What would you do if playing online on PC became paid?

Microsoft wasn't even stupid enough to try that on PC, Valve definitely won't be, and multiple other storefronts exist that all charge nothing for it.

There is also no justification because they aren't paying for servers, cloud saves are pittance amounts of data, and all it would do is get people to buy less multiplayer games..which means buy less DLC that Valve makes way more money on.
 
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ChoosableOne said:
Many people's Steam libraries are full of games; we're probably talking about an investment of a few thousand dollars. So it would be hard to give up such a library. We might turn to different options for new games, but it will be hard for older ones.
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Never understood this. You "investment" isnt lost when you still can use it.
 
I know it sounds like s big stretch, but Im really worried about PC gaming future after GabeN leaves/dies. The next CEO will not only have like an incredible share of the market, he will also have an army of zealots that will defend Steam from anything.

Now if this still difficult scenario happens, I will just stick to my PS5 and play more small games that are community based on PC like Zandronum (DooM Online).
 
How would you make it?

Should you play for each game, or pay someone for it?
Who should it be? It's not a closed eco system like consoles.

Steam would never do it.
 
ChoosableOne said:
Microsoft has been listening to players lately ...
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Iron Man Eye Roll GIF
 
bitbydeath said:
Technically Microsoft can do it at the OS level.
That's the only way it could force people to pay.
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They would need to control the entire platform to do this. In theory they could do it with an Xbox app and games sold/subbed on it as a DRM kind of check, but really they would need to do it at the OS level or the online servers themselves. This is effectively impossible on PC, and if they did try to do this with Windows you'd see a lot of people switch to Linux or SteamOS.
 
Topher said:
Not sure how that would even be possible
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Like how Wow does it? You can't play your games online if you haven't subscribed to "Steam/Xbox app Essential" etc. Some people here are pointing out that Microsoft already tried GFWL. I'm not sure if Steam can do this since I'm not familiar with the technical stuff, but I'm almost certain that Microsoft is preparing for it again through the Xbox app.
Fabieter said:
Never understood this. You "investment" isnt lost when you still can use it.
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When you can't play online, some games won't even be playable, like Squad or Insurgency. Or you'll miss out on the most fun part of games like Street Fighter. Imagine you can't play CS2 online but you already paid 1000 dollars for a fcking knife(it's dumb but some people do it).
 
ChoosableOne said:
Like how Wow does it? You can't play your games online if you haven't subscribed to "Steam/Xbox app Essential" etc. Some people here are pointing out that Microsoft already tried GFWL. I'm not sure if Steam can do this since I'm not familiar with the technical stuff, but I'm almost certain that Microsoft is preparing for it again through the Xbox app.

When you can't play online, some games won't even be playable, like Squad or Insurgency. Or you'll miss out on the most fun part of games like Street Fighter. Imagine you can't play CS2 online but you already paid 1000 dollars for a fcking knife(it's dumb but some people do it).
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We are not talking about subscribing to an MMO though. If Steam tried to charge for online, folks would move to something else on PC. That's why this isn't possible. To force paying for online, you have to have a closed ecosytem. PC is open. That's why GFWL failed. That's why it would fail with Steam and also why Valve knows not to even try such a thing. I wouldn't put it past Microsoft to try and they too would fail.
 
ChoosableOne said:
You think they're not considering ways to do this? After Gabe passes away(may he live long), we could even expect something like this from Steam—and I believe Microsoft and Epic will act sooner.
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Shit will go viral like TV subscriptions, this time it won't work and I mean it seriously, you saw how many failed shows and TV series happened because of all these TV subscriptions.
 
Topher said:
If Steam tried to charge for online, folks would move to something else on PC.
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Epic Store gives away free games, but people still don't leave Steam. There's no other store with such a vast game library. It has many useful features and works perfectly. I think you're underestimating people's attachment to Steam. They might start at 50 cents per month with free games, and gradually increase the price. Maybe they'll start with a membership that isn't required to play online but provides extra benefits in games. This story probably sounds familiar from many places.

As I said, I'm expecting such a move from Microsoft first. They'll probably start by charging extra for crossplay first. They might say 'We're giving you the same games we give to console players at half the price, so you should at least pay 2–3 dollars more for crossplay.'.
 
ChoosableOne said:
Epic Store gives away free games, but people still don't leave Steam. There's no other store with such a vast game library. It has many useful features and works perfectly. I think you're underestimating people's attachment to Steam. They might start at 50 cents per month with free games, and gradually increase the price. Maybe they'll start with a membership that isn't required to play online but provides extra benefits in games. This story probably sounds familiar from many places.

As I said, I'm expecting such a move from Microsoft first. They'll probably start by charging extra for crossplay first. They might say 'We're giving you the same games we give to console players at half the price, so you should at least pay 2–3 dollars more for crossplay.'.
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Epic is a perfect example what I'm talking about. Folks don't have to "leave Steam" for Epic games. They can do both. Even multiplayer games in Steam are not tied to Steam services. You've got games using Epic services in Steam. You've got games that don't use either. You are going to have to force developers to update thousands of games to hook in and authenticate with Steam to even make this work. It just isn't feasible.
 
Yeah would never happen... And if it did, there would be constant workarounds popping up to get around it.
Just like when Hamachi and similar things released back when some PC games only had local LAN multiplayer... It let you play "online" through VPN tunnels
 
I would use one of the many alternative open-sourced matchmaking services that would pop up shortly after [insert retarded company name] would announce paid online on PC.
 
SuperC said:
It's a good idea if it means no more cheaters, About 10-30% of active PC players cheat and most console players don't like crossplay because of PC players

A paid online service would be cheap "around $10-15 a year" since it's just for online play and doesn't include games so I don't see the problem
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Will Ferrell Reaction GIF by MOODMAN
 
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