German group sues Valve

What is the difference between selling a physical copy and a digital copy when both copies are the exact same code, just stored on different mediums? If a person can resell, say Far Cry 3 on the 360, then a person should be able to sell their copy of Far Cry 3 they got off Steam.

I invite you to read the Steam Subscriber Agreement (http://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/). There is absolutely no reason to believe that you will have access to your games if Steam goes out of business, or simply changes owners. I think that Valve makes its future plans very clear in the EULA: "Valve may cancel your Account or any particular Subscription(s) at any time."

Just an example to show how being allowed to resell digital downlaods be idiotic: Imagine a Steam game originally bought 40$ resold 20 times, for a dollar less every time:

- 19 users will have paid 1$ for the game (1st user buys it 40 and sells it 39 and so on)
- Steam will have uploaded said game 19 times for free, using a shitton of bandwidth
- Author only gets the intial 40$
- The digital download is still as new after the 20th sale, so isn't technically "used"

No publisher will ever want to release another game for PC if people are allowed to resell their Steam games like this.

Actually it is not very hard for Valve to open up Steam for reselling games. They don't have to create a marketplace or other complicated systems. They only have to add this menu item to the client:

http://i.imgur.com/xqkXJfk.jpg

With a game back in the Steam inventory the user can use any platform to make a deal and negotiate any price with a potential buyers - just like with the good old spinning discs. They can even lend a game to a friend - gift the inventory item and gift it back. Just like giving a friend your box and expecting him to give it back on a trust basis.

@funktail007 @d12dotcom @fanirama

The question should be who is responsible for support of that program that was resold to a second owner? Steam might turn around and say all support ended with the first owner and why should we offer any support to the second owner. Basically if Steam gets thier way and is not responsible for any resales, It will turn into buyer beware.

Idiots. You pay for a license.

@reznor420 European courts disagree. Personally, I think EA and Sony need the kick in the crotch of a lawsuit more since they are not only using digital distribution, they're using online passes, too. Valve should have been a later target.

I wish them good luck in this but I do not see them winning anytime soon. The problem to me is that if someone wants to see thier game they may be able to sell the core game but not any pre-order bonuses that came with it and The company may not offer any support unless a fee is paid being any support that was offered was to the first owner and any owner after the first is not or will not be entitled to any support.

The concept of this lawsuit is retarded. How do you digitally resell something? Plus Valve is constantly throwing out great deals on games that the Xbox 360 doesn't on it's digital games. If people want to resell their game, then they can just get the retail version with a small inconvenience of a fifteen minute drive.

i think that anyone that will sell great games dirt cheap should be able to do or not do anything they want

Actually, I like how Steam works. Since I can't resell my games, it actually made me spend my money with more care. And guess what, I end up keeping my games, so a year later, I always come back to a handful of titles I would have, otherwise, hastily sold. Steam taught me moderation.

Finally, I use to always opt for the PC version of games (I own360,PS3,wii) but now games which uses Steam you can't sell, so I'll either pick the console version…or People can just open a new steam account for every game and just sell the game after they are done and give their email account and password they have used. Steam claim that it provided value to their customers, I think they are only talking about the game developers and not the gamers. Seriously why can you resell every other game you "OWN" except the ones that use Steam. I always thought gamers should start to take notice and talk about it or nothing is going to change. It is your game sell it when you want to.

Hey guess what? You can't do this for downloadable music either. So why are video games any different?

Please post your dumb rant below.

@funktail007 @d12dotcom @fanirama Its not YOURS. Thats the point. There's no precedent for digital products and who owns what really, because its so recent. Customer service and brand integrity for Valve is already well above and beyond 90% of other devs/publishers.

This is what terms of service are for. If you download games on Steam you've already agreed to these limitations.

I would have thought, if you don't like the terms and conditions, don't sign the contract. No-one's forcing them to use Steam.