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[Loomy]

Almost every single MP game on PC requires you make an account somewhere. Valorant, one of the biggest PC games requires you create a Riot account, FFXIV requires a Square Enix account, CoD requires a Battlenet account., EA games require an EA account. So I'm not sure what it is you think you're winning at here. Sony isn't setting an example. They're doing the same thing everyone else does.

Also, how did your whining work against Denuvo and other anticheat software? How is it going when it comes to studios releasing unoptimized PC versions of games?

Let's check back in 2 months and see the number of players on Steam. My guess is that it is going to be higher than it is today.

 

[Anchovie123]

Making an online game or interacting with the community in any way shape or form seems like a nightmare. All that goodwill gone over the most stupidest little thing.

I look at Rockstar and how they handle it all with absolute dead silence and insane NDAs on their developers. They release the trailers, they release the game then its till next time, bitch! Thats the way to do it right there.

 

[TheTony316]

Most of “DRM” on Steam is basically a logon and license handshake. It’s keeping achievements/cloud saves. It’s DRM light.

In fact most games allows the removal of “steamworks” which effectively makes it DRM free. Witcher 3 for example is DRM free once steamwork is disabled. In fact steamwork is entirely up to devs and Steam does not enforce it, but why would devs opt out if a —no-steamworks argument will remove it?

It’s about “DRM” as any store login to handshake products. Wish I cared a lot about DRM with a fiery passion but really, Steam ain’t the trigger of that.



The hint that they took financial hits to make their games exclusive on launchers is pretty telling, they almost all went back to steam, except Epic. So it did lead to something, it made a financial impact

But you still need an account and their launchers to play the games on Steam. From the end users perspective it's basically the same as before.

 

[PixelatedBeast]

I really think this could mean goodbye to potential pc ports like Demon Souls, and an adjustment to their GAAS PC and mobile plans. Sony probably feels like they've been back stabbed, as PC players cant even reciprocate the love back by creating a free PSN account to play a game they enjoy. I think its time for a game like Foamstars to get a new PC release..

 

[Three]

yep, and people have been screaming about that too.

Point me to all the screaming that these low tolerance steam users did when supporting this guys cause here?

Just look at some of the top sellers on Steam

Fifa: Requires EA account
SW Jedi Survivor : Requires EA account
Fallout 76: Requires Bethesda Account
Warframe : Requires Warframe account
Apex Legends: Requires EA account
Sea of thieves : Requires MS account
MW3: Requires Activision account

If you think Steam users are protesting third party accounts in general when review bombing HDII you're dead wrong. They're even buying a lot of games that require it. If they wanted to stamp it out they would have done so around 5yrs ago in 2019.

 

[Generic]

yep, and people have been screaming about that too.

Warframe is always on the top most played Steam games and it requires an external account to be played. Same for Apex Legends.

 

[Arsic]

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

 

[bender]

Warframe is always on the top most played Steam games and it requires an external account to be played. Same for Apex Legends.

 

[nikos]

The reason why we don't pay to play online on PC is because we're not on any specific company's closed ecosystem. You can play the same game on launchers from different companies.

I'm sure Steam, Epic, GOG etc. can start charging for specific services if they really wanted to, but there will always be another option. You have no other option on console.

 

[LakeOf9]

As a PC first, and largely, PC-only player, you all are honestly embarrassing and cringe

 

[DaciaJC]

How is developers creating their own launchers "greedy"? This have been a thing forever. Battle.net existed years before Steam.

Creating their own launchers and making games exclusive to them when previous titles had been available on Steam, thereby forcing players to use a subpar platform purely so they can pad their profit margins. Yes, I consider that greedy. In the case of Battle.net, I was thinking of the CoD series, which had been distributed through Steam until Activision started releasing them solely on Battle.net beginning with BO4, only to return with the launch of MWII. Even though Bnet predates Steam, it's far underdeveloped in comparison - the only reason Acti made the switch was so they could pocket more money per copy sold, they didn't give a shit that most players prefer to use Steam for a number of good reasons.

 

[nial]

As someone who pretty much a PS user since kid, Playstation fans are the biggest bootlickers in the whole gaming community. These peeps would rather defend a multi billion corporation than see the image of their favorite brand getting tarnished. They will never understand the PC community. They'll just dismiss this "protest" as being whiny.

Fuck off with this bullshit.

