Game Distribution Platforms Becoming Annoyingly Common

The Escapist's Shamus Young recently posted an article complaining about the proliferation of distribution platforms and social networks for video games. None of the companies who make these are "quite sure how games will be sold and played ten years from now," he writes, "but they all know they want to be the ones running the community or selling the titles." Young continues, "Remember how these systems usually work: The program sets itself up to run when Windows starts, and it must be running if you want to play the game. If you follow this scheme to its logical conclusion, you'll see that the system tray of every gaming PC would eventually end up clogged with loaders, patchers, helpers, and monitors. Every publisher would have a program for serving up content, connecting players, managing digital licenses, performing patches, and (most importantly) selling stuff. Some people don't mind having 'just one more' program running in the background. But what happens when you have programs from Valve, Stardock, Activision, 2k Games, Take-Two, Codemasters, Microsoft, Eidos, and Ubisoft? Sure, you could disable them. But then when you fire the thing up to play a game, it will want to spend fifteen minutes patching itself and the game before it will let you in. And imagine how fun it would be juggling accounts for all of them."

Comments

Steam and Electronic Arts

[sopssa]

Actually for once EA is doing it correctly. You have 4 ways to buy their games (that I know of):

1) Physical product from store
2) Steam (where you get the goodness of Steam services and social aspects)
3) Direct2Drive
4) EA's own store and download manager

You can buy your game from any place you prefer. If you buy from other places, you won't get EA's own download manager or things. That's how it should - buyer can choose the platform he prefers. For me that is (unsurprisingly) Steam.

I'm sure not all people like the social gaming aspects of Steam and other platforms, but I do enjoy them. It's easy to play with friends or chat in-game (good with multiplayer games). But for those who don't like them, they can be turned off. I never buy from physical stores anymore, it's a lot more convenient to buy from Steam and almost instantly get to play it. I always keep wishing I could do the same with my PS3 or 360, but they usually only have the smaller games in their stores and I have to order the "real" games via post.

Good example of social aspects in Steam is also that via MW2 I've got many interesting players on my friend list so that theres always someone to play with, but they don't bother me if I'm not playing. It's more fun to play with the people you somewhat, even if very vaguely know.

Re:Steam and Electronic Arts

[Rogerborg]

Just so we're clear: you're renting the ability to play. When, not if, they go belly up, you've just got a hard drive full of random bits.

Don't get me wrong, I use and love Steam (it even works well through Wine on Ubuntu) but I'm under no illusions about ownership.

Re:Steam and Electronic Arts

[sopssa]

You actually don't own the games you buy physically either. You're getting a license to use them, like with any other software.

But more than that, I don't think that will be such a big issue though. What are the changes that Steam will go away anytime soon? And even if it happens in lets say 20-30 years, that's still many years. Many of the games I bough in 90's are too scratched, lost somewhere along the years or do not work with current operating systems and are unplayable now. Doesn't bother me too much, theres great new games now.

Re:Steam and Electronic Arts

[Antique Geekmeister]

Steam usually operates fine in off-line mode for single player games. And the trade-off of getting integral patch updates, being able to delete and restore a game at will, the low cost of downloadable games (especially ancient ones) and being able to transfer games to another client without media are all big advantages for most players. They seem well worth the risk of losing the Steam servers.

Re:Steam and Electronic Arts

[TheKidWho]

Valve has stated before that if they do go belly-up they would release a patch so that you could play all of your games without getting onto the steam network. That or I would expect some hackers to crack it.

That is of course assuming Valve doesn't try to sell Steam.

Re:Steam and Electronic Arts

[Anonymous Coward]

If there's any video game developer I'd trust to not fuck everyone over, it's definitely Valve. They've got to be the single most community-oriented developer out there right now.

Re:Steam and Electronic Arts

[ethorad]

Yes, because if they go belly up they'll definitely have the time and resources to come up with a patch to let you play their games. Plus I very much doubt the insolvency practitioner /debtor / purchaser will be willing to let them have funds.

