Need Clarification for the Steam Players...

[Adire]

Welp, Steam won't be getting my money for MMOs anymore. That's going to end up costing them more from me in the future than they're making by doing this potentially.

Can't say I'm happy with SE either. I'm aware they may have been threatened to have FFXIV removed from steam if they didn't play ball, but it's SE's game. They should ensure that they have the final say on their game's future for all players. Why would they choose to bind an MMO to Steam that was successful long before it's arrival on Steam in this way? They've signed away some power over their own game.

If I had to choose between being forced to jump as high as Valve demands, or simply backing out of Steam and recognizing all copies bought from Steam, I'd definitely choose the latter. If they made any legal obligations to do otherwise, it's a different story albeit an awful decision, but if not, it's just greed from SE in addition to Valve.

[Velia]

Steam is a very powerful platform to sell games on. A fact that has led Valve to become as corrupt and abusive as it has.
This goes beyond FFXIV. SE is using Steam to sell much of it's catalogue, along with it's published games. The potential for using Steam to sell *all* of it's games could be under threat.
I'm not saying SE is 100% provably innocent in this, but Valve has the clout and the motive to be behind this.

[Adire]

Yeah. I think it's different for MMOs though. MMOs are an ongoing service rather than a product that greatly rely on the company who owns them to provide their autonomy, unlike the typical game. It's a dangerous practice to make one so reliant on Steam. I play one other one via Steam, and thankfully, the expansions for it have only ever been buyable in the game's shop itself.

[Valkyrius]

Well I guess this one is official:
https://twitter.com/FF_XIV_EN/status/577518818139856896

Here's to the mass exodus off of Steam! Because, even if you don't want this physical CE, they've made a clear precedent. So if you think you might ever want a box for FFXIV you should re-buy it off of Steam and get the Heavensward for it. Better to re-buy just the core game now rather than more down the line.

Well, that's the confirmation from SE then. Goodbye, Steam. No more money from me.

[RiceisNice]

I don't really care for the physical copy...though I'm still looking at the early access thingie because I'm boiling with eagerness.

Though I still don't agree with how steam/volvo is pretty much money grubbing at this point.

[Bayohne]

I'm under the impression that Steam players must purchase their version of 3.0 through Steam.

This is correct. Users who purchased FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn on Steam will need to purchase FINAL FANTASY XIV: Heavensward on Steam as well.

What this means that a physical CE copy, digital copy or a physical copy would not work, since it is not the steam version.

This is also correct.

While I'm waiting for more information from steam regarding their pre-orders, do we still have the option to get the collector's edition bonuses, or even the early-access codes if it is purchased through steam? I'm coming up with nothing from both the steam community or here.

Yes, we are currently working with Valve to launch pre-orders for the Steam version of Heavensward (standard and digital Collector's Edition) that would include the pre-order bonuses.

[Skeith-Adeline]

They really should have thought to sort that out before releasing the pre-orders >.>

[Nubian]

This is correct. Users who purchased FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn on Steam will need to purchase FINAL FANTASY XIV: Heavensward on Steam as well.

Does this work the other way around? I bought my PC-version on launch, before there was a Steam-version, and later bought it on Steam to have in my Steam-library. My Steam-key couldn't be used as I already had a (retail) Windows-license registered but with Heavensward I would like to buy it on Steam, is this possible?

[Nubian]

Valve gets a 30% cut from all sales on Steam. So yes, this is entirely down to Valve's greed. They want to force consumers with the Steam version to buy through them and SE has to go along with this or be removed from Steam's catalogue. This is why you never see EA games on Steam anymore.

If you don't play ball with the mobsters that Valve have become, they'll shut you out.

Steam is a very powerful platform to sell games on. A fact that has led Valve to become as corrupt and abusive as it has.
This goes beyond FFXIV. SE is using Steam to sell much of it's catalogue, along with it's published games. The potential for using Steam to sell *all* of it's games could be under threat.
I'm not saying SE is 100% provably innocent in this, but Valve has the clout and the motive to be behind this.

What are you mindlessly berating on about? You honestly think this is some ploy from the evil empire of Valve to grab some easy money from us poor FFXIV-players? Steam is a huge network giving exposure to a developers game, which can help the sale of a game immensely. For this they take 30%, like most other online-stores, including EA. SE obviously thinks it's worth it as they release most of their games on the platform.

To the issue at hand, SE could have just made the Steam-version and Windows-version two separate licenses to add under the service-account and none of this would have been an issue. The problem is with SE's account system clearly making a distinction between Steam and non-Steam keys but then not making this distinction clear with using the same license for both. So now players with the Steam-version and players with the retail-version seem to be locked into their respective platform for the duration of FFXIV.

[Fytayn]

This is also correct.

So... No warning about this, at any point before the day regular pre-orders opened, and your only response is a "nope". Not even a "sorry, nope," as, honestly, I think you owe your (apparently second-class) Steam-based subscribers an apology. Just... Wow. Great customer service. Not even a mention of an attempt to work with Steam to have a separate "Steam CE box" option that pays them their cut. Just a "well, seems you made a poor choice that we in no way warned you about, sucks to be you," and a failure to negotiate even the digital releases before the day it became available.

Congratulations. *slow clap*