer and want have games on PC, use Linux and support the good cause.
Way ahead of you. Been a Linux user for half my life :)