The only way I'd believe that claim is if the patch had alread been written (and was kept updated with changes to the system) and in the hands of a third party to be released on a list of conditions - such as the servers going dark.

Re:Steam and Electronic Arts

[mr_da3m0n]

Well, I can't seem for the life of me to find the original article, but I recall clearly that Gabe Newell stated that Valve has a decryption key ready to go out, at the press of a button in case they go belly up.

Re:Steam and Electronic Arts

[IBBoard]

It depends on your local law as to how enforceable the EULA is. I bought a game, I didn't pay for a license (at least not as far as it was presented to me). If nothing else, physical copies of the game will still work even if you do violate some obscure license clause ("you can't play this game while wearing red socks"), where as Steam and similar DRMed games are dead in the water as soon as your "license" to play is pulled.

As for your old games, just because you've lost or scratched them doesn't mean that everyone else has. Not working in current OSes is normally easily resolved with DOS Box/ScummVM or some other emulator.

Re:Steam and Electronic Arts

[TOGSolid]

Well, not entirely useless. I keep all of my Steam games backed up to an offline profile so that even if Steam did go tits up, I'll still be playing my games quite happily. Most of the non-Valve games don't even need Steam to be in online mode for their multiplayer to work.

Re:Steam and Electronic Arts

[sopssa]

So now I work for Microsoft, Opera Software, Steam, Google, Infinity Ward, Logitech and (interestingly) Red Hat. That makes my work days 56 hours long, which leaves me -32 hours per day to dick around. Man.

Re:Steam and Electronic Arts

[PopeRatzo]

What are the changes that Steam will go away anytime soon?

I said the same thing when I bought my 2008 Pontiac Solstice.

I remember some years ago a friend bought a bunch of music from a music service from Microsoft. I've forgotten the name now (or maybe I've blocked it out). The friend told me it was easy to use and they had all sorts of labels and artists. The only catch was that Microsoft had to "refresh" your licenses to keep the music files playing. I remember telling him it didn't seem like a good idea, and he said "what are the chances that Microsoft would go away any time soon?"

Today, he's got an external hard drive full of bits that he can't listen to. I've seen this with my own eyes. When he tries to open them, some dialog box pops up telling him that he has to connect to some Microsoft service to refresh his licenses and then he tries and nothing happens.

Many of the games I bough in 90's are too scratched

That's why we'd like to be able to make copies of our game disks, including the ones for consoles.

Re:Steam and Electronic Arts

[Vitani]

With Steam you can just use Offline mode. I did this when moving house and was without an Internet connection for a few weeks and could happily play Portal, HL2, etc. without any issues. (Not sure about other games which use non-Steam DRM though!)

Also should you want to format, it provides a way to back-up your games to a DVD/similar so you don't have to re-download.

I can't say anything about the other providers as I've never used them.

Re:Steam and Electronic Arts

[PopeRatzo]

Valve has stated before that if they do go belly-up they would release a patch so that you could play all of your games without getting onto the steam network

In legal circles, that's known as the "I promise not to cum" clause.

Re:Steam and Electronic Arts

[MBGMorden]

You CAN'T compare immaterial and material purchases directly, but that's not a problem here because if you're a copyright fanboy then both of these scenarios are immaterial.

You see, when you buy a book if you're a copyrights fan then you're really paying for the license to read the copyrighted text. The paper it comes on is just a delivery mechanism.

The same applies to a software CD. The CD itself is a delivery mechanism only.

It is literally the EXACT same scenario. If you can own a book, then you can own a copy of software. If however the software is merely licensed, then so too is the book. They are the same type of critter and the way you want to interpret ownership (or lack thereof) of one will have to legally extend to the other.

Re:Steam and Electronic Arts

[shutdown -p now]

So now I work for Microsoft, Opera Software, Steam, Google, Infinity Ward, Logitech and (interestingly) Red Hat. That makes my work days 56 hours long, which leaves me -32 hours per day to dick around.

Ah, so you're an H1-B!

