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You don't own them, but they sure do everything possible to obfuscate that fact. Regulation will likely be needed as the sellers have shown they will do what it

You don't own them, but they sure do everything possible to obfuscate that fact. Regulation will likely be needed as the sellers have shown they will do what it takes to deceive the customer. For example going to the Steam checkout page it very clearly states that I have the option to "Purchase for myself" or "Purchase as a gift". I, like most English speakers, understand the word "Purchase" to mean something very specific. The words license, lease, rental, etc. do not even exist anywhere on any page in the checkout flow all the way through entering your payment information. I can only assume this omission is by design.

YawningAngel 4y ago
In fairness to Valve, they don't take the games you've bought away
- js8 4y ago
  They don't, because unlike Ubisoft, they're mostly a middleman. They run the marketplace for other game vendors and so they have reputation to uphold. However, Ubisoft is primarily a game developer, so there is a moral hazard of them screwing you. We all hate middlemen but this shows why they're needed (in the absence of regulation).
  - iamstupidsimple 4y ago
    Valve is also a games developer, and they never pulled any of their old or failed games. You can still play Artifact or Ricochet multiplayer (if you really want).
- JZerf 4y ago
  This isn't entirely true. Most (all?) of the games require the Steam client which they are constantly updating and increasing the system requirements for. Systems that could previously run the Steam client and games just fine can no longer run those same games after a while. If I remember correctly the Steam client no longer supports systems running Windows XP, Windows Vista, OS X versions before 10.10, etc... to name a few. This is currently preventing me from running some games I've purchased and I will no longer be making any purchases on Steam until they resolve this problem.
- jimbob45 4y ago
  Yeah, this is my take. I didn't trust Ubi before this debacle and I'm not surprised now. Now, if Valve, Epic, or GOG pulled something like this, I might be inclined to sweat.
- highwaylights 4y ago
  What if Steam where ever to shut down? (E.g. it loses to Epic in the long run, or services like Game Pass consume the entire industry and render it obsolete)?
  - gspetr 4y ago
    This is the best solution that I know of for Steam shutting down: https://www.gog.com/connect https://www.gog.com/connect It's not perfect, as GOG does not have everything, especially most of the recent titles from EA, but it does alleviate the problem to a large degree.
- paulryanrogers 4y ago
  But they may change them. For example by taking out music or replacing with remastered assets. Disc based media cannot be changed after the fact.
- paulmd 4y ago
  Valve doesn't but the companies that use Steam as a platform do. For example, your Titanfall purchase on Steam is now useless, and actually it was useless for the entire time it was available for sale (since the servers were never operational at any time during the period it was available). All of these titles they're talking about Ubi are available on Steam too (and the article specifically notes that some of them are still on sale with no indication they will be removed in less than two months). "Steam games can't be taken away" is false, and "valve as a company hasn't taken away your orange box yet" is not a particularly interesting or insightful observation. And to be clear, they are legally allowed to do so under the ToS under some circumstances!
- autoexec 4y ago
  Not so far, but the day might come when steam closes shop and then good luck getting your games to work
  - gspetr 4y ago
    As I've replied in the sibling comment, GOG can solve this for most (non-big publisher) games: https://www.gog.com/connect https://www.gog.com/connect
    - autoexec 4y ago
      It doesn't say the games will be kept if Steam goes under. In fact, they don't let you keep games if they're removed from Steam "for any reason" > If a game is removed from your Steam account for any reason, such as through manual deletion or a refund – we reserve the right to remove the games from your GOG.com library. (see https://www.gog.com/connect#faq https://www.gog.com/connect#faq) I'd say it's unclear at best how well you'll be protected, but at least you can download and backup the DRM free installers for use even if GOG pulls the games out of your library.
zokier 4y ago
Its pretty explicit in the agreement terms that you need to separately click to agree on every purchase: > Valve hereby grants, and you accept, a non-exclusive license and right, to use the Content and Services for your personal, non-commercial use (except where commercial use is expressly allowed herein or in the applicable Subscription Terms). This license ends upon termination of (a) this Agreement or (b) a Subscription that includes the license. The Content and Services are licensed, not sold. Your license confers no title or ownership in the Content and Services > F. Ownership of Content and Services > All title, ownership rights and intellectual property rights in and to the Content and Services and any and all copies thereof, are owned by Valve and/or its or its affiliates’ licensors. All rights are reserved, except as expressly stated herein. The Content and Services are protected by copyright laws, international copyright treaties and conventions and other laws. The Content and Services contain certain licensed materials and Valve’s and its affiliates’ licensors may protect their rights in the event of any violation of this Agreement. > G. Restrictions on Use of Content and Services > You may not use the Content and Services for any purpose other than the permitted access to Steam and your Subscriptions, and to make personal, non-commercial use of your Subscriptions, except as otherwise permitted by this Agreement or applicable Subscription Terms. Except as otherwise permitted under this Agreement (including any Subscription Terms or Rules of Use), or under applicable law notwithstanding these restrictions, you may not, in whole or in part, copy, photocopy, reproduce, publish, distribute, translate, reverse engineer, derive source code from, modify, disassemble, decompile, create derivative works based on, or remove any proprietary notices or labels from the Content and Services or any software accessed via Steam without the prior consent, in writing, of Valve. > You are entitled to use the Content and Services for your own personal use, but you are not entitled to: (i) sell, grant a security interest in or transfer reproductions of the Content and Services to other parties in any way, nor to rent, lease or license the Content and Services to others without the prior written consent of Valve, except to the extent expressly permitted elsewhere in this Agreement (including any Subscription Terms or Rules of Use); (ii) host or provide matchmaking services for the Content and Services or emulate or redirect the communication protocols used by Valve in any network feature of the Content and Services, through protocol emulation, tunneling, modifying or adding components to the Content and Services, use of a utility program or any other techniques now known or hereafter developed, for any purpose including, but not limited to network play over the Internet, network play utilizing commercial or non-commercial gaming networks or as part of content aggregation networks, websites or services, without the prior written consent of Valve; or (iii) exploit the Content and Services or any of its parts for any commercial purpose, except as expressly permitted elsewhere in this Agreement (including any Subscription Terms or Rules of Use).
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
aposm 4y ago
I could be wrong, but my understanding is that (at least from a contract law perspective) you could interpret that as "purchasing" a revocable license to play the game. It's still misleading in the sense of common English, but that probably wouldn't stop a lawyer...

