• dukemirage@lemmy.world
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    6 hours ago

    Steam is not a subscription service and in contrast to the services mentioned in the headline there is indeed grounds to be confused about what I’m actually buying. no one is surprised that a monthly subscription to say Disney+ does not grants them unlimited access forever. and buying on DRM-free platforms like GOG or itch also only grants a license, you’ll never own a piece of software by buying it in a video game store.

    • Foster Hangdaan@lemmy.hangdaan.com
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      5 hours ago

      Steam is not a subscription service

      Steam provides a cloud service. Not dissimilar to other subscription-based services. Had they been using AWS, they would also have been affected by the outage, resulting in Steam also being mentioned in the headline. So it’s just as relevant as the others.

      you’ll never own a piece of software by buying it in a video game store.

      Sure, I’m both granted a license on both Steam or GOG, but the crucial difference is still about offline access. If GOG stopped existing tomorrow, I’d still be able to install, and play, all my GOG games. The same cannot be said for Steam. Which one, then, grants the most ownership? License or no license.