PlayStation Store on PS3 and PS Vita Will Continue Operations

Players will be able to continue to purchase games on PS3 and PS Vita.

blog.playstation.com

Horizon Forbidden West will now allow players to upgrade from PS4 to PS5 for free

"It's abundantly clear that we missed the mark," says Sony

www.gamesradar.com

 

[thismeinteil]

No, PC doesn't have paid internet because it's an open platform. There's too many PC/laptop manufacturers, more game stores, and various devs and publishers on it. Which one would be responsible for charging for access to an open network? The only ones who get away with it are MMOs.

 

[Nydius]

You wanna know how PC gamers have the nice idyllic landscape they have? Where we get free online, modding, easy refunds and other stuff?

Idyllic... with poorly optimized ports, Denuvo, easy access to cheats and file scumming, and a checkered history of third party shit launchers.
You have a very interesting idea of "idyllic".

Let's be perfectly clear: The only reason you don't have to pay a subscription for Steam is because Valve knows other outlets like GoG and Windows Store is waiting in the wings to take their sales. And yet there's a massive contingent of PC gamers who openly champion a Steam-only monopoly, refusing to buy games unless it's on Steam. "No Steam, no buy." I hear that garbage all the time; These "Steam only" idiots fail to understand if they get their way they will effectively turn PC into a closed ecosystem no different than console -- and without competition, Value is perfectly free to start charging you a subscription fee for Steam. You'd whine and whine, but you'd cave and pay it because you wouldn't want to lose access to your multiplayer games.

 

[Soodanim]

It's a nice rah-rah speech, but people can be bought or flat out don't care in the first place. So while sometimes people having a voice works, other times it doesn't.

Ultimately it always comes back to PC being an open platform, which comes with positives and negatives.

 

[panda-zebra]

You wanna know how PC gamers have the nice idyllic landscape they have? Where we get free online, modding, easy refunds and other stuff?

We shout.
We whine and cry like little babies when even the tiniest spec of shit gets on our lawn. Even for something as irrelevant as making an account. This same shit happened with bethesda, Ubisoft and their other launchers. This same shit happened with Steam and their attempt to force paid online on us. The same shit happened with Microsoft and GFWL. We don't let anything ruin our experience and if a publisher doesn't budge we sink the damn game and their reputation.

Because if you give stinky corpos an inch, they take a country. First it's PS account. Then it's paid online. Then other publishers see this shit, and enforce paid online in their games too. Next thing you know we're getting fucked paying a subscription like console gamers. No thanks.

We do NOT want to let them set an example. This is why we do the shit that we do.

 

[Hudo]

Brace yourself, OP. You'll get a lot of haters because GAF, for some reason, loves to suck corporate dick.

 

[ProtoByte]

No it isn't. PC has free online because it's an open platform and there's no realistic way to monetize online functionality. That's it.

Right after mobile gaming, PC games are where the industry learns in develops its most predatory tactics. Much worse than paying for an online ecosystem.

 

[Tsaki]

Hell yeah

 

[Braag]

If GAF has taught me anything is that megacorporations are my friend and they always have my best in their mind. Hence why I should always accept whatever decision they make.

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

If the shouting was effective, then why do things like this keep happening?

People are not barking up the same tree every time? Publishers try shit multiple times because they'd really like to do it? Nothing really hard to comprehend here. You'll find plenty of examples from the recent past where user backlash on Steam and elsewhere in the PC sphere has been very effective.

 

[Tunned]

Wait, when did Steam ever try to force paid online? I've been using it since its inception, how did I miss that?

 

[Denton]

This same shit happened with Steam and their attempt to force paid online on us.

Microsoft tried that, not Steam.

But yes, when corpos do stupid shit, people should be vocal about it, obviously.

Wait, when did Steam ever try to force paid online? I've been using it since its inception, how did I miss that?

You didn't, never happened.

 

[Black_Stride]

The accounts are not the problem. The real problem is making them a mandotory and banning people for using different region.

Wait what?

Is there not a thread about this....cuz this is the first im hearing of it.

 

[Z O N E]

First it's "It'S jUsT a FrEe AcCoUnT, iT tAkEs A fEw MiNuTeS".

Then it'll be "LUL just pay to play online or don't buy the game".

 

[Zheph]

I appreciate the morning laugh

 

[Braag]

Idyllic... with poorly optimized ports, Denuvo, easy access to cheats and file scumming, and a checkered history of third party shit launchers.
You have a very interesting idea of "idyllic".