Re:Steam and Electronic Arts

[undercanopy]

It's exactly the same in theory and legal terms, sure, but in physical terms, that the book doesn't phone home to ask for permission every time you try to read it. I think that was the point -- whether or not you legally own 'rights' to the content, they'll have a much tougher time trying to stop you reading it, regardless of the changing whims/stability of the publisher. Or: I don't have to go find a cracked version of the book in order to keep reading it after the publisher goes tits-up.

Re:Steam and Electronic Arts

[Anonymous Coward]

Gabe did not say that. There is no universal decryption key for the system they use. He said he expects he would make available a method to enable the games if the masters went offline. His wording was careful to avoid a legally binding statement. The reality is that it would not be in his control if they went belly up, as it would be a trustee's call with the creditors as the IP would be under their control. Something short of chapter 11 and it would be factors such as goodwill upon deciding there is no reason to continue the system for a given product. In other words there is no IP left that is profitable and as a gesture of goodwill and if within his control, it would likely happen. End of story.

Re:Steam and Electronic Arts

[david_thornley]

Except that I'm not normally paying for a license to read the copyrighted text. I'm paying for a copy. If I were paying for a license, I would have the right to read the text even if my purchased copy were destroyed, and I don't. Moreover, if I were to find a book that somebody abandoned, I wouldn't have the right to read it, not having acquired a license. In fact, I can own a book, but there are limitations on what I can do with it. There's some limitations on what I can do with a lot of my property, so this is nothing unusual.

Now, some software is sold with a EULA, and the legal system has not completely rejected that idea as it should have, so in many cases when you use software you've agreed that you don't own it, only license it. That does not in general happen with books, which are sold outright, and come with no restrictions other than copyright.

Re:Steam and Electronic Arts

[wjousts]

but I recall clearly that Gabe Newell stated...

Not in the Steam TOS he didn't. Nor anywhere else where it would be legally binding. But it's okay, Valve are the good guys, right?

5, 10, 20 years down the road

[suso]

Another thing to worry about is that in 10+ years we will have a whole generation of games (not just MMOs) that will no longer be able to be played on emulators, etc. because the networks they connect with will be gone.

I think people will get fed up with it and the game publishers will have to change eventually, but not before a lot of damage will be done.

Re:5, 10, 20 years down the road

[sopssa]

I don't think so. 20 years is lot of years. Even the TV I bough 10 years ago doesn't work anymore (not showing tv channels at least), because digital TV got instructed. Did it really bother me that much? Not really. I just bough a new one with lots of new fancy features and HD picture.

Not everything in life last forever. The pizza I ate yesterday is gone. It was still good and I enjoyed the experience. So is my ex but I enjoyed that experience too and now its time to move into new things.

And theres always private servers, if the player base actually is large enough.

Re:5, 10, 20 years down the road

[Amarantine]

But i can still pay the games i bought for a NES or Mega Drive. I think the PS2 is the last console before the new generation where patches, firmware upgrades and whatnot became the norm.

I have no problem with not being able to play the games i bought now in 10 years or so, but perhaps they shouldn't be priced as such then. Games now cost the same as 20 years ago, yet they don't have the same lifespan.

Re:5, 10, 20 years down the road

[IsisTheDamned]

you don't have to wait that long - hellgate london achieved this in less than five years...

Re:5, 10, 20 years down the road

[Gr8Apes]

So you'd be ok with that book not being readable in 10 years? (Self-destructing a la Mission Impossible)

Game distribution

[smittyoneeach]

Game distribution
A tragic solution
The most horrid trick
Since the disposable Bic
Burma Shave

Re:Tell me about it!

[Spad]

Steam isn't a problem, it's when you've got 12 Steam clones from different publishers all of which are required for you to be able to play different parts of your games library.

Re:Tell me about it!

[Anonymous Coward]

psychical media

Now that's a whole new distribution paradigm ;-)

Re:Typical /. BS

[Vanderhoth]

I own a Nintendo, Super Nintendo and tons of games I loved when I was a kid. I still play with my Nintendo and Super Nintendo, which still work almost 25 years later. When the systems eventually don't work anymore, I have Emulators and ROMs for all my games that let me play the games on my laptop and PS3 (with Linux installed on it). Let me know in 20 years how all those Steam games are working and what you can play them on. Should be interesting.

