sv3672;n10585462 said:
It is not on topic, but at least for The Witcher 3, that is not really the case. You only need the Steam account to download a copy of the game, but you also need an account to download from GOG's servers. Either way, once the game is on your hard drive, it is yours, you can keep playing it even in the case the account was lost for some reason. Witcher3.exe does not need any client to run, Steam or not. It will also continue to work if the entire "The Witcher 3" folder is copied to another PC where Steam is not even installed. Whether a game works that way or is tied to the client, it is up to the developer or publisher to decide. I would think Cyberpunk 2077 will stick with the same approach if the game is released on Steam, although nothing is certain of course.
If that's true, that's interesting. I was not aware of that. That would be extremely strange, though. Literally every single Steam game I have requires the client to be open to be played, even if it's in offline mode. That is, in and of itself, DRM. If TW3 is different, props to both Valve and CDPR for allowing it. It really should be more clearly stated on the store page, because that's a huge selling point if true.
Regardless, GoG has no such requirements, for any of their games, even if those games have DRM on other platforms (like Steam).
I don't think it's all that off topic. It is related to platforms, after all, just happens to be one specific one for now.
SigilFey;n10585842 said:
Oh, my gods it's-like-Christmas-and-New-Years-all-wrapped-up-into-one.
There was a time that I refused to use Steam in any way, shape or form. Now, I have to admit, its DRM is not really intrusive at all. Most times, my performance is wholly unaffected by Steam running in the background. It's just the forced updates that I really don't like.
I actually have no problem with DRM, in theory. As long as it provides value, and companies like GoG continue to offer DRM-free versions when I want them (not for every game, of course... but most of the ones I enjoy - I too am primarily a singleplayer gamer), it can stick around. It's when it's a pointless addition that offers me nothing that I get irritated with it - like with Ubisoft games that require Uplay on
top of Steam. *shudder* Uplay does nothing Steam doesn't already do, and actually does less most of the time. Plus, nobody uses it by comparison
Steam offers me deals, achievement functionality, a marketplace, a robust community system where I can quickly get help from others or discuss a given game, software and video downloads, the steam workshop and -- of course -- the Friends and chat system, which I use on a daily basis. Valve, for all of their problems, is committed to providing the most value they possibly can to their users. I respect the heck out of that, especially because it's not like they have any real competition to force them to do so. They could just sit on Steam for the next 10 years and, unless some scrappy upstart tried to take them on, their income would remain high.