YawningAngel 4y ago

In fairness to Valve, they don't take the games you've bought away

js8 4y ago
They don't, because unlike Ubisoft, they're mostly a middleman. They run the marketplace for other game vendors and so they have reputation to uphold. However, Ubisoft is primarily a game developer, so there is a moral hazard of them screwing you. We all hate middlemen but this shows why they're needed (in the absence of regulation).
- iamstupidsimple 4y ago
  Valve is also a games developer, and they never pulled any of their old or failed games. You can still play Artifact or Ricochet multiplayer (if you really want).
JZerf 4y ago
This isn't entirely true. Most (all?) of the games require the Steam client which they are constantly updating and increasing the system requirements for. Systems that could previously run the Steam client and games just fine can no longer run those same games after a while. If I remember correctly the Steam client no longer supports systems running Windows XP, Windows Vista, OS X versions before 10.10, etc... to name a few. This is currently preventing me from running some games I've purchased and I will no longer be making any purchases on Steam until they resolve this problem.
jimbob45 4y ago
Yeah, this is my take. I didn't trust Ubi before this debacle and I'm not surprised now. Now, if Valve, Epic, or GOG pulled something like this, I might be inclined to sweat.
highwaylights 4y ago
What if Steam where ever to shut down? (E.g. it loses to Epic in the long run, or services like Game Pass consume the entire industry and render it obsolete)?
- gspetr 4y ago
  This is the best solution that I know of for Steam shutting down: https://www.gog.com/connect https://www.gog.com/connect It's not perfect, as GOG does not have everything, especially most of the recent titles from EA, but it does alleviate the problem to a large degree.
paulryanrogers 4y ago
But they may change them. For example by taking out music or replacing with remastered assets. Disc based media cannot be changed after the fact.
paulmd 4y ago
Valve doesn't but the companies that use Steam as a platform do. For example, your Titanfall purchase on Steam is now useless, and actually it was useless for the entire time it was available for sale (since the servers were never operational at any time during the period it was available). All of these titles they're talking about Ubi are available on Steam too (and the article specifically notes that some of them are still on sale with no indication they will be removed in less than two months). "Steam games can't be taken away" is false, and "valve as a company hasn't taken away your orange box yet" is not a particularly interesting or insightful observation. And to be clear, they are legally allowed to do so under the ToS under some circumstances!
autoexec 4y ago
Not so far, but the day might come when steam closes shop and then good luck getting your games to work
- gspetr 4y ago
  As I've replied in the sibling comment, GOG can solve this for most (non-big publisher) games: https://www.gog.com/connect https://www.gog.com/connect
  - autoexec 4y ago
    It doesn't say the games will be kept if Steam goes under. In fact, they don't let you keep games if they're removed from Steam "for any reason" > If a game is removed from your Steam account for any reason, such as through manual deletion or a refund – we reserve the right to remove the games from your GOG.com library. (see https://www.gog.com/connect#faq https://www.gog.com/connect#faq) I'd say it's unclear at best how well you'll be protected, but at least you can download and backup the DRM free installers for use even if GOG pulls the games out of your library.