Re:Typical /. BS

[MORB]

Typical /. kneejerk reaction comment from someone too lazy to read even the summary.

If you did so, you'd have found out that what the guy complains about is in fact the lack of unification of the process, where every other game company seems to be rolling their own distribution platform with the assorted bundle of crapware to run the games on it.

Heck, you can even run into these problems even if you install games only from steam.

This is not about distribution it's about control

[Anonymous Coward]

Where did Shamus Young ever get the idea this was about publishers wanting to be the leader in 'serving content'. Nothing could be further from reality. I think he has fallen for the public relations excuses. If there was a list of priorities for these various systems, being the leader is way down the list.

These so called distributors or publishers want two or three main things from this.
1) Increased Profits. Only this tops the list and is the prime motivator. There are several things to follow that help ensure they reach the prime motive.

Following that come other reasons for the creation of these customer frustrating systems. Publishers are moving to the rental model for games. You don't ever get a complete copy of the game you paid for and are always under the control of their authentication system. This may at the moment primarily be if you wish to go online to play but is slowly extending those tentacles to every game. Even now some games you purchase on cd require you either login or phone to have the game authorized before it will play. They have even demonstrated cd versions lacking extra content unless you register before you may download. The obvious next step goes beyond authentication into missing content required just to start the game.

The importance of getting the public to accept these streaming authentication systems, is key to exercising full control over their product. They have had the desire for many years to enforce the part of the license where you don't own the game, but only license to use it. As this has progressed we have seen companies like EA begin to turn off games like the madden series. If people just think that only online support is where it ends they are living in a dream world. This is all about pay to play and finding business models that keep the revenue steam coming in. It is easy to see other entertainment industries moving in this same direction by controlling what you can do with content and where and when you may use/view that content you paid for.

A common annoyance, not just in gaming

[JaredOfEuropa]

It seems every little crappy program or tool these days wants to install their own "helper" thingy, either hidden or in the task bar. I wish all software companies would be a little more responsible about the cruft they load our computers down with.
5 Simple rules:
- only run stuff in the background if there's a good reason for the job to run continuously.
- for stuff that doesn't need to run all the time (and checking for updates most definitely belongs in this category), perform the task(s) when the associated program itself starts.
- if it runs in the background, it goes on the task bar (so we know it's there)
- if it runs at startup, there's a simple way (config setting) to disable it.
- if running at startup is disabled but the job is essential for the associated program, the job is started automatically when the program is launched.

Re:A common annoyance, not just in gaming

[PGGreens]

I just know that it'll all be worth it if I ever decide to get an iPhone. The Apple Mobile Device Manager has been warming up in the background for months!

It's like Betamax vs VHS only worse

[Aceticon]

The natural conclusion from the article is that Game Distribution Platforms seem to be affected by networking effects - buyers gravitate to the one with the most games, sellers gravitate to the one where most buyers go to. This means that the market will move towards a situation where there are only one or two winners.

This might seem like a good thing (fewer random background tasks running in people's PCs) until you think about those people that bought games in what turned out not to be one of the winning platforms: the games that they bought in that/those platforms typically will stop working when the servers are turned off (or, at best, you won't be able to do a new install ever again due to online activation).

This is a bit like VHS vs Betamax (or HD-DVD vs Blueray) only much worse: anybody that bought movies in Betamax format can still play them as long as their Betamax player works, but anybody that buys a game that authenticates with a platform that later goes down will quite likelly be unable to play that game ever again once the authentication servers are stopped.

Considering that the really good games are still played 5 or 10 years later (pretty much any gamer over 30 will be well aquainted with the experience of rediscovering an "oldy but goody" and playing it again), and that the game publishers rarelly have any interest in keeping the game going once they stop selling it, even those whose games which where bought in a platform that is still going 5 of 10 years in the future still run the risk of having their games killed by after-sale, arbitrary planned obsolescence.

