4 ms·

You can only play them offline as long as it can check in to Steam every few days. If (once) Steam is turned off, it will no longer be able to do that.

Aeolun 7y ago
The difference is that 90% if not more of Valve’s income is from Steam, so unless they feel like killing their company they won’t turn it off.
zeusk 7y ago
> If (once) Steam is turned off Big if, and if Steam doesn't provide an alternative method or change their DRM before turning off. Something unprecedented for Steam over 20+ years, but not so for Google.
- nathankunicki 7y ago
  Steam, one day, will disappear. Not tomorrow, but perhaps 100 years from now. On that day, you will no longer be able to download or even play those games for more than a few days.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - gnufied 7y ago
    Will I be alive to care?
    - nathankunicki 7y ago
      That's a sad response. Video game preservation efforts are ongoing for games older than the NES right now, I don't see why that wouldn't be the case in the future for the current generation of consoles.
    - oneshotthrowawa 7y ago
      owning things means that people then inherit things when you die
      - robrtsql 7y ago
        The cynical reply to this is also "Will I be alive to care?". A more realistic reply might be "will any humans even be alive to inherit my game library?" or "will anyone even be able to run any of my games on the hardware and software available 100 years from now?"
- drusepth 7y ago
  Pretty sure he was referring to exiting the Steam application; not Steam as a service being shut down. I might be wrong though.
Phrodo_00 7y ago
This is only true for games using Steamworks DRM (which, granted, is most modern games). Other games you can just run them from their folder.
Amygaz 7y ago
Can Stadia be offline?
- smitty1110 7y ago
  Nope. Depends on a fast, reliable, low-packet-loss network connection at all times. The game is running on a cloud instance and being streamed to you chromecast.
djanogo 7y ago
Steam is Valve's only business, if Steam shuts down that mean whole company is in trouble or about to go bankrupt or bought out. Google can shutdown Stadia because VP changed or Director got promoted to another part of business and nobody is there to sell this product internally - which means it gets shut down.
- nathankunicki 7y ago
  I can play NES games from 35 years ago despite the fact that Nintendo has ceased manufacturing the console and publishing the games. As soon as Steam decides to shut down (and it will one day, be it tomorrow, or 30 years from now, those games are no longer playable). Nothing lasts forever.
  - dwrowe 7y ago
    Except Valve could issue a final update that disables the DRM Check, and the game is still playable locally, right? More likely than Stadia developing a local client to sync game content/licenses to.
    - generalpf 7y ago
      Valve doesn’t have the right to do this. They have an agreement with publishers that they will supply it.
      - dwrowe 7y ago
        Is there any sort of survivability clause in that agreement? Genuinely asking - not directly familiar with it.
      - grogenaut 7y ago
        They actually do have the right to do this and a technical implementation. Essentially they've escrowed enough cash to run the drm for many years in the future even if they went out of business so they keep their agreements and their customers happy. Also, having worked in game sales, it turns out that buying "drm free unlocks of long tail" games is not expensive. How do you think things like PS Plus Free Games works? Essentially game devs book revenue now for possibl future revenue lost. It's a smart trade for most games unless that game is say skyrim.
Dylan16807 7y ago
If Steam truly shuts down, I doubt it will even take a full day before there's a conveniently-packaged crack that disables the DRM, with links spammed everywhere.

Aeolun 7y ago

The difference is that 90% if not more of Valve’s income is from Steam, so unless they feel like killing their company they won’t turn it off.

zeusk 7y ago

> If (once) Steam is turned off Big if, and if Steam doesn't provide an alternative method or change their DRM before turning off. Something unprecedented for Steam over 20+ years, but not so for Google.

nathankunicki 7y ago
Steam, one day, will disappear. Not tomorrow, but perhaps 100 years from now. On that day, you will no longer be able to download or even play those games for more than a few days.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- gnufied 7y ago
  Will I be alive to care?
  - nathankunicki 7y ago
    That's a sad response. Video game preservation efforts are ongoing for games older than the NES right now, I don't see why that wouldn't be the case in the future for the current generation of consoles.
  - oneshotthrowawa 7y ago
    owning things means that people then inherit things when you die
    - robrtsql 7y ago
      The cynical reply to this is also "Will I be alive to care?". A more realistic reply might be "will any humans even be alive to inherit my game library?" or "will anyone even be able to run any of my games on the hardware and software available 100 years from now?"
drusepth 7y ago
Pretty sure he was referring to exiting the Steam application; not Steam as a service being shut down. I might be wrong though.

Phrodo_00 7y ago

This is only true for games using Steamworks DRM (which, granted, is most modern games). Other games you can just run them from their folder.

Amygaz 7y ago

Can Stadia be offline?

smitty1110 7y ago
Nope. Depends on a fast, reliable, low-packet-loss network connection at all times. The game is running on a cloud instance and being streamed to you chromecast.

djanogo 7y ago

Steam is Valve's only business, if Steam shuts down that mean whole company is in trouble or about to go bankrupt or bought out. Google can shutdown Stadia because VP changed or Director got promoted to another part of business and nobody is there to sell this product internally - which means it gets shut down.

nathankunicki 7y ago
I can play NES games from 35 years ago despite the fact that Nintendo has ceased manufacturing the console and publishing the games. As soon as Steam decides to shut down (and it will one day, be it tomorrow, or 30 years from now, those games are no longer playable). Nothing lasts forever.
- dwrowe 7y ago
  Except Valve could issue a final update that disables the DRM Check, and the game is still playable locally, right? More likely than Stadia developing a local client to sync game content/licenses to.
  - generalpf 7y ago
    Valve doesn’t have the right to do this. They have an agreement with publishers that they will supply it.
    - dwrowe 7y ago
      Is there any sort of survivability clause in that agreement? Genuinely asking - not directly familiar with it.
    - grogenaut 7y ago
      They actually do have the right to do this and a technical implementation. Essentially they've escrowed enough cash to run the drm for many years in the future even if they went out of business so they keep their agreements and their customers happy. Also, having worked in game sales, it turns out that buying "drm free unlocks of long tail" games is not expensive. How do you think things like PS Plus Free Games works? Essentially game devs book revenue now for possibl future revenue lost. It's a smart trade for most games unless that game is say skyrim.

Dylan16807 7y ago

If Steam truly shuts down, I doubt it will even take a full day before there's a conveniently-packaged crack that disables the DRM, with links spammed everywhere.