I’ve been doing a bit of nosing around and, while we can’t be absolutely certain just yet, it looks pretty damn likely that Bethesda is migrating its games from Steam to its own Bethesda.net launcher. Heck, once the games are on Bethesda.net, I suspect they can have a better go at the whole paid mods thing without rousing the pitchforking protesters on Steam from their deep slumber.
Bethesda is keeping fairly quiet on the matter, but there’s a whole lot of evidence pointing towards the likes of Fallout 76, Rage 2, The Elder Scrolls VI, and Starfield, all launching exclusively on Bethesda’s own gaming client.
First and foremost, neither Fallout 76 nor Rage 2 have Steam store pages. When Fallout 4 was announced, a Steam store listing went up practically instantly, and it’s the same for just about every Bethesda-published title. Fallout 76 is the big one though as Bethesda is actively running a pre-order campaign for the game right now. You can head onto the Xbox Marketplace and pre-order Fallout 76 for Xbox One. Or, you can head onto the PlayStation Network and pre-order Fallout 76 for the PlayStation 4. But, you can’t head onto Steam and pre-order Fallout 76 on PC.
However, if I log into the Bethesda.net game client, Fallout 76 is available to pre-purchase front and centre. Doing so will guarantee access to the Fallout 76 beta, which is confirmed to be exclusive to the Bethesda launcher. It doesn’t explicitly say anywhere on the page that this isn't a Steam key, but nor does it say it is. Compare this to Fallout 4 page on the Bethesda store, which says right at the bottom in bold: REQUIRES STEAM ACCOUNT TO ACTIVATE. Nowhere does it say this same message on the Fallout 76 store page.
All evidence seems to be pointing towards Fallout 76 not coming to Steam then. Every day there isn’t a Steam store page live for Fallout 76, pre-orders are undoubtedly being lost.
If we’re too assume that Fallout 76 isn’t releasing on Steam, then it probably stands to reason that the rest of Bethesda’s catalogue of games will too. The benefit for Bethesda is obvious - the 30% cut that Valve takes from Steam sales will now be in Bethesda’s pocket, provided fans are willing to leave Steam to purchase a Bethesda game. On top of this, Bethesda will gain more control over the modding scene for its games. In particular, the Creation Club which allows Bethesda to hand-pick the best community-created content and sell it to fans. There will no doubt still be free mods available, but Bethesda will probably be pushing the Creation Club in a big way for its future titles.
Which leaves us all in a conundrum, particularly those of us who somewhat slavishly want every game to launch on Steam. It looks as if Bethesda is following in the footsteps of EA, Epic, Ubisoft, and Activision-Blizzard, in moving to its own digital storefront. Will you be following them though, or will you refuse to buy a Bethesda game if it doesn’t launch on Steam?
Get voting and let us know why below!
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PC Specs
TES 6 is a must 4 me
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It's Right that too many Clients isn't too good.But as it HELP the Developer Gain more money and Develop Game better but Considering Giving Good Game Environment(Servers,Connections,..). So YEAH
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Steam or GOG. It will probably get installed and uninstalled like Origin or U(Don't)Play if I have no choice but to use it.
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I think they should put it up on steam as well but at a higher price so most will use their launcher as they intend but for big steam fans they can still get it from steam and the higher price will offset that 30% somewhat.
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Game Debate has now become a free market research campaign for game companies lol
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Haha, a good point. But you bet your arse they already have tonnes of data on this before they make a choice like, "shall we move our games off Steam so we dont have to cut another middle man in".
So really I just like the idea that game debate is a place where us actually gamers can see the same sort of info that those big companies already know.
BUT with what you said in mind, we could easily hide this info behind a members only area, if you guys think thats worth doing?
But before answering consider those people that casually visit GD and are not members, as they might not see the info, unless they signed up.
PC Specs
Well first of all we must ask whether there are any downsides to showing these polls publicly, that has to be discussed. One downside I can think of is companies viewing this information and making a potential decision that is against gamers based off of the info they found here. If we set it so that only members can see polls, I guess the companies wouldn't know if a poll even exists, but chances
PC Specs
are that a lot of companies already frequent this site, as I'm sure teams dedicated to market research have dedicated individuals searching all over the internet and particular websites every day for potential feedback and expected gamer reactions. You see, I was thinking more in the lines of companies having to pay GD for viewership of these polls, but I've no idea how it should be done yet.
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I think the best thing to do is, show the polls and their options, but not the results to those who visit this site. That way there is incentive to create an account and stay. Even when it comes to comments I personally think it should be closed off to outside viewers and only for them be shown a summary of the comments, and again, require a login.
