Yea. "My" steam library will stop working on Windows 8.1 in a few months. I have no urgency to save it. When you "own" stuff in the cloud you have to play by their rules and pay what that costs.
GOG as a platform is better in that regard. Almost all titles on it are DRM-free and you can download offline installers.
Physical media isn't always forever. Most CD-based games are going to be fucked toward the ends of our lifetimes, and 3DS game carts are already starting to go bad, likely will happen to Switch titles as well.
If possible, back everything up onto alternate medium.
Always-online shit is done for whenever they either done't release the source code (virtually never nowadays) or if the fans don't reverse engineer it.... Man, I miss Titanfall 1.
It's shocking how many people really have no idea that "the cloud" simply means "someone else's hard drive". You sacrificed using your own hard drive for free, just to put on someone elses hard drive. That's all it is. As soon as you put something on someone else's hard drive, you're forced to play by their rules or they can remove your access whenever they feel like it.
Best thing you can do on that front is dual boot linux just to run steam. You shouldn't need to, but at least linux is free and works well enough once you figure out a good build to get. In the meantime, I've stopped buying anything that isnt multiplayer only on steam.
If you pay for it, and presumably the company you pay says in the agreement that they'll maintain your property on their server ad infinitum, then ya you pretty much own it. Or at least you own the rights to it.
However, I'm sure the company says in their lengthy agreement that they have the right to shut down your ACCESS to your property for whatever reasons as well as some sort of indemnifying clause in the case that your own access (internet provider) goes down or disallows you from accessing their servers.
[ + ] TheGreatWar
[ - ] TheGreatWar 2 points 6 monthsOct 13, 2023 11:17:25 ago (+2/-0)
[ + ] MuricaPersonified
[ - ] MuricaPersonified 1 point 6 monthsOct 13, 2023 12:21:10 ago (+1/-0)
Physical media isn't always forever. Most CD-based games are going to be fucked toward the ends of our lifetimes, and 3DS game carts are already starting to go bad, likely will happen to Switch titles as well.
If possible, back everything up onto alternate medium.
Always-online shit is done for whenever they either done't release the source code (virtually never nowadays) or if the fans don't reverse engineer it.... Man, I miss Titanfall 1.
[ + ] spaceman000
[ - ] spaceman000 0 points 6 monthsOct 13, 2023 11:53:18 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] Grospoliner
[ - ] Grospoliner 0 points 6 monthsOct 13, 2023 12:27:06 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] Scyber
[ - ] Scyber 2 points 6 monthsOct 13, 2023 08:45:28 ago (+2/-0)
https://mynintendonews.com/2023/10/13/rumour-best-buy-apparently-dropping-physical-media-in-2024/
[ + ] Nosferatjew
[ - ] Nosferatjew 0 points 6 monthsOct 13, 2023 14:36:14 ago (+0/-0)
Case closed.
[ + ] Conspirologist
[ - ] Conspirologist [op] 0 points 6 monthsOct 13, 2023 14:45:03 ago (+1/-1)
[ + ] Nosferatjew
[ - ] Nosferatjew 0 points 6 monthsOct 13, 2023 21:15:07 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] SocksOnCats
[ - ] SocksOnCats 0 points 6 monthsOct 13, 2023 11:51:56 ago (+0/-0)
It's about access to it.
If you pay for it, and presumably the company you pay says in the agreement that they'll maintain your property on their server ad infinitum, then ya you pretty much own it. Or at least you own the rights to it.
However, I'm sure the company says in their lengthy agreement that they have the right to shut down your ACCESS to your property for whatever reasons as well as some sort of indemnifying clause in the case that your own access (internet provider) goes down or disallows you from accessing their servers.