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Doesn't surprise me. I don't think anyone is at the helm any more over there at GG.

Steam has its own front store where you can buy games, correct? Most of GG's games are Steam based. What is the point of GG? If it's just another online game shop to buy Steam games, then why don't Steam gamers just use the Steam store itself?

I bought a few games there, but when GG decided to go 'full Steam ahead', I decided to go 'I'm not buying games at your site any more ahead.'
Has anyone contacted/complained/demanded a refund about this?
(I can't since all I bought from them were two Steam keys)
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PincushionMan: Are the Arcen games (A Valley Without Wind / AI War) all going Steamworks? AVWW talks about a 1.2 version, but GG doesn't appear to have a way to download it.
All of them are now Steamworks.
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HypersomniacLive: As I don't see a filter to search for games based on their blue coins value, your best bet would be to look for a DRM-free game on sale, either now or later.
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IAmSinistar: I did a search on DRM-free and then sorted by Best Price. That's how I found The I of the Dragon, though it is also a sale item. Also how I discovered that World Train Royale is free (already had it, but they let me add a second giftable copy to my account).

Think I'm going to pick up The I of the Dragon and be done with GG. Might also get Archon Classic off my wishlist there too, even though it never seems to go on sale.
World Train Royale looks intriguing and it's free. I won't be buying anything else from GG though. I haven't spent like a huge amount of money with them, I think less than $7 for 2 games, but I'm certainly not going to be giving them any more of my money.

It astonishes me the way so many shops are effectively signing their own death warrants by dealing with Steamkeys so prominently. At that point, the only way to stay in business is to consistently have lower prices than Steam, and that's highly dependent upon the willingness of publishers to make concessions or their ability to cut their margins more than Valve can afford to.
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hedwards: It astonishes me the way so many shops are effectively signing their own death warrants by dealing with Steamkeys so prominently.
Exactly. Once you help build a monopoly, the monopoly no longer needs you.
Oh, people are still giving money to GamersGate?
Why would you do that?
Afaik their "DRM-free" isn't real DRM-free anyway,
but the times of this are nearing the end anyway, hopefully Gabe doesn't buy GoG someday and they are at least the last to give in.
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Emob78: If it's just another online game shop to buy Steam games, then why don't Steam gamers just use the Steam store itself?
Different sale offers, I guess. Like, if someone's looking to buy a certain game at a discount and there is no Steam sale at the moment but the game is discounted at GG, so they could buy and play it now instead of waiting for the next Steam sale.

Previously, it was also easier to buy something via PayPal on GG without having to store your address and other personal information, which Steam asked for. In the meantime, Steam got rid of that form, too.

So there are reasons to buy Steam keys in other stores, mainly more choice. But I'd also love to see more choice on the DRM-free market, and replacing DRM-free games with Steam keys is not cool.



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madth3: Has anyone contacted/complained/demanded a refund about this?
(I can't since all I bought from them were two Steam keys)
Complained, yes, about an hour ago. I won't demand a refund though since I paid a very low price and I was smart enough to download the game immediately after purchase, so I still have my DRM-free installer. To me, it's more about the principle in this case. ;)
Post edited September 04, 2014 by Leroux
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Grargar: All of them are now Steamworks.
That stinks. At least they didn't pull the download (yet). Does anyone have any insight as to why Arcen went full-on steamworks? A blog post or something?

I can't really fault GG for a publisher going steamworks. Removing the one-time activation copies, though is pretty unforgivable. However, it is possible they were forced to do this because Arcen retired their activation server? Communication is key here - if GG or Arcen had notified us that this was coming, I don't think people would be so up at arms. Anyone remember Reflexive Arcade? They had the good grace to tell people when they were shutting down, and how much time they had left to install their games (I think it was a month or so).

Not that I'm saying GG is folding tomorrow, but it is scary what is and isn't exactly under their control.

Speaking of out of control, what prevents another publisher (maybe even ones here) from switching their games to Steamworks et al and locking us out of updates; perhaps even preventing network play from working? I hope that it wouldn't happen here, but who knows?

As for going full Steam/Origin/Uplay -ahead; what choice did they have? I guess they could fold, but that would cause a different kind of outrage...
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PincushionMan: That stinks. At least they didn't pull the download (yet). Does anyone have any insight as to why Arcen went full-on steamworks? A blog post or something?

I can't really fault GG for a publisher going steamworks. Removing the one-time activation copies, though is pretty unforgivable. However, it is possible they were forced to do this because Arcen retired their activation server? Communication is key here - if GG or Arcen had notified us that this was coming, I don't think people would be so up at arms. Anyone remember Reflexive Arcade? They had the good grace to tell people when they were shutting down, and how much time they had left to install their games (I think it was a month or so).

Not that I'm saying GG is folding tomorrow, but it is scary what is and isn't exactly under their control.

Speaking of out of control, what prevents another publisher (maybe even ones here) from switching their games to Steamworks et al and locking us out of updates; perhaps even preventing network play from working? I hope that it wouldn't happen here, but who knows?

As for going full Steam/Origin/Uplay -ahead; what choice did they have? I guess they could fold, but that would cause a different kind of outrage...
There wasn't an activation server for Arcen games. Some of them (like Valley without Wind and AI War) were offered with an offline serial key, just like if you bought them directly from their site (they still sell their games DRM-Free on their site). Recently, Arcen retired the offline serial activation for all of their games. Since they would no longer generate new serials, their options were either to upload their new files that didn't need the offline serial on GamersGate or just offer a Steam key and they decided to go with the latter.
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amok: nice, let me see if I can secure some of my other games there then. I do like it when I can activate games on more than one service :)
It's not enabling activation on another service, it's exchanging activation on GG for activation on Steam as the GG one got replaced. ;-)
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PincushionMan: Not that I'm saying GG is folding tomorrow, but it is scary what is and isn't exactly under their control.
It isn't that scary. Publishers generally always have control over digital goods, not the vendor.

BTW did anyone get a response from support about it yet? Resorting to hysteria seems a TAD premature...
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MetalPlateMage: snip
Tonight at 11...
Attachments:
dooooom.jpg (102 Kb)
Talking about stores, GMG took off of their store all Namco titles, including Dark Souls game.
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Rodor: Just now I logged in my Gamersgate account to download some games (which are either not present yet on GOG or I just haven't bought them here yet), like Space Empires 5 and AIWar Collection - and what do I see? The 'download" link is disappeared and the "Steam-key" button appeared. For Space Empires? Don't make me laugh, Steam-sh*tasses! Is it "just for convenience to download fresh patches" or what? Are you complete idiots? Where are my DRM-free copies which I had bought? I didn't buy Steam-keys! Where are them?
Is it normal to treat customers like that?
Unfortunately, sadly customers are sometimes treated like that. But why not doing the following. Write them a message asking for the old style download because you don't want to use Steam and bought the game in a time when it was still without Steam. Then when they refuse you, tell them that they effectively deny access to your games and that you are extremely unhappy and if they do not fix it immediately you go to court and never buy at their store again. Simple and clean.

Well you may not go to court, but never buy at their store again should be appropriate I think.
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Coelocanth: I am Groot!
Please don't remind me about that thing.