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I'd be more concerned about wallet funds. For games, there should be a grace period between shutdown announcement and shut down to download and back them up. Wallet funds? Much more likely to go poof without warning. As soon as shutdown is announced, people will want to spend their store credit all at once.
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Kelefane: I see a lot of folks state that you need to be backing your games up to spare hard drives and whatnot. Well, a lot of folks aren't going to have the wherewithal to do that because its not something that certain people do.
It's not something that Steam / EA / Ubisoft gamers do because for 94% of stuff they can't. GOG's two main target markets though are disproportionately more likely to do precisely because 1. People who grew up with 90s games are generally more tech savvy (and capable of extreme displays of intelligence such as... downloading a couple of installer files...) and 2. DRM-Free proponents are here precisely because they can back stuff up. If they couldn't, there'd be little reason beyond a few old GOG exclusives to buy most things here vs Steam.
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Kelefane: Whether you believe him or not, Gabe Newell has stated in the past that, should Steam be taken permanently offline, a patch would be made available that would allow users to continue to play all their games without the service needing to be active. It would probably work as a perpetual Offline Mode. But you wouldn't need to back anything up. Your entire library would still be present and you can download and uninstall games at your own leisure.
Wrong. "Gabe's promise" (tm) simply isn't true at all. Here's his actual quote:-

"If you right click on a game in Steam, you'll see that you can back up the files yourself. Unless there was some situation I don't understand, we would presumably disable authentication before any event that would preclude the authentication servers from being available. We've tested disabling authentication and it works" - Gabe Newell
https://i.imgur.com/VEJwY38.jpg

- First that's an unofficial post merely "guessing" what "might" happen, not any "promise" or guarantee of continued service.

- Second, if Steam went offline / closed up shop permanently, the download & store-front servers will inevitably go offline along with the authentication servers, ie, you won't be able to re-download / play / backup anything that you didn't already have installed locally. When Gabe said you can back up the files yourself, he's talking about Steam games you already have installed locally prior to server's going down. If you're someone who installs the whole lot at once, then yes you may get to keep most if they change the client and you back them all up. But if like many Steam gamers, you're someone who only downloads a few games at a time and leaves most "in the cloud", you'd be royally screwed.

- Third, it applies only to patching the client to bypass basic "Steamworks" DRM on a client level. They can't remove 3rd party Denuvo (many AAA games). And if the CEG authentication servers got pulled, you wouldn't be able to re-download the custom game's .exe for new hardware (CEG is in each game .exe itself not just the steam_api.dll files), so even if you did have those games backed up, the next time you changed motherboard all CEG protected games still locked to the old board would stop working.

- Fourth, if each game still needs Steam client running to launch them (even with a local bypass), then what happens in 10-15 years time when due to long-term OS changes, that client becomes incompatible with newer future Windows (same way that Steam & Galaxy no longer run on XP)? You'll lose all games not on this list long-term anyway...

- Fifth, even if Steam kept the download servers running for say 30 days prior to going out of business for you to download their games, their server's would be so massively overloaded by hundreds of millions of gamers all trying to download everything they own that download speeds would plummet and it's doubtful most people would manage to grab even a fraction of what they "own".

In short, the only real thing "Uncle Gabe" ever said was - We could alter the Steam client to skip the basic online Steamworks check but that won't work for Denuvo protected games (possibly CEG too), but that's not any promise that we will, nor does it change games to not need the Steam client (which may stop working on new Windows in years to come), nor do we promise that the download servers won't be pulled at the same time and that you'll even be able to download the games you don't already have installed. Everything else is people putting words into his mouth due to wanting to believe he made a 'promise' that he didn't to feel their Steam collection is less fragile than it is if the only copy of most of their games is in the cloud and not even installed locally, let alone backed up.
Post edited February 26, 2019 by AB2012
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Kelefane: Maybe, maybe not. But at least Steam has commented on the subject in the past. Putting minds at ease, whether its blowing smoke or not, sometimes people just need to "hear" it.
Need to hear what? That you'll still be able to play your downloaded games when GOG goes down? We already know that, since that's the definition of DRM-free. The Steam quote is nothing more than a rumour that weirdly enough noone can ever provide the source to, but even if Gabe actually said that, I doubt he said that you'll be able to download your games from Steam servers for all eternity, even after Steam's vanished. The quote is just about removing DRM, which is not necessary on GOG.
Post edited February 26, 2019 by Leroux
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AB2012: <snip>
+1 for the effort. Refreshing to have someone willing to explain things in such detail.