PC Specs
There was a time where we installed games via a disc. With these discs you could install the game on multiple computers and reuse the cd key. then one day you could only use the key on one computer and then it spiraled everyone was doing it
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And then eventually less and less discs were made and more and more it was all done digitally where i used to live we only had a max download of 250 KB/s so it was torment like they were punishing us for our slow internet.
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And now we have questions like this around...
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I use to have a warcraft 3 collector's edition box with the game's cd and their code to play them..loved that game. Too bad I don't know what happen to it.
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Well, in my country, people are selling Steam game data in DVDs for $1-$2 each (Internet connection here are generally slow). You just need to copy the data to "steamapps/common" folder, and install the game on Steam, Steam will verify existing game data on "steamapps/common" folder, then Steam will download some updates (or not), depends on the game version. Aand it's done. Easy!
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But how much strength and patience would you have to carry 20+ Discs and process the installation ? Its nice to collect Disc sand fill he shelves again. We're reverting back to the glorious 00's
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Personally I don't really care whether game is on Steam or not. If it is good game and I like it, I will buy it regardless. Though for Fallout 76 I will first wait to see if solo is fun. I am totally not interested in multiplayer and settlement/base building, which seems to be the focus.
PC Specs
For TES6 and Starfield, we just don't know enough about both games. So it is hard to say, but if TES6 is RPG, like previous TES titles, then I very likely will buy it. For mod support, it kind of depends if I see need for mods to make game better or if out of the box experience is good.
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You're totally right - lets see if all this crap is even worth something, who the hell cares about the platform
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Didn't plan on buying them anyway. Fallout 76 is Online which is a No-No for me. I'm planning to "arrrrrr" TES 6 since I don't want to spend student money on unfinished games. Don't even know what Starfield is.
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Lol same +1
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TES VI is a must buy for me. Doesn't really affect my experience will it be on Steam or not. Don't care about Fallout though, and cant say anything about Starfield yet.
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Yeah I probably would.. But I wouldn't be happy about it.
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Well, i would be happy, why not, and the mods can be installed from the Bethesda Launcher so...?
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I'll only buy TES VI if it's not on Steam the others, i don't care :D.
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The problem I have is that I'm not from a 1st world country. Steam cards are available here, but the others are hard to get. I don't think Bethesda even has the gift cards/wallet codes to purchase atm. Do they ?
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They don't. Even UPlay doesn't have 'em and they've been running for years now.
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Ahh, a fellow Steam gift card user. If you have a credit card, purchasing games will be much easier, although I didn't use credit card.
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It's a real problem. Stuff like Paypal etc isn't available so it's hard to use a lot of other things which work through it. Hopefully the situation will change soon though.
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I prefer having all my games from one platform, makes them easier to manage.
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If they release TES IV and Starfield on Steam then maybe. Not a big fan of Fallout except New Vegas - it was quite great. I've played TES, since Morrowind and I am all about new IP's( if they're great, of course). But I don't see getting them anyways, since DeTRASHuvo is my arch enemy and I don't support games that has it.
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No reviews and refunds is instant nope from me. Everytime sh!t happens, bad port launch, unfinished game, paid mods, etc.. you can at least refund the game / post negative review etc. Outside Steam and GOG I feel like without any consumer rights. They only thing you can do on most other launchers is just press Play, Install or Uninstall and input your credit card info.
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Honestly most Uplay games are still on steam as there own platform restricted there ability to make a decent profit. Many players like to have Steam as there only platform to host games. If Bethesda does the same thing Ubisoft has where there games are on Steam but requires a third party app for there own stuff Im fine with that. If Bethesda drops steam entirely and uses there own platform I will simply stop buying from them just like I did with Bioware/EA/Origin.
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I dont personally care if the game comes out on steam or not ( regardless if its a bethesda game or not ) if i like it and im willing to play it i will buy on whatever platform is on
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exactly, idk why so many people want it to be on steam, only bec refund?
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It's more easy to have all their games in one game platform than having multiple game platform for every game publisher. Then again I use the windows store, ubisoft launcher, blizzard launcher, origins, twitch, Epic,Nexon, Glyph..etc
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It holds every game you own at one place, it's easy to access and understand, software itself is neither large nor hard to use and DRM it uses poses no performance issues to your games whatsoever. It's still DRM but it's the best of the bunch, apart from GOG, but that's besides the point.
I have 5 different launchers to play 5 different games, it's just clutter and unnecessary for me.
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i have only Uplay and Steam now but never had problem to have more if i had to
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I haven't decided whether or not I'm buying any of these games yet. But if I do, I will use their platform. I just hope it works, unlike several of the others.
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As long as it isn't in the Microsoft Store I'll buy any any game.
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Moving away from Steam is a really dumb idea..... they will kill their sales with that move.