Publishers removing DRM-free option on some GamersGate games

[J T]

Heads up for those of us that prefer DRM-free games:

In this thread on gog.com, people have pointed out that games that they previously bought as "DRM Free" on GamersGate now can no longer be downloaded and only Steam activation keys are all that is available, EVEN IF you purchased the game when it was still marketed as DRM-free. It seems it is usually a matter of game developers deciding they want to use Steamworks.

Games currently known to have lost their DRM-free status include:
Space Empire V
AI War (and likely other Arcen games)
Gray Matter
Shattered Haven
The Inner World

This is just a friendly reminder to backup any installers you haven't downloaded yet before they are gone. This could become a problem on other sites, not just GamersGate, as it was apparently a publisher decision rather than a GamersGate decision.

On a somewhat related note, be careful about downloading early access games as people in that thread are also complaining that the updates don't happen across all platforms, in other words, the Steamworks games usually get the update and the other platforms like Desura are forgotten.

[TSTR]

That's kinda messed up. Can they even do that?

[MrPopo]

That's kinda messed up. Can they even do that?

Yes.

Also, when I was reading that thread it wasn't clear that they had confirmed that it was using DRM. It was all just "Steam key". I can give you a Steam key for Doom II and it's DRM free; there's just Dosbox and the game executable. And it's not just DOS based games that are DRM free; lots of other games you can pull the folder out of Steam and run it yourself and things work just fine.

[TSTR]

Huh, I guess it's just a matter of delivery system in those cases then. That would certainly make stuff like updates and patches a lot easier.

[noiseredux]

That's kinda messed up. Can they even do that?

Yes.

Also, when I was reading that thread it wasn't clear that they had confirmed that it was using DRM. It was all just "Steam key". I can give you a Steam key for Doom II and it's DRM free; there's just Dosbox and the game executable. And it's not just DOS based games that are DRM free; lots of other games you can pull the folder out of Steam and run it yourself and things work just fine.

That's interesting and had no idea. Thanks for the insite.

[J T]

Related to MrPopo's point, here is another thread with a list of DRM Free games on Steam. It's also a good idea to back these up.

http://www.gog.com/forum/general/list_o ... s_on_steam

[Ack]

That's kinda messed up. Can they even do that?

Yes.

Also, when I was reading that thread it wasn't clear that they had confirmed that it was using DRM. It was all just "Steam key". I can give you a Steam key for Doom II and it's DRM free; there's just Dosbox and the game executable. And it's not just DOS based games that are DRM free; lots of other games you can pull the folder out of Steam and run it yourself and things work just fine.

It should probably be noted, a lot of GOG users consider Steam in and of itself a type of DRM. Some of the particularly virulent users consider GOG to be barely passable in terms of access.

[MrPopo]

Yeah, the GOG forum goers are that special kind of paranoid.

[J T]

I consider Steam to be DRM when the games can't be played without activating Steam and can't be backed up, which is the majority of Steam games. It's really jolting to be locked out of hundreds of games at once, which has happened to me with Steam. I went for about a year without buying anything through Steam, and though I'm back to getting games from them again, I only do so if I think it's cheap enough that I would pay the same price to rent it, and/or if I can't get it DRM-free elsewhere.

[marurun]

While there are still concerns that Steam could hypothetically yank folks' access to their games, I have been a customer for years and have only had trouble when I have forgotten my password. It kinda sucks that you have to have on-line access in order to enable off-line mode, but you could switch to off-line mode every time you log off after going on-line, and then you could at least play next time you start it up... I think.