4 ms·

The disagreement concerns the licence's period of validity. If I lease a car, I know how long I can use it. When I buy a licence to use a game, the publisher c

The disagreement concerns the licence's period of validity. If I lease a car, I know how long I can use it. When I buy a licence to use a game, the publisher can revoke the licence the day after I buy it, and the contract is drawn up in such a way that nothing obliges them to compensate me. The situation would be much healthier if the publisher announced a ‘5-year user license, including server maintenance and security patches’. It's like all those ‘lifetime’ licences that only cover one major edition of a software and give you a royal 20% discount on the licence for the next version. It's a deceptive practice.

Alupis 2y ago
> When I buy a licence to use a game, the publisher can revoke the licence the day after I buy it, and the contract is drawn up in such a way that nothing obliges them to compensate me. On Steam (from Valve) you would be entitled to a full refund in that scenario. Valve offers full refunds for any game you have played for less than two hours and owned for less than two weeks. In some other situations, they have also applied refunds outside that policy where the game turned out to be a fraud or something. There are also many titles in people's Steam libraries that are no longer offered on Steam, but you can still download and play if you purchased it prior to it being pulled from Steam.
- terinjokes 2y ago
  Valve probably has enough leverage to hold it off for a while, but rightholders seem to be trying to close that loophole. A store I previously bought FLACs from emailed me this week that a new Terms of Service comes into force on October 1 where the change is the service can remove downloads when the rightholder removes the music from sale and requests downloads to be removed as well. A few hours later I got a notification that a number of albums in purchase history will be removed from my available downloads on October 1st.
  - diebeforei485 2y ago
    The FLAC's are presumably DRM free and are yours to keep once downloaded. Storage (cloud or local backup) is your problem. Not having re-downloads is a separate issue. What company is this?
    - terinjokes 2y ago
      This is true, and certainly easier than games. Don't worry, I download the FLACs and archive them immediately after purchase anyways. The streaming service is Qobuz. Here's a forum thread of others who found the specific date and wording interesting: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/70250-qobuz-may-be-removing-music-and-files-even-if-purchased/ https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/70250-qobuz-may-be-...
- Beretta_Vexee 2y ago
  What if I've played for more than two hours and I'd like to finish the game? What if Valve changes its refund policy? What if the publisher forces me to go through another online shop (EPIC game)? Valve is certainly a consumer-friendly company, but that's not the whole story and it doesn't change the fact that they're hiding vital information from consumers.
- WalterSear 2y ago
  Valve doesn't refund you if the company shuts down their game servers, afaik.

Alupis 2y ago

> When I buy a licence to use a game, the publisher can revoke the licence the day after I buy it, and the contract is drawn up in such a way that nothing obliges them to compensate me. On Steam (from Valve) you would be entitled to a full refund in that scenario. Valve offers full refunds for any game you have played for less than two hours and owned for less than two weeks. In some other situations, they have also applied refunds outside that policy where the game turned out to be a fraud or something. There are also many titles in people's Steam libraries that are no longer offered on Steam, but you can still download and play if you purchased it prior to it being pulled from Steam.

terinjokes 2y ago
Valve probably has enough leverage to hold it off for a while, but rightholders seem to be trying to close that loophole. A store I previously bought FLACs from emailed me this week that a new Terms of Service comes into force on October 1 where the change is the service can remove downloads when the rightholder removes the music from sale and requests downloads to be removed as well. A few hours later I got a notification that a number of albums in purchase history will be removed from my available downloads on October 1st.
- diebeforei485 2y ago
  The FLAC's are presumably DRM free and are yours to keep once downloaded. Storage (cloud or local backup) is your problem. Not having re-downloads is a separate issue. What company is this?
  - terinjokes 2y ago
    This is true, and certainly easier than games. Don't worry, I download the FLACs and archive them immediately after purchase anyways. The streaming service is Qobuz. Here's a forum thread of others who found the specific date and wording interesting: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/70250-qobuz-may-be-removing-music-and-files-even-if-purchased/ https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/70250-qobuz-may-be-...
Beretta_Vexee 2y ago
What if I've played for more than two hours and I'd like to finish the game? What if Valve changes its refund policy? What if the publisher forces me to go through another online shop (EPIC game)? Valve is certainly a consumer-friendly company, but that's not the whole story and it doesn't change the fact that they're hiding vital information from consumers.
WalterSear 2y ago
Valve doesn't refund you if the company shuts down their game servers, afaik.