Let's be perfectly clear: The only reason you don't have to pay a subscription for Steam is because Valve knows other outlets like GoG and Windows Store is waiting in the wings to take their sales. And yet there's a massive contingent of PC gamers who openly champion a Steam-only monopoly, refusing to buy games unless it's on Steam. "No Steam, no buy." I hear that garbage all the time; These "Steam only" idiots fail to understand if they get their way they will effectively turn PC into a closed ecosystem no different than console -- and without competition, Value is perfectly free to start charging you a subscription fee for Steam. You'd whine and whine, but you'd cave and pay it because you wouldn't want to lose access to your multiplayer games.

People say "no Steam, no buy" because it's the most feature rich storefront, also the oldest, which means most people have all their friends there.
No one is saying "only release a game on Steam". The more places a game is available the better. But stores like Epic pay publishers to lock their game on their launcher, which ironically to your post, is anti-competition. Also no one wants to have a separate store/launcher for every game they buy. Steam has proven that even with a soft monopoly, they don't try to pull anti-consumer shit, which is why people prefer them.
But competition is the beauty of PC, I'm actually glad stores like Epic exist, because if a day ever comes when Steam starts trying to charge for online gaming or anything like that, people have alternatives and will start to jump ship. An option which in a closed console space people don't have.

 

[Akuji]

PC is PC because of the Mentality how money is spent on games. Games stay big on PC. League of Legends is giant and older then gta 5 with no signs of that stopping. Games that come out have to compete against a shitload of great games on PC and because there is no PC 2, people dont spend money just because its the next gen title.

Doesnt mean PC players are not buying stupid shit and whining but then accept it afterwards. Enough bad stuff happens in the PC space. But voting with the wallet is the only thing that works. But you aint got no control over it. Accepting that is hard for most.

 

[Klosshufvud]

Console owners are so used to bending forwards to whatever bullshit they can't even tell anymore when they're getting screwed over. PC community has retained some sort of influence over devs and if devs/publishers pull some bullshit, it will instantly show in various ways. This is also intentional by Valve because they know just as much as we do how malignant some of these publishers can become when let loose from their leash.

 

[FunkMiller]

I think if more PlayStation and Xbox gamers whined as much as PC gamers, then maybe the PlayStation and Xbox stores wouldn’t be the closed off, over priced walled gardens that they are, where corporate greed always wins.

The level of corporate bootlicking over this whole drama has been quite something to behold.

If it had been a Microsoft game, and they’d decided to demand a sign up months after a game‘s launch, the Sony fans would have been jumping all over them.

Meanwhile, everybody else has to put up with a worsening video games industry, because so many idiots will just give a pass to corporations that do scuzzy things, because they have formed a weird attachment that means they’ll eat any slop they’re given with pleasure, and say thank you when they get fucked.

It’s quite unbelievable.

 

[DAHGAMING]

Over here on Xbox we just smoke the reefa and play dem games

 

[lifa-cobex]

>It's no big deal. It's only a small thing. Just do it.

>If it's no big deal and a small thing. Why did you put it in?

 

[FunkMiller]

But competition is the beauty of PC, I'm actually glad stores like Epic exist, because if a day ever comes when Steam starts trying to charge for online gaming or anything like that, people have alternatives and will start to jump ship. An option which in a closed console space people don't have.

It does my head in how many gamers cheer when something happens that lessens competition in the video games marketplace… just because the thing being done helps the company they’ve decided to align themselves to.

Turkeys voting for Christmas.

 

[Klosshufvud]

The fact that corporate bootlickers at Resetidiots closed the thread is proof enough that the whining is catching suit asses on fire. They are damage controlling now.

 

[Skifi28]

At least we have something new to talk about instead of the daily stellar blade thread about some new controversy.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Point me to all the screaming that these low tolerance steam users did when supporting this guys cause here?

Just look at some of the top sellers on Steam

Fifa: Requires EA account
SW Jedi Survivor : Requires EA account
Fallout 76: Requires Bethesda Account
Warframe : Requires Warframe account
Apex Legends: Requires EA account
Sea of thieves : Requires MS account
MW3: Requires Activision account

If you think Steam users are protesting third party accounts in general when review bombing HDII you're dead wrong. They're even buying a lot of games that require it. If they wanted to stamp it out they would have done so around 5yrs ago in 2019.

I've said it before, but I think this is the PC community realizing that Sony isn't going to be opening up at all, like they have been hoping and claiming for a while now.

The narrative that has been created after the Xbox Business update, that everybody was going to move towards PC and that they would live in this gaming utopia, is being squashed by this 'news'.

Sony will be keeping full control over their games and eco-system.
But that's what they've been saying for years and ultimately, they want people on their consoles and within their eco-system.

