The PC is experiencing a new golden age of video games. After several years in which the industry has left it a bit aside in favor of consoles, it finally seems that, thanks to platforms like Steam or the Epic Games Store, companies trust this platform again. On PC we can find almost any game released, even titles that, until recently, were console exclusives. And we can also get hold of them at a very good price in most cases. Surely we all have games in digital format in the main PC game store, Steam. But what if one day this store closes?
The problem of games in digital format is that we depend on a company. It doesn’t matter if it’s Steam for PC games, PlayStation for PS4 or PS4 games, or Microsoft for Xbox. We never get to have a medium, like a DVD, to install the game ourselves, but we have to download it if we want to be able to play it. If the servers close, or go down, it is impossible to download the game.
Unlike other stores, like GOG, Steam games have their own DRM (plus any other third-party DRM they may include). This means that, in order to play, they need to be validated through the Internet. Therefore, if Steam closes, by not being able to log in to the platform, we will have nothing to do, and it will be impossible both to download new games and to run existing games. Or, at least, in theory.
Valve promised to remove DRM
Although it is true that the closure of Steam worries everyone, it is not a question that is usually asked too much. Moreover, on the Internet there is very little information about it, and only one official message. A user asked the company more than 10 years ago what would happen to games and DRM in the event of an imminent shutdown. And Valve indicated that, in case of closure, it would release a global update to all your games to remove their DRM.
By removing the DRM from Steam, we would only have to buy a large (VERY large) hard drive and download the games, one by one, before the permanent closure of the servers. All games would work, and would be largely original. Of course, as long as they do not have any associated third-party DRM, nor are they online games or MMOs that depend on Valve.
In any case, there is nothing written, and this scenario may just be a utopia.
Other Alternatives for Steam Games
In case Valve does not keep its word (since it is not written anywhere), there may be other ways to bypass Steam’s DRM restrictions. Without going any further, there are “programs” on the net that allow us to bypass these restrictions simply by replacing two files, and they are compatible with all games on the platform, both past and future.
Another possibility that we can find, as has already happened with other similar stores, is that the developers allow us migrate games to other stores. For example, they would let us link the account to the Epic Store, GOG, or any other store (Origin, uPlay, etc) and migrate the games to these platforms before losing them.
Finally, If Steam goes down, PC video games are finished. No alternative, not even the Epic Store, is as profitable and offers such a catalog of games as Valve’s. That is to say, before falling Steam the others would fall. And no big company, like Google, Apple, or Microsoft, would miss the chance to grab it at its lowest times.
Long live Steam.