In summary:
Steam library not backed up + Steam shut down = Boned.
GOG library not backed up + GOG shut down = Boned.

The main differences between Steam & GOG backups:
Steam backup without no authentication patch + Steam shut down = Boned.
Steam backup with no authentication patch + Steam shut down = Possibly functional games
GOG offline installer backup + GOG shut down = In most cases, functional games

Thus:
LEARN HOW TO BACK UP YOUR FILES OR RISK LOSING YOUR GAMES FOREVER.
I'm too lazy and jaded to back up 1000 games.

If they go, they go.

So be it.
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tinyE: I'm too lazy and jaded to back up 1000 games.

If they go, they go.

So be it.
Society is to blame.
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tinyE: I'm too lazy and jaded to back up 1000 games.

If they go, they go.

So be it.
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scientiae: Society is to blame.
No, I'm pretty sure it's all my fault.
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scientiae: Society is to blame.
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tinyE: No, I'm pretty sure it's all my fault.
Think of the children!
It’ll be fine. Even if GOG shits the bed, their installers will always be availbe for download via torrents and the like. It’s not piracy if it’s a game you own.
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Hesusio: It’ll be fine. Even if GOG shits the bed, their installers will always be available for download via torrents and the like. It’s not piracy if it’s a game you own. […]
… And Gog's dead and buried.
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Hesusio: It’ll be fine. Even if GOG shits the bed, their installers will always be availbe for download via torrents and the like. It’s not piracy if it’s a game you own.
As long as you have saved the purchasing emails. It'll pretty much be the only proof you own them :p

And if you upload on a torrent you're at fault, whether you own it or not.
Post edited February 26, 2019 by Pheace
Should I actually be worried?
Just saying that is enough for me to go buy an sd card for backup installers.
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Kelefane: Whether you believe him or not, Gabe Newell has stated in the past that, should Steam be taken permanently offline, a patch would be made available that would allow users to continue to play all their games without the service needing to be active. It would probably work as a perpetual Offline Mode. But you wouldn't need to back anything up. Your entire library would still be present and you can download and uninstall games at your own leisure.
That is terribly, terribly unlikely. If Steam would go under, they would have no income and the userbase they have is so large, that there is no way a service like that could function for free with all the traffic. The bandwidth is not free nor are the servers the massive amounts of data is stored.
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Kelefane: Whether you believe him or not, Gabe Newell has stated in the past that, should Steam be taken permanently offline, a patch would be made available that would allow users to continue to play all their games without the service needing to be active. It would probably work as a perpetual Offline Mode. But you wouldn't need to back anything up. Your entire library would still be present and you can download and uninstall games at your own leisure.
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tomimt: That is terribly, terribly unlikely. If Steam would go under, they would have no income and the userbase they have is so large, that there is no way a service like that could function for free with all the traffic. The bandwidth is not free nor are the servers the massive amounts of data is stored.
Yeah that last thing sounds off. I get the gist behind the idea but I'm fairly sure even if that ever were to happen it would only be an update to the client making it so it wouldn't require authentication anymore, but you *would* still need to have all your games downloaded for any of it to work, there's not going to be a service running after Steam goes down.
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Kelefane: So screw the guy who isn't techy or has the wherewithal to back games up? Not everyone does you know. These types of folks only know how to press a play button. Talk about being blindsided if this happens. I can picture this recent layoff doom and gloom news only hitting GOG's bottomline even more as these types of customers go to a more financially stable platform like Steam. So lets hope that news isn't as bad as it seems.
Don't use Galaxy, and you automatically make a local back up in the process of installing your game.