Me, I vote with my wallet and refuse to buy any games that have online activation and/or authentication for single player gaming (currently playing "X3:Terran Conflict" on the PC, bought after they removed DRM with patch 2.5): if others did the same the industry would give up on this.

OldSchool emulation

[DrYak]

Old school emulation suffers from this too :
- most of the original purchased magnetic-media have bit-rotten by now and/or the necessary hardware to read them (ALONG WITH all the protection weirdness - not just any reading drive, but one producing exactly the glitches on which the protection scheme relies) might be broken.

Meanwhile
- all the pirated versions are still around fully enjoying digital mortality (once a soft is only a bunch of bits - with no physical media or protection attached - it costs almost zero to copy it). Want to rediscover some long-lost gem ? No problem, just don't pay much attention to the "crack-tro" tacked at the beginning. And, as a bonus, you usually even got a "trainer" built-it so you can still enjoy the game even if our modern-day tastes are less into games were you constantly die.

"Pirates" are todays most corporate-hated criminal, but tomorrow people-loved archivists.

Why worry about 10, 20 years, how about 2-3?

[HockeyPuck]

Don't forget that companies are already shutting down their own game servers to get people to play the newer games. Madden 07 and 08 are already being shut down...

This is a real problem

[dangitman]

The proliferation of game distribution platforms is very annoying. Which is why I am the CEO of a company that is introducing an innovative new product that distributes and manages game distribution platforms.

Re:One of the many reasons I only play pirated gam

[GuyFawkes]

Two points.

1/ I fail to see the difference between crapware from the game company and crapware from the kiddies.

2/ Non sequitur, if I am tech savvy enough to not allow one, I am tech savvy enough to not allow either.

This is the DM of the Rings guy

[dcoe]

... for those of you who don't recall

http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=612

Re:Typical /. BS

[Rockoon]

The biggest sinner of all is rockstar games.

Consider the PC release of GTA4. If you purchased the retail copy then it requires Games For Windows Live and Rockstar Social Club/b> ...

... but the fucking punchline is that this fucker also installs SecuROM.

..and no. Steam users are not off the hook. With the steam version you get all that, and also a Steam dependency!

With that said.. I like Steam. Of the the nice things about steam is that they disclose the existence of any other DRM (besides Steamworks) prior to purchase. Steamworks is the least obnoxious of all the mainsteam DRM's out there, and you get a good bit of added value (unlimited downloads, no digging around for CD keys and the like..) for the trouble of dealing with it.

Re:Typical /. BS

[imakemusic]

Yeah, I bought GTA IV through steam the other day. As well as it running like a bag of shite I also have to have the rockstar social club running (as well as steam). Also I had to sign up for the social club just to play the game. And then link that account to a windows Live games account. I tried using my existing windows Live account but it wouldn't let me link them (for some reason...it didn't tell me why) so I had to create a new one. So two new accounts in two software systems that are duplicating the functionality of Steam WHICH I'M ALREADY USING AS WELL!

Getting the finger from the cloud.

[GrantRobertson]

This is the problem with frikkin cloud computing. Everybody and their brother wants to reach down from that cloud and stick their finger in your pie. When they are done they just give you the finger and you are left with a useless mess in your pie-tin.

Just imagine a sick cross between Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel and American Pie.

pre-purchase end-of-life terms- publish source?

[h00manist]

The tons of "abandonware" games out there attest to this reality. For commercial apps as well, there should be "end-of-life" terms right at the time of purchase, and put into the EULA. At a minimum, access to binaries and some sort of new-users-enabling license after the product is no longer sold. Ideally, the source should become accessible, under some sort of license, after a number of years, to allow updates etc. Smaller publishers would perhaps include an agreement to open-source it after a certain amount in sales. Source to the community features, system applets, and servers need to be included for some products. Basically the EULA agreements, as contracts, have to be reviewed to include rights for users too, not just publishers, or they should be refused. Shall we shart demanding user-sponsored lawyers to rewrite publishers EULA contracts before certain user groups recommend the products "fair EULA terms" ?

