What would happen to our games if Steam shuts down?

This is all hypothetical but very real situation what would happen if valve shut down steam.

I've been talking with some friends and i have realized none of them really have a certainty or real sense of safety regarding what would happen to the games if worse comes to worse.

What certainties do we have if this situation happens. I've been browsing on the web and i have only seen thoughts of what would happen but not a real answer. Even after reading the steam user agreement now I'm even more worried about it because it says that they can shut down the server and they don't have a real obligation with their clients. My friend contacted steam and even they were very vague and didn't give a direct answer.

So I'm asking the forum to find out if anyone knows for a fact what actually would happen and what available options do we have in case we valve shut downs our account?.

@stanisc00l: The games are all in folders with executables.

You don't need the Steam client to launch the games.

They are legally obligated to provide you access to the games you purchased.

So that might mean several different options such as download everything you own or send you CDs etc

Not worried because I don't game on Steam. I pretty much go all physical every chance I get tbh because I be wondering the same thing if the PSN were to shut down

If memory serves me correctly, Valve answered such a question years back that if such a situation was to occur then they would ensure people could copy over the games they have as well as means to make them able to run to the hard drive/ CD-disc you wanted to put them on.

@jackamomo: I don't Think it work like that xDD

@tryit: As much I would love to take this answer. I still have to ask, Are you completely sure about this? or this are your thought about this?

it's because after the Steam Subscriber agreement! I am losing my shit, For Real

that is my understanding of the law.

I am not however a lawyer.

basically my understanding is, you do not own the game (be it on a CD, cloud or Steam) but you do have the legal right to access it.

same is true for movies and music from my understanding

@Treflis: Yeah I heard about Gabe Newell Saying this. But I've been trying to find the link or the source of it and I still cant get it. Did you read the Steam Subscriber Agreement? That's what scaring the hell outta me, Imagine losing all our Libraries!

And some people been saying that, Valve is not legally oblige to give their users access to their game in such situations, That we've only bought a "License" not the game.

@valgaav_219: True! but how do you manage to keep all of your DLC´s?? apart from getting a Game of the Year Release

I doubt very seriously that the law is that way.

I just make sure not to delete them. Even if I delete an entire game it's DLC is still in my systems memory. Like FFXV for example, I deleted it months ago but DLC's are still on my hard drive like Episode Gladioulus, Prompto, Ignis etc. I had to delete the game because it was like 80 gigs but DLC's I'm not touching them lol

Most my games on P.C. are purchased through GoG so not much value would be lost.

Minus my Early Access and Backer games, but considered that's a whole other system, publishers and developers would likely just send us email codes from another distribution platform. Hopefully GoG.

So yeah, don't care what happens to Steam, sucks for those if that hypothetical situation ever became a reality. Or those that enjoy the Steam platform.

what if GoG goes under?

@tryit:

what if GoG goes under?

Not the thread subject, but I'll bite.

In honestly probably get salty with all my lost games and certainly the lose of the WftO skirmish community; and play more on my PS4 and Switch.

So I'll still play games, just less on P.C.

it just seemed like you were suggesting that GoG was somehow immune to the possibility.

thanks for clarifying

With GoG you download the game to your hard drive. If GoG were to go under you wouldn't be able to download new games, but anything you already installed on your hard drive would still be there. And there is no copy protection so you can move it to another computer with no problem.

Never buy anything on Steam (or Uplay or any other service for that matter) that is also available on GoG.

@tryit: Nope, I'm well aware that any online distribution site/ game can be brought down given the right circumstances, I've downloaded more than enough games that simply don't exist anymore through legal means. And only reason I became one who downloads games on P.C. is because physical games are really rare in 2018 for P.C. and I still enjoy gaming on P.C.

However I just prefer GoG to Steam in almost every aspect.

Steam sells older games that don't work on modern hardware and expect you to forum hop to find community patches for fixing games they sell. GoG patches these download games themselves into the purchase item (huge advantage) so it will work on modern hardware, no issues, saving a customer potentially hours of messing with files and forum jumping.

GoG is a cleaner site from a layout perspective and less cluttered.

GoG is also DRM free, while Steam is not.