The market is not shifting towards PC entirely at all.

 

[Three]

And they did this ~5 months after the game released.

For anybody else who doesn't know or care about Helldivers 2 but is in the controversy anyway the game launched less than 3 months ago.

I've said it before, but I think this is the PC community realizing that Sony isn't going to be opening up at all, like they have been hoping and claiming for a while now.

The narrative that has been created after the Xbox Business update, that everybody was going to move towards PC and that they would live in this gaming utopia, is being squashed by this 'news'.

Sony will be keeping full control over their games and eco-system.
But that's what they've been saying for years and ultimately, they want people on their consoles and within their eco-system.

The market is not shifting towards PC entirely at all.

I think if anything this will push them away from doing releases. I don't think the sign in requirement meant that they were no longer pursuing PC. They just wanted to create a cohesive online account system for their PS studios game much like any online xbox game studios game does.

 

[YOU PC BRO?!]

I wish you whined and cried more about digital ownership. Demanded the ability to sell or trade your digital software license. This is way more important than almost anything else happening in the PC space.

 

[Klosshufvud]

I wish you whined and cried more about digital ownership. Demanded the ability to sell or trade your digital software license. This is way more important than almost anything else happening in the PC space.

Only the EU can help us with that. I think the battle of digital ownership is about to become very real very soon. It is completely a seller's market right now.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

I think if anything this will push them away from doing releases. I don't think the sign in requirement meant that they were no longer pursuing PC. They just wanted to create a cohesive online account system for their PS studios game much like any online xbox game studios game does.

Maybe, but I didn't mean to say they aren't going to pursue PC.

Also, don't forget that a cohesive online account lowers the threshold for PC gamers to buy a PS5 alongside their PC.
Because Sony knows very well that it's best to time-gate their games, as day 1 releases for all their games will hurt them in the long run.

It's rather smart business, but lots of PC gamers (and Xbox fans) are hoping for all platform-holders to make PC one of their main platforms as well.

 

[IlGialloMondadori]

We do NOT want to let them set an example. This is why we do the shit that we do.

Yeah brah, gamerz ryze up.

lol

 

[Boss Mog]

LMAO, that's not the reason PC has free online. PC has free online because each publisher would have to charge for it separately and no gamer is gonna pay for a different online for every game.

 

[hemo memo]

“Free”

 

[NEbeast]

As someone who pretty much a PS user since kid, Playstation fans are the biggest bootlickers in the whole gaming community. These peeps would rather defend a multi billion corporation than see the image of their favorite brand getting tarnished. They will never understand the PC community. They'll just dismiss this "protest" as being whiny.

 

[Wildebeest]

Free online is how you bribe PC players away from running their own private servers and making their own modded game modes. Free online is free beer rather than actual freedom for PC gamers.

 

[Filben]

PC as a platform has benefitted from Steam quite a bit.

Not to mention the convenience. I don't miss the days when I had to manually search for game updates, find a credible source, find the right version because patches were often incremental or even had different regions, like international, German, etc.

Not needing to deal with that is really cool. Also the discussion forum if I've a question about something. Or the guide section. It's not only convenient but a worthy addition.

And of course Steam reviews that warn me about bad servers, shut down servers for games still being sold, or other dirty tactics of devs and publishers. And of course the actual game quality.

I know that some people think we're better off without Steam and some points are indeed valid. If I weigh the positives against the negatives, however, Steam has way more advantages for my personal uses.

 

[BlackTron]

This isn't really about requiring a PSN account. It's about it catching up after months of conditioning people that they had already met the requirements to launch the game every day.

At that point you see that it is a fully functional game that was never dependent on the network anyway, and forgot it was ever required even if you read the page fully months ago.

It rightfully feels like a bait and switch. The fact that it was lifted due to technical issues isn't really an excuse to create a bait and switch scenario with your customers.

For the record I signed up linking my PSN account when I first bought the game and really don't give a shit personally. But it's better to treat clients using human psychology, not personal tastes and preferences.

 

[BlackTron]

Over here on Xbox we just smoke the reefa and play dem games

The drugs indeed can help numb a reality of playing Tomb Raider on Gamepass again

 

[Killjoy-NL]

As someone who pretty much a PS user since kid, Playstation fans are the biggest bootlickers in the whole gaming community. These peeps would rather defend a multi billion corporation than see the image of their favorite brand getting tarnished. They will never understand the PC community. They'll just dismiss this "protest" as being whiny.

You don't see PS users review bombing games because they need to create an account for another publisher.