What do you think will happen to your Steam games when Steam gets shut down someday?

[Rocketman]

Title says it all. One day Steam will be no more. What do you think will happen to your games? I think Gabe Newell has said he'd enable offline mode but still, I'm not sure if games that you own but haven't downloaded will be available, or if you'll be able to even play those games again if you get a new computer. What do you think? It's kind of scary to think about as lame as that sounds.

 

[Wubwub]

I heard that offline mode will still be available for all downloaded games to. As for games you own but haven't downloaded yet, I doubt that they will still be available to you if ever Steam shuts down, but I'm guessing they will at least give ample time for people to catch up before completely doing so if ever it does happen.

 

[Rocketman]

It's especially scary to think about how some retail games actually need Steam integration like Skyrim. Even if someone buys a hard copy someday when Steam is gone, they won't be able to play it. Looks like piracy will have to save the say

 

[jbeavis100]

Steam.. shut down? Valve is literally swimming in money. The apocalypse is more likely then valve dying. Steam works on a almost pure profit system it's pretty hard to see it die. Gaben has said though he would provide a way to make it work.

 

[Denis Hard]

My guess would be that if steam is to shut down, which is unlikely then they'll create a patch that will enable you access the games without steam. But as mentioned the likelihood of steam shutting down is very close to zero.

 

[jhpy1024]

Why do you think Steam will shut down someday? Steam is popular as hell, people spend tons of money on Steam, especially when sales are on. I think the Steambox will also be very popular for PC gamers, so I don't think Steam will be shutting down any time soon./

 

[rossonomous]

There would be some kind of rulings in place that would stop Steam shutting down and not allowing people to access their games. As mentioned, the likelihood of Steam shutting down is very low.

 

[Oakster]

Valve has said that if Steam ever gets turned off they will offer a large period where you can download all your game to an external hard drive, so nothing to worry about

 

[orz]

I don't really see how Steam shutting down would effect off-line games? Obviously it would for any games which you haven't downloaded though, which is quite a worry in itself.

 

[Rocketman]

Valve is doing really well at the moment, and I don't think Steam will shut down anytime soon. BUT! The video game/electronics industry is really volatile and advances really quickly. Who knows what would happen in 20-40 years.

 

[Poynt]

Offline mode will still be going on, but I wouldn't count on steam going down because a lot of people buy games from them and they are really getting a lot of profit through their games.

 

[fireinyourwords]

I don't know if I ever see Steam getting shut down. Especially this year with all of the Steam consoles PC makers are coming out with. I can't imagine that they wouldn't do some kind of grace period as has been mentioned to make sure everyone has time to download the games they've purchased over the years.

 

[Oakster]

Can you imagine if they just turned Steam off and not let anyone have access to what they paid for?
It would be the biggest lawsuit in history!
I think that even if in 50 years Valve closes the Steam store, you will always have access to what you paid for, you just can't buy new stuff.

 

[Poynt]

Can you imagine if they just turned Steam off and not let anyone have access to what they paid for?
It would be the biggest lawsuit in history!
I think that even if in 50 years Valve closes the Steam store, you will always have access to what you paid for, you just can't buy new stuff.

I knew the OP said "What do you think will happen to your steam games when steam gets shut down someday" but, this isn't even related to the post

Again, Offline mode is the best!

 

[Reaper_13]

Offline mode and piracy!

I remember reading a thread about this, some users kept asking Steam support about the issue and they responded with "We have a plan, don't worry". The exact same response was used by Origin support so yup, it's ok to panick. They would probably hand out keys so you could download them from the publishers server or something like that.

 

[Oakster]

I knew the OP said "What do you think will happen to your steam games when steam gets shut down someday" but, this isn't even related to the post

Again, Offline mode is the best!

Do you mean my post is unrelated? Maybe you are misunderstanding, because it's a direct answer to the original question....

 

[Poynt]

Do you mean my post is unrelated? Maybe you are misunderstanding, because it's a direct answer to the original question....

Um, I just lost you in the "Steam turned off" part.

 

[sidd230]

Valve has said multiple times that if Steam goes down under, they WILL provide DRM free copies of all games. Also, Valve is here to stay. If they make HL3, they will become immortal.

 

[turklife]

The idea that Steam may no longer exist in the future is certainly a troubling situation to imagine, but rest assured, your games will be safe. As others have pointed out in this thread, Valve has stated in the past that in the case of a closure of the digital service, the games purchased by customers will stay in their hands. It is also important to note that Steam will not suddenly shutdown without notice. If anything, it would be a long and drawn out process, which would allow Valve to take the necessary steps to keep their promises to their customers.

 

[qaximor]

I doubt it will ever happen.. Most probably if that happens it will happen after 40+ years and if It did Ill be too old to care about games that I paid for 40 years ago haha.