We don't know yet. They've purposely left out the details.

We know it will be required for future Zenimax games and that it is most likely DRM. Whether you will always have to be online is uncertain.

just read through this entire topic and frankly... i think it gave me gas.

that said, drm and anything always on-line can eat a dick.

Yep, I tell myself the same thing; when I'm crying myself to sleep, using my boxed copies of Oblivion and Fallout 3 as pillows and lamenting that these are the last two entries in both series that I will ever get to play.

Those are both awful gsmes.

Someone probably said this already, I don't plan reading this whole thread. All this comes down to is every company wanting their own portal so they can take home 100% of a sale of their product, that's it. They're sick of the middle man taking 30%. Sure they'll still sell on Steam too, at least at first, but can count on some customers just going straight to their portal.

It's not even about DRM or usage stats, even though that stuff is just icing on top.

I've never pirated a game, but when I do it will be Bethesda!

Some actual facts about concerns that have been brought up here, coming from an interview with Todd Howard in todays german Spiegel (for those interested: last two questions):

Q: Will you have to pay for some mods (link to different article about Skyrim's paid mods)?
A: How long was the payment system online? 24 Hours? I can only speak for the present time, but currently there are no plans for a payment system.

Q: In "Assassin's Creed: Unity" as an example, many players were offended by the additional purchases that were offered in it (Microtransactions). Is there anything like that in "Fallout 4" ?
A: No.

And now you know why I cry.

Can someone trust their words? Not too long ago, they even declared they support DRM-FREE! Maybe this NO is a YES actually, camouflaged as a NO?!?

Damn, pirates have a code of honor and always speak the truth upon pain of death, but what can someone make out of consummate, greasy, corporate suit-ties? Do their words mean jack sh*t out there right now, after all they did and said?

LOL, +1 for you!!!

Reminds of that beer commercial... "I don't often pirate games, but when I do, I prefer to prate Bethesda games."

So, I guess you're the most interesting man in the world...???

The hens must be gathered before they are slaughtered. :P

The money Zenimax will make from cutting out Steam may be as far as they go (for this release) to keep a positive spin on Bethesda.net. But who knows what the future holds for slimier things, the direction itself is obviously a negative one.

It's worth remembering the PS3 is/was free to play online, but as companies are looking to increase profits they inevitably put what's in their interests before the consumers. Thus PS4's pay wall. Xbox always online fiasco so on and so on.

Even though i am not a console gamer after the golden era of sega and nintendo. Even if i am a pc master race jerk. I can totally feel for out console brothers. This is terrible. It's like getting together 4 people to compete in mario cart and obligate them to use money, so they can unlock the good items (like the bullet bomb, blue winged shell, etc). But in a very larger scale. Damn this sucks. Microtransactions? Pay for online? What the hell?

Oh but i forgot. Even in pc. Blizzard, one of the pioneers in multiplayer gaming (quoted from diablo 1 cd back cover: ***Compete FREE over the Internet***), introduced in Diablo 3 Real Money Auction House.

The future is grim. For everyone.

My problem is when they double dip.

Want me to install Origin or UPlay or whatever? Fine. But also selling it on Steam, so you need to be signed into both at once, is just absurd.

The rule should be: one DRM platform per game. That's it. No more, preferably less.

Well, the last game I bought from Bethesda was Oblivion, because it had only disc-check. After they jumped on the GFW Live and later Steam Bandwagon, I found other companies to support. And there are plenty of them. So this news will not affect me at all. I will continue to use GOG as the only platform for digital downloads. With their sales I have such big backlog now, that I will not need to buy any new DRMed game ever...

I for one hope this is Zenimax's new DRM platform. This will free me from the temptation of ever again buying one of their games, which for my taste as a cRPG fan, are going in the wrong direction.

But at least Blizzard did the right thing and removed the Auction House, so there is still hope...

Meanwhile I'm waiting for Ubisoft to go bankrupt so I can finally play Might and Magic X.