Not just Distribution Services

[theJML]

The battle for my system tray is getting crazy lately in general. I don't subscribe to any of the digital distribution channels (except iTunes), but things keep filling my system tray and I don't like it.

Why does everything have to have a quick start agent? It's one of the first things I disable. I know for a fact I'm not going to use the program everytime I turn on my computer, so why waste the time when booting?! Also, if I wanted to load the program, then I don't mind waiting for the program to load, is it that hard of a concept?

And if your program takes THAT LONG TO LOAD that you have to have a QUICKSTART feature, I think it's time to rethink your program's requirements and efficiency!

I suppose the fact that they download updates in the background is handy for some people, but I really don't want my PC doing anything that I didn't tell it to do. In fact, I don't like patching things all willy-nilly either.

Re:You said "transfer".

[elzurawka]

Not sure if the OP meant this, but I like the fact that if I have a game I like, for example L4D2 which is around 7 gigs, and a friend picks it up, I can bring over the backup files from my computer, and install the game using those. He does not have to go and waste a few hours re-downloading the games. All of my games are backed up to an external NAS at my house, and whenever I install them, its just a matter of clicking on the files on the NAS, and running the install. Then once its installed, the game is automatically patched to the latest version by steam( I can re-backup with this patch for next time ).
I can then bring my NAS with my to my friends, and as long as he owns the license he can still use the same install files. Very much like when games were bought on physical media. The advantage? No Stupid CD/DVD protection, i can give him a COPY of the backup file on DVD if I like.
No Key to remember. How many old games do I have that I no longer have the original packaging for? That means I have to crack the game to get around the activation key.
Also I can keep redundant copies of the game at home, and if my house burns down, steam still has a copy for me. If I own all my games on DVD and my house burns down, I'm S.O.L.

Re:Dawn of War 2

[Hatta]

I loved the original - I met a guy playing it in an apartment I rented in Amsterdam's red light district after Expedia failed to book my hotel - thought "wow, someone made an awesome looking 40k game!"

You were stranded in Amsterdam's red light district, and the best thing you could find to do was play video games?

Re:Terrible Analogy

[icebraining]

MW2 only has to work until MW3 gets out. Then Activision will be happy if Steam disconnects it.

Just look at Metal Gear Solid 3:

Konami has announced that the Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence online servers will be shut down in North America on April 2, 2007. Released less than a year ago, it seems the Metal Gear Online community wasn't strong enough to sustain interest from Konami to keep internet-based play up and running.

Emphasis mine.

Re:Tell me about it!

[sabt-pestnu]

I was going to reply with some amusing-but-pithy comment, but I don't have the activation key.

Re:Tell me about it!

[Trixter]

I learned this the hard way recently... I bought a few games because they were cheaper from other services, and was disappointed that the entire process wasn't as seamless as Steam is. Poor download times, odd licensing, and misbehaving system tray icons eventually forced me to re-purchase all my games from Steam just so I wouldn't have to deal with it. And I'm glad I did.

One of the things I like about Steam is that, without any effort on my part, my games follow me. If I log into any computer in the world with the steam client, my games are there, ready to download and play. That's DRM I can live with.

Re:Why the fuck do you think PC gaming is dying

[mjwx]

PC gaming is dying so fast that EA, Ubisoft et al have abandoned it so completely. I mean Modern Warfare will never be out on the PC.

No wait...

Greedy motherfucking bastards

This is an example of why PC gaming is alive and well. PC games are cheaper then their Xbox and Playstation equivalents. Lets look at modern warfare 2 shall we, from the rip off merchants EB Games it costs A$119.95 on PS3, A$119.95 on Xbox360 and A98.00 on PC. Now if I go down the road to JB HiFi I can shave A$20 of those prices.

At A$21.95 difference if I purchase 1 game a month I save A$263.40 over the course of a year, If I buy 2 games a month that's A$526.80. Now if my gaming PC costs A$1500, holy crap in three years it's paid for itself.

If you're serious about gaming, you have a PC. Not only is it better (graphics, control, sound and so forth) it's cheaper.