Steam integration in physical copies.

[MrEco]

So part of the reason, er... okay, the entire reason that all of my PC gaming is done with digital copies is because when I first started PC gaming I immediately ran into a brick wall of Steam activation. I bought a physical copy of Mount and Blade: Warband but the game didn't actually install from the disc. It just connected to the internet, asked me to log into a Steam account (Which I didn't have yet at the time), and then downloaded the game from Steam. I very quickly caught on that having a 100% physical collection for PC games is basically impossible and that's before even counting all of the digital only indie games.


However! Recently my hatred for digital media has been growing much more so and faster than usual. I plan to store all of my games from GOG (Thanks to their lovely DRM free policies) on an external HDD so I can have physical backups. And eventually down the road I'll even get a backup for my backup - Have to be careful about hard drive failures of course.


Now it's time to tackle the Steam issue. As I said, I'll still keep doing my PC gaming digital for the most part since it's impossible not to for so many games. I even found out just yesterday that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim of all things requires a Steam activation. But for the sake of at least trying to keep my favorite PC games in physical condition, and so I can have something to proudly display on a shelf, I want to try and buy some physical copies of games so long as they don't require Steam activation.


Basically I suppose the question is this. Is there some source or method with which I can find out before buying a game to know if it will include Steam activation or not? Also hopefully we can start a discussion on this, I'd like to get your thoughts and opinions on the forced Steam integration in so many physical games.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

[Ack]

Don't those games usually say on the back of the box whether they require a Steam activation? It seems to me that they would be advertising the connection to Steam, so you will likely see the Valve or Steam logo somewhere on the packaging.

[Opa Opa]

Don't those games usually say on the back of the box whether they require a Steam activation? It seems to me that they would be advertising the connection to Steam, so you will likely see the Valve or Steam logo somewhere on the packaging.

Yeah. There's usually a logo and a box with text that says something to the effect of "Steam activation required".

[RyaNtheSlayA]

Don't those games usually say on the back of the box whether they require a Steam activation? It seems to me that they would be advertising the connection to Steam, so you will likely see the Valve or Steam logo somewhere on the packaging.

Yeah, you'll see on the back usually a "Steam Activation Required" box.

Unfortunately I don't think any notable modern games are online-DRM free these days. I tried my hand at finding them myself and I couldn't find any for what it's worth so I gave up.

[Ack]

Yeah, with Games for Windows Live done, it looks like these days everything is through Steam and Origin, or distributed through GOG. I happen to like GOG, so I'm ok with it, but at this point, the physical PC release is pretty much done.

[ZenErik]

Opinion on Steam integration? Fine with me. Ability to download the game whenever I want instead of keeping hundreds of boxes lining the shelves? Fine with me. But do as you please. Good luck!

[ninjainspandex]

Opinion on Steam integration? Fine with me. Ability to download the game whenever I want instead of keeping hundreds of boxes lining the shelves? Fine with me. But do as you please. Good luck!

Just keep in mind with steam your renting games not actually buying them like physical games, some people are cool with that others are not.

[MrEco]

Don't those games usually say on the back of the box whether they require a Steam activation? It seems to me that they would be advertising the connection to Steam, so you will likely see the Valve or Steam logo somewhere on the packaging.

There is no warning like that on my copy of M&B: Warband. The closest thing is that on the back of the box in very small and hard to read text it says "Internet Connection Required."


Now considering that I buy all of my games from Amazon when possible, or Ebay when not, checking the back of the box isn't always a reliable option. Amazon doesn't always offer pictures of the back of the box, and even when they do there isn't always the option to zoom in in order to read small text like that. And of course on both services the pictures offered can sometimes be bad quality and make it nearly impossible to read any text.

Even so, thank you for pointing that out. It is something else that should help.

[ZenErik]

Opinion on Steam integration? Fine with me. Ability to download the game whenever I want instead of keeping hundreds of boxes lining the shelves? Fine with me. But do as you please. Good luck!

Just keep in mind with steam your renting games not actually buying them like physical games, some people are cool with that others are not.

Let me know when Steam shuts down and doesn't remove the DRM. Then you can say 'I told you so.' Until then, it's no bother.

[MrPopo]

Honestly, if you're purchasing a new game from a retailer I'd just assume it's got Steam integration (or Origin, or Uplay (fuck Uplay for being even worse of a client than Origin)). Some devs might sell from their site a boxed copy that doesn't use Steam (Matrix Games comes to mind).