But if someone has plenty of games and been using Steam loyally for years I see why you don't care for the above. In good conscious I wouldn't want Steam to shut-down, it would suck for all those that use the platform. I would get no satisfaction people loosing games they enjoy.

ah ok. GoG doesnt have the games I want so that is not an option for me.

but I was just curious is all, carry on

@tryit: That's fine. Enjoy what you enjoy.

Happy gaming.

@stanisc00l: It does. Check Steam>Steamapps>common and just search for an .exe file and launch it without Steam running. It should work.

I start the Fallout4.exe and Steam starts up along with it. But, Fallout 3 GOTY Ed. will start without Steam.

I would guess older games that are available at other distribution sites don't need Steam. But, games solely distributed by Steam (eg Fallout 4) requires the Steam client.

More specifically, you download the install files from GoG and then you install the game to your PC. You can then choose to store the install files somewhere so you don't have to download them again.

We lose our games I suppose.

It would never shut down, but it might change ownership.

Realistically speaking, if Steam went down and all of the purchases were irretrievably lost, I'd probably just purchase the important ones again on another platform for a few dollars each.

The vast majority of games on my Steam list are ones I'd never play again.

I'm a bit confused. If you are afraid of Steam shutting down, why don't you just download / backup all games and any version of the Steam client? You can then start Steam in offline mode and play all games that way oO

I don't think Steam will ever go down, but if it does, they promised to give us a solution. If I wouldn't trust them, I either wouldn't buy there or do what I stated at he beginning: backup the games. I really don't see the problem oO

Valve's stranglehold on PC games is the reason I stopped buying PC games, and switched on consoles.

So, if Steam shut down, I would just laugh at all them fools who let Valve boss them about in matters of gaming.

Well I would suppose that they could at the very least alter Steam so that it's able to start up games in your library in a "offline" mode where they wouldn't provide anymore updates to both the Steam program, games nor allow you to browse anything besides the games you have installed in your library.

This is most likely in the event of any actual trouble. I don't think anyone would let something that has turned it's owner into one of the top richest people in the US shut down. Steam/Valve is not just going to close up shop and dick over 125+ million users.

There are a lot more likely things to worry about, such as ISP interference, bandwidth throttling, game censorship, region-specific game prohibition, and so forth.

Yeah they have a real stranglehold. I mean things are so difficult, what with Steam, GoG, Origin, Windows Store, and downloading games straight from a developers website/launcher! Grrrrr! Darn you, Steam! It's not like with Playstation, where you can only get games through Sony. Or Xbox, where you can only get games through Microsoft. Or Nintendo, where you can only get games through Nintendo oh and they send you a cease and desist letter for drawing fan-art of Mario.

Get a grip, bud, it's an online retailer/distributor. It's only used because it's the easiest way to buy games/get games to customers. If it's not there, something else would be. If something better came along, it would be used instead. Nobody is being "bossed" around.

As long as they continue to be a private/non-public company, I trust them. If they go public, well, I might not trust them so much.

Valve, despite the occasional hiccup or questionable decision, is still a company that is for game consumers. They are still innovators. They will continue to do what they think is best for the consumer and gaming in general.

Yeah I think that's kind of the bigger picture here. I've been games since 1989 or so. Steam wasn't around until 2004.

I've lost, sold, or otherwise don't possess pretty much every single game (with a few exceptions) in the 15 years prior to Steam's existence. And I am totally OK with that.

What's more, despite enjoying my collection of games I've amassed on Steam, I don't touch them all. Hell, I don't touch most of them. Out of the hundreds of games I own, I probably only care about a few percent of them.

Now I'm not saying I am totally OK with losing those games--one of the perks of Steam and online distributors is having non-physical copies of games, film, and movie available all the time and anywhere--but I also don't feel totally entitled to this luxury, either, because I remember how things used to be and how they were not bad.

If there was an issue I would just crack my games.

You are making no sense. How is the situation with Steam worse than the Situation with consoles? What will you do if Playstation shuts down and the PSN Store is gone with all your digital games? On PCs there's at least someone who will make it run, even if it isn't Valve themselves. And don't get me started on physical games needing a specific system that might not being sold at the time you want to play it and you have to get the system 2nd hand with the amound of aviable systems shrinking as one system after the other breaks.

I have to type here something, dont mind.