Dead Game News: (Lawbreakers, Ubisoft & Streaming, Steam) [Ross Scott] - General

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS9vvF1V1Dc

I have to imagine Valve would just disable steamworks on any game no longer compatible with steam.

Ubisoft CEO: 'There will be one more console generation... after that, we will be streaming' https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/224422/3940bd66-6330-4325-a0ac-5970719b66ab/doubt.jpg

Yves Guillemot may believe we're almost on pure streaming but the people who make the consoles certainly disagree. Phil Spencer thinks streaming will become more popular (or at least be pushed more by publishers) but that hardware in the home will remain a major part of gaming. Personally I've seen almost universal push back against the idea of a streaming only future. Fuck that shit.

Ok but thing about his Windows XP hypothetical. Can't you just not connect to the internet for launching steam and have it in offline mode? You still get to play your game and updates don't break your steam client. I think everyone still on XP know enough about computers to realize this.

Offline mode requires you login first, and IIRC requires you to login again every x days (correct me if im wrong).

There's a way around it but it's jank in general and a big hassle.

Can streaming just never be a main thing because my home wifi have fuckton of jitter and I've been unable to play multiplayer games for the past 4 years or so.

Valve used to have an end of life plan for Steam, but that doesn't really fall into this case. But their end of life plan was to update all their games to remove the SteamDRM requirement on all of them. Problem is, now you need to download your entire library, and hope your backups never break.

Atm, I pretty much live in an internet blackhole. Few streets over, hundred thousand fucking choices of providers, speeds and whatnot. Here? You get like 3 providers with the highest, and my current, speed of 10mbps wireless connection with constant slowdowns and packet losses. Streaming games is absolutely impossible for me considering watching streams and playing MP games is already a suffering.

On the topic of Steam, Ross did acknowledge in his description that most games on there without 3rd party support are pretty easy to crack, though hypothetically I'm not sure how multiplayer emulation would work if shit goes bad for Steam in the next couple of decades. The ones that do exist are really janky or rely on official steamworks servers to even do their job (which is not something I really condone). And to add to these services related to Steam and problematic DRM, I'd argue that Steam workshop is also a pretty big problem for game preservation and is an insult to free and open modding, despite being very convenient. Even if you're stuck without internet but get a game working without steam, almost every mod is suspended in an online bubble and require some form of authentication to get properly enabled. I understand this helps fight piracy, but holy shit does it hurt DRM-free platforms and its users a ton. Look at this example on GOG back in march: https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/133959/ba1fe450-41e2-4bd0-b252-fcad61ad92f8/image.png Basically, since GOG users are treated like lower-class citizens by Steam, one of the community members close to the developers of the Battlezone remakes made a guide on how to anonymously download workshop mods without needing to buy the game a second time. Problem is, changes to how workshop items work means the devs themselves need to opt out of the authentication process to allow such downloads to happen - which means not that many devs notice/care and a ton of modding on different games on Steam are completely locked down and render said titles on alternative platforms inferior. This is borderline keeping a monopoly and it's bad for everybody who loves gaming and modding alike. Imagine most mods being stuck to one server and said server will get shut down. Those mods are lost for good. Now mind you, this has eventually been fixed on april by the devs in this example, so if you're on GOG and your favourite mod for Battlezone Combat Commander is unavailable on somewhere other than the workshop, you can still eventually get a hold of it. But the point is, that despite Valve's modding roots and their intention to support it free or otherwise, mods can potentially go the way of "dead games" due to BS like this. They're doing it in a way that is disgustingly locked down and would hurt an element of game (and experience) preservation. Mods are an important aspect in PC gaming and I believe they should be kept available for everybody who bought a copy of the game, regardless of platform or internet availability.

All steamworks does is check if you're running the client, all valve would need to do is update to allow offline mode even if you've never logged in.

Imagine streaming a multiplayer game even with the connection of a nuclear reactor powered science facility ran by the worlds most impatient man... you're going to suffer

Steam is a deathtrap, both because of its monopoly and because of its latest business practices(they're currently trying to find scummy ways around the lootboxes already).

Consumer pushback, yes. Company pushback, not even.

Meaning it won't work as soon as an update breaks it?