themagicbong t1_j4w6gbs wrote on January 18, 2023 at 6:05 PM

Reply to comment by ShawnyMcKnight in Ubisoft Paris called to strike after "catastrophic" remarks from CEO by esporx

I wanted to play bioshock infinite. No biggie, go to download, fire it up, and oh, what's this? 2k added a fuckin launcher since the last time I played the game? Why? I already purchased the game a very long time ago.

We see this fracturing of marketplaces often. It's very similar to streaming services. It's not great for the consumer, and eventually leads to confusion and annoyance. Not to mention how I'm not constantly playing 2k games, why on earth should I have to use their stupid launcher specifically only to play bioshock infinite? Sure, any company could sell their games directly for more money than they could through something like steam. But that doesn't mean the market wants or could even sustain having 700 different marketplaces to purchase games from. It's dumb as hell, and like I had said earlier, why should I be forced to use the 2k launcher when bioshock is the only game I'm gonna play through it?

Additionally, maybe steam isn't the best, I can agree with that. But does that mean I want another 15 companies collecting data on my usage and being forced to send them information about myself, that I didn't have to do, when I purchased the game originally? Fuck no. It's stupid, and I can't wait until this dumb ass trend falls apart.

ShawnyMcKnight t1_j5ar4us wrote on January 21, 2023 at 5:12 PM

Your bioshock example is valid. If you bought it and then they added a launcher. Sometimes that’s cool, like GTA 4 used this “games for windows” platform as it’s DRM through steam, or whatever it’s called. It straight up wouldn’t even launch on anything windows 8 or later, but I was reading that now it goes through the rockstar launcher. So that I’m cool with.

I wouldn’t say it’s not great for the consumer. Isn’t valve guilty of it too? I don’t see myself able to play Valve games like half-life on GoG or EA or anywhere else? Why does everyone else get shit for gatekeeping their own games but valve gets a pass?

Also I don’t think the fracturing of the market is stupid or a trend. I find it hilarious how Reddit, and especially this sub, is so anti-monopoly but they insist that all games should go through one platform. What happens if Gabe retires and the new person is an asshole and thinks you should pay $10 a month to use steam because of all the services they offer and you get locked out of your cloud saves and mods and everything as that’s now a “premium service”? Check the thing you signed, you don’t own your games but only the right to use them and that can be revoked for any reason. Having all your eggs in one basket, so to speak.

I wouldn’t be worried about them getting any valuable info on you. Unless their installer is scanning your computer for bank statements and logins or can turn on your webcam what worthless info they get about your game playing habits would just go into the overall stats.