Rumor: Game Sharing Coming To Steam

[ScrabbitRabbit]

This is one of two things the Xbone looks to be doing better than Steam, and Steam is stealing it! Add a system that lets us trade our retail games (and maybe disable the required patching of single player games?) and we'll be friends again, Steam.

Maybe.

I think you can disable the patching of single player games though. I remember doing that with Half Life 2 back in my Dial Up days. I think you need to start in offline mode (unplugging the cable is easiest), then you should be able to right click on the game go to the Updates options and choose "never update" or some such. I have an uncapped plan now so I haven't had to use this option in quite a while. It should still work.

A percentage steam wallet refund for trading in games would be pretty easy to implement. I would think 33% should do it. How much do console games trade for percentage wise?

I have done that, but it only works on games that are already installed unfortunately :[ At least that's how it is for me.

As a result, it takes me several days to install Shogun 2 from disc because it automatically begins downloading a 12GB update (which was *not* a part of the installation at launch). From what I can glean from the intertubes, it actually forces you to download the DLC so as not to fracture the online community. I do not play online and I think forcing people to download the DLC before they've even bought it is even more bullshit than on-disc DLC, so why can't I just play without it? D:

 

[Dark Knifer]

I thought microsoft would have put a patent on this already somehow. If not then go valve I guess.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

What I'd like to see is just have every game be giftable, whether you bought it for yourself or as a gift, and whether or not you've already played it. That would allow players to trade games amongst themselves, and it would even allow something of a second hand market. It'll probably never happen, but having seen it work in practice with items from TF2 (heck, I actually "bought" a giftable game someone else got in a promotion and didn't want with TF2 items once), I really wish it would.

 

[rbstewart7263]

YESSSSS!!!! ALRIGHT!! Im super excited! best news ive gotten on the escapist for awhile.

 

[KungFuJazzHands]

It'll be interesting to see what (if any) restrictions or limits Valve impose on this.

This is Valve we're talking about here, there are obviously going to be restrictions.

I'm willing to bet game sharing will be restricted to a very limited number of titles, most likely Steamworks games or games that already have an integrated multiplayer/co-op mechanic. More likely, seeing as how AAA publishers are vehemently opposed to consumers passing around their PC games like a $2 whore, indie developers are probably going to be the most open to a sharing program.

Realistically, we're going to see something similar to what demos already do -- offer limited access to gameplay and features. There's no way in hell that publishers are going to allow non-paying players the full experience.

For Steam game sharing to work, Valve are going to have to find a way to reconcile it with their unhealthy DRM obsession. I don't think they can do it without setting some pretty severe limitations on the part of the user.

 

[Nomadiac]

Damn, this is good news. There's going to be heavy restrictions on who you can lend to and which titles are available and for how long, I'm assuming, but this is probably as much as we're going to get from a service with DRM, and most games are cheap enough on PC that the lack of sharing hasn't been as big a problem as for console games anyway.

 

[Revolutionary]

Steam saw what the xbone was doing with the shared game library, and was like "Fuck this we are not gonna let Microsoft beat us".

 

[Whoracle]

I foresee a +1 coming. They'll implement the System Microsoft has, only +1.
Lend it to 11 family (maybe a subgroup in your friends list) members, and lend it 2 times to other people that have been on your friends list for at least 29 days

 

[heroicbob]

It'll be interesting to see what (if any) restrictions or limits Valve impose on this.

This is Valve we're talking about here, there are obviously going to be restrictions.

I'm willing to bet game sharing will be restricted to a very limited number of titles, most likely Steamworks games or games that already have an integrated multiplayer/co-op mechanic. More likely, seeing as how AAA publishers are vehemently opposed to consumers passing around their PC games like a $2 whore, indie developers are probably going to be the most open to a sharing program.

Realistically, we're going to see something similar to what demos already do -- offer limited access to gameplay and features. There's no way in hell that publishers are going to allow non-paying players the full experience.

