Option to get off steam

[Semirhage]

Completely agreed.

Valve is dropping the ball so hard on these preorders. I'd be willing to bet that the vast majority of Steam players would transfer off in a heartbeat. No physical CE, plus delaying the preorder longer than an entirely different console? Not okay.

There's probably a legal reason why we're stuck on Steam, but I'd still like to know. Unless there's a contract keeping us with Steam, I don't see any reason why we should be locked there.

[m3eansean]

Unless there's a contract keeping us with Steam, I don't see any reason why we should be locked there.

We all "agreed" to this in the enormous user rights page we are shown when we first sign up to Steam. I never read them, don't know anyone who did. Ran into a lawyer friend and tried to get him on Steam - he wouldn't touch them with a 10 foot pole after reading their "agreement" for users.

On steam, we technically don't even own the games we "buy" Steam does, and is giving us unlimited rights to play them as long as their servers remain up, and can revoke access at any time.

[Seku]

We all "agreed" to this in the enormous user rights page we are shown when we first sign up to Steam. I never read them, don't know anyone who did. Ran into a lawyer friend and tried to get him on Steam - he wouldn't touch them with a 10 foot pole after reading their "agreement" for users.

On steam, we technically don't even own the games we "buy" Steam does, and is giving us unlimited rights to play them as long as their servers remain up, and can revoke access at any time.

Even so. SE could at least make it so that you can register a 2nd "PC" game, so those that REALLY want to get off can at least rebuy the games and expansions to do so. I know it may take some time to code around that or w/e. But they could at least start looking into it a bit and truthfully would be in their best interest to do so. That way in case Steam goes down. Decides to stop supporting FF14 ect ect, then they won't lose a portion of their subscriber base. Unless Steam users are a extreme minority

[m3eansean]

Even so. SE could at least make it so that you can register a 2nd "PC" game, so those that REALLY want to get off can at least rebuy the games and expansions to do so. I know it may take some time to code around that or w/e. But they could at least start looking into it a bit and truthfully would be in their best interest to do so. That way in case Steam goes down. Decides to stop supporting FF14 ect ect, then they won't lose a portion of their subscriber base. Unless Steam users are a extreme minority

The short answer is no, they can't. In order to get the privilege to sell the game on the Steam platform, they (SE) have to abide by Valve's licensing rules. Steam is considered it's own platform on the PC and is the primary reason this is done is sales. Valve knows how many thousands and thousands of players use their product daily and sold the idea to SE for a cut off the top (how it always works). SE is just as bound as we the players are due to contract licensing, almost without a doubt. All Steam games are this way. Most users are unaware, since they bury in the bottom of their end-user license agreement. But technically, every Steam user, accepted and acknowledged this restriction upon setting up their Steam account.

[Raist]

The short answer is no, they can't. In order to get the privilege to sell the game on the Steam platform, they (SE) have to abide by Valve's licensing rules. Steam is considered it's own platform on the PC and is the primary reason this is done is sales. Valve knows how many thousands and thousands of players use their product daily and sold the idea to SE for a cut off the top (how it always works). SE is just as bound as we the players are due to contract licensing, almost without a doubt. All Steam games are this way. Most users are unaware, since they bury in the bottom of their end-user license agreement. But technically, every Steam user, accepted and acknowledged this restriction upon setting up their Steam account.

It still stands though that you should be able to link a standard PC license as a separate platform just like you can with the Sony consoles. Sony has some very screwy licensing going on there as well--and yet you can link your character data (which is technically SE's property and not yours or Valve's) to those other platforms. There should be a remedy for this scenario as well. Your Steam license would still be viable. Just like with the consoles, the standard Windows license would be in parallel and actually installed in a separate directory, using it's standalone launcher to update, and all that other good stuff. It simply should be licensed just like the other platforms.

[PetiteMalFleur]

It still stands though that you should be able to link a standard PC license as a separate platform just like you can with the Sony consoles. Sony has some very screwy licensing going on there as well--and yet you can link your character data (which is technically SE's property and not yours or Valve's) to those other platforms. There should be a remedy for this scenario as well. Your Steam license would still be viable. Just like with the consoles, the standard Windows license would be in parallel and actually installed in a separate directory, using it's standalone launcher to update, and all that other good stuff. It simply should be licensed just like the other platforms.

I agree with this ^^

I read through the use agreement and it clearly states the product key cannot be used outside of the Steam account it was applied to. This should not prohibit players from being able to use a new product key to play off of Steam. Unless SE has some exclusivity contact with them there's no reason why an account can't be disassociated with a fresh purchase of the game.

[PotatoWafflez]

One thing I'd like to know is if you bought the steam version, since steam supports mac games does that mean that the steam version is a cross-platform license?

As in it would let you run the steam version on both a pc and a mac or would you be out of luck if say your pc died and you decided to buy a mac?

Meaning you you'd have to get the mac license and would you also be locked out of you Steam bound FFXIV account or is the Mac version totally separate and would work the same way as PS3/PS4?

IMO there are too many licences for this game and they should have just had a Console and a PC licence at most. Its not like we can play the game on multiple platforms at the same time with one account anyway. I was okay with the licenses when I thought the expansions would be a flat upgrade and upgrade all your ARR licences but since that clearly isn't the case, I see no point in buying a game 3 or 4 times over just to have to rebuy it over again to access expansion content on a license I already paid for just to be able to play that content on the rare occasions I don't have access to my PC.

[ZAsha_Tia]

OK since this is my first MMO on a PC I am still a little confused by the problem here. If someone can explain the issue it would help me a little.

Long story short my current account is not "Steam" since I've been playing since pre-access. I bought a Steam version later so I can play using Steam and chat with friends. After hearing all the complaints, I recently used the Steam product code and created a new account under Steam to see what all the fuss is about. I don't see anything that would indicate that it is "Locked" to Steam other than the new Steam Pay option (Figure 1).



I do not have Steam on this computer and I re-downloaded the Amazon version of the game and see if I can log in using that. I was able to log in and play with no steam using the "Steam" account. If someone can please explain it to me would help. I am attempting to make a YouTube of what I have here so I can explain it better.

P.S. Now something that just came to me. Maybe your Steam account is locked to your SE account meaning if your logged in as someone else in Steam you can not log in to your SE account. This would be the same as the PS3 and PS4 versions that I also have locked to my account. But as far as I can tell, if you have a copy that is just pure PC XIV then you can use your account.

[Peachy]

We all "agreed" to this in the enormous user rights page we are shown when we first sign up to Steam. I never read them, don't know anyone who did. Ran into a lawyer friend and tried to get him on Steam - he wouldn't touch them with a 10 foot pole after reading their "agreement" for users.

On steam, we technically don't even own the games we "buy" Steam does, and is giving us unlimited rights to play them as long as their servers remain up, and can revoke access at any time.

Ive done the same research and basically any digital platform you have to sign in to has the same policy. Xbox, Steam, Origin, and Id bet PSN as well, treat you as if you rented the game indefinitely and reserve the right to remove it at will. The only one of those listed Ive actually witnessed doing it is microsoft. After they remove very old games from the market you cant download them anymore if you deleted them from your HDD for some reason and good luck with customer support because they dont care.