zokier 4y ago

Its pretty explicit in the agreement terms that you need to separately click to agree on every purchase: > Valve hereby grants, and you accept, a non-exclusive license and right, to use the Content and Services for your personal, non-commercial use (except where commercial use is expressly allowed herein or in the applicable Subscription Terms). This license ends upon termination of (a) this Agreement or (b) a Subscription that includes the license. The Content and Services are licensed, not sold. Your license confers no title or ownership in the Content and Services > F. Ownership of Content and Services > All title, ownership rights and intellectual property rights in and to the Content and Services and any and all copies thereof, are owned by Valve and/or its or its affiliates’ licensors. All rights are reserved, except as expressly stated herein. The Content and Services are protected by copyright laws, international copyright treaties and conventions and other laws. The Content and Services contain certain licensed materials and Valve’s and its affiliates’ licensors may protect their rights in the event of any violation of this Agreement. > G. Restrictions on Use of Content and Services > You may not use the Content and Services for any purpose other than the permitted access to Steam and your Subscriptions, and to make personal, non-commercial use of your Subscriptions, except as otherwise permitted by this Agreement or applicable Subscription Terms. Except as otherwise permitted under this Agreement (including any Subscription Terms or Rules of Use), or under applicable law notwithstanding these restrictions, you may not, in whole or in part, copy, photocopy, reproduce, publish, distribute, translate, reverse engineer, derive source code from, modify, disassemble, decompile, create derivative works based on, or remove any proprietary notices or labels from the Content and Services or any software accessed via Steam without the prior consent, in writing, of Valve. > You are entitled to use the Content and Services for your own personal use, but you are not entitled to: (i) sell, grant a security interest in or transfer reproductions of the Content and Services to other parties in any way, nor to rent, lease or license the Content and Services to others without the prior written consent of Valve, except to the extent expressly permitted elsewhere in this Agreement (including any Subscription Terms or Rules of Use); (ii) host or provide matchmaking services for the Content and Services or emulate or redirect the communication protocols used by Valve in any network feature of the Content and Services, through protocol emulation, tunneling, modifying or adding components to the Content and Services, use of a utility program or any other techniques now known or hereafter developed, for any purpose including, but not limited to network play over the Internet, network play utilizing commercial or non-commercial gaming networks or as part of content aggregation networks, websites or services, without the prior written consent of Valve; or (iii) exploit the Content and Services or any of its parts for any commercial purpose, except as expressly permitted elsewhere in this Agreement (including any Subscription Terms or Rules of Use).

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

aposm 4y ago

I could be wrong, but my understanding is that (at least from a contract law perspective) you could interpret that as "purchasing" a revocable license to play the game. It's still misleading in the sense of common English, but that probably wouldn't stop a lawyer...