For Steam game sharing to work, Valve are going to have to find a way to reconcile it with their unhealthy DRM obsession. I don't think they can do it without setting some pretty severe limitations on the part of the user.

if we look at the content of those two dialogues the restriction seems clear, if you share a game you actually want to play
you are going to have to choose between kicking your friend off or waiting for them to finish
i bet this will result in more sales not less even if you do get access to the full game

 

[gigastar]

It'll be interesting to see what (if any) restrictions or limits Valve impose on this.

Well, to even add someone on Steam as a friend both parties need to have bought something. Anything.

Thats one restriction.

 

[josemlopes]

I would like having it being able to let at least the owner and 1 other guy play the same game at the same time like in the Xbone, but this way is also a very good advancement none the less.

 

[NickBrahz]

I imagine there will be a fair few restrictions in place if this rumour is true, such as a limit of how many sharing of games per month, singleplayer content only, can't both play the game at the same time etc, still nice if this is added though.

 

[heroicbob]

given that the message implies that you both cant play the game at the same time i assume you have to be online for your shared games to be available?

or else i could just set myself to appear offline and my friends would have unrestricted access to my shared games

 

[Griffolion]

This is one of two things the Xbone looks to be doing better than Steam, and Steam is stealing it!

Something like this will have been in conception for a while, before it was announced by MS. I'm not sure it can be classed as stealing.

given that the message implies that you both cant play the game at the same time i assume you have to be online for your shared games to be available?

or else i could just set myself to appear offline and my friends would have unrestricted access to my shared games

Chances are data about what games you've shared will be stored in an encrypted database, locally, as well as on Valves servers.

OT: Cool. Another feature to Steam. I hope it turns out nicely.

 

[The AmeriCanadian Gamer]

Is it strange that I feel we may one day be thanking Microsoft for the Xbone, since having such terrible PR management and damage control forced the market into a better direction?

captcha: am I happy? yes captcha, yes.

 

[Reeve]

Can someone please make a gif of a tag team kill from something like Dead or Alive with Kazuo Hirai, Gabe Newell and Don Mattrick's faces superimposed over the respective characters? PLEASE. I need it!!!

 

[iniudan]

It would be flat-out hilarious if Valve had heard that Microsoft were going to put this feature in place, then set out to troll them by implementing the same feature themselves, first. Less funny if they'd actually had the idea earlier/of their own accord.

Either way, an improvement to Steam only makes my veiny throbbing love for them grow stronger.

Nah, they been working on it since European court found that end user should have right to resell their digital license, in a case involving Oracle.

 

[Falterfire]

This is Valve we're talking about here, there are obviously going to be restrictions.

I'm willing to bet game sharing will be restricted to a very limited number of titles, most likely Steamworks games or games that already have an integrated multiplayer/co-op mechanic. More likely, seeing as how AAA publishers are vehemently opposed to consumers passing around their PC games like a $2 whore, indie developers are probably going to be the most open to a sharing program.

Realistically, we're going to see something similar to what demos already do -- offer limited access to gameplay and features. There's no way in hell that publishers are going to allow non-paying players the full experience.

For Steam game sharing to work, Valve are going to have to find a way to reconcile it with their unhealthy DRM obsession. I don't think they can do it without setting some pretty severe limitations on the part of the user.

I'm betting it'll start with Valveworks games because Steam will want to prove it works before shopping the idea to the indie devs and publishers. They don't currently have a contract to redistribute games in such a manner, which means they probably will have to renegotiate with the various companies.

I'm guessing we'll see an effect similar to the current Trading Card situation where only a handful of games have the option at first with more added over time.

 

[RoBi3.0]

This pleases me greatly. If this comes to pass I will have a hell of a problem justifying a console purchase over getting another PC and plugging it into my living room TV

 

[Something Amyss]

Don't believe us?

Of course not. You're all a bunch of filthy liars.

...I kid, I kid. Still, it's nice to be able to visually verify something. I suppose. I'm not going to bother, but still.