PETITION: Regarding FINAL FANTASY XIV Steam Version (Mar. 8)

[LalaRu]

...Wasn't aware that SE/Steam published their contract so everyone can see...

From the Steam XIV app page:

Note:
FINAL FANTASY XIV Online game packages available on Steam may only be registered and added on a Square Enix account that has the base game “FINAL FANTASY XIV Online Starter Edition" (or formerly known as "FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn”) purchased on Steam.

From the Steam user agreement :

...
G. Restrictions on Use of Content and Services

You may not use the Content and Services for any purpose other than the permitted access to Steam and your Subscriptions...

[Maneesha]

From the Steam XIV app page:

From the Steam user agreement :

Doesn't look like the contract between SE and Steam to me.

what ever

[LalaRu]

Doesn't look like the contract between SE and Steam to me.

what ever

Well, nothing is written on rocks. But if any change comes, both companies will need to change their written terms. Wish you all good luck.

[worldofneil]

XIV is licensed by platform, and Steam is a platform, as they are Windows, Mac, and PS4.

Steam wasn't a "platform" until Heavensward was released in 2015. There was no distinction at all until that point and no way for anyone to know it was a completely separate licence.

Want Windows? Buy Windows license. That's all.

Sorry, but with that statement you've demonstrated you don't understand the problem. It is not possible to put a Windows licence AND a Steam licence on the same service account. If it was then people would have a workaround and could go down that route, but right now they can't. Square Enix is the only one who can fix this.

The fact until now you were able to "bypass" Steam and run on Windows directly with a Steam licensed game, does not entitle you to continue do so.

Worse, you did broke the license agreement with Steam when you did the "bypass", and Steam technically have all rights to even cancel your game account because of that. It surely won't happen, but please read the agreements you accept when make your accounts. This habit of clicking "I had read" and go ahead without reading isn't good and have the effect to create threads as this, that are wrong from their very basis.

If you want to quote the licence agreement you should probably should read it first: https://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/

To make use of the Content and Services, you must have a Steam Account and you may be required to be running the Steam client and maintaining a connection to the Internet.

Even right now it's not a requirement from Steam so as to why SE is forcing this remains unknown.

[Youkulm]

XIV is licensed by platform, and Steam is a platform, as they are Windows, Mac, and PS4. Want Windows? Buy Windows license. That's all.

I'd love to. But we can't since even if we did you can't add it to any current account with a copy of steam FFXIV ( Steam and Windows are considered the same platform by the Mogstation ). Most of us are just asking for the option to repurchase the game on our currect service accounts. You can't have a windows key and a steam key on the same account.

Yes a "transfer" option would be nice but I think most of us also know thats highly unlikely to happen. If you read the entire thread you can see most of the people on here have stated we would love to just be able to rebuy the game. Guess what though? Not possible. Not unless you want a new service account and want to start over with a brand new character. That option is incredibly daunting thanks especially to the loss of all the items purchased through the mogstation, extras from physical merchandise, event items, veteran items ( only obtainable through achievements now ) and also lets not forget legacy players in the same situation on steam.

We didn't know Steam was going to forced this on us five years ago. If we did know this I don't think a majority of us would have bought the game on Steam at all.

I really don't understand all the schadenfreude and hostility on here from other players that happen to not be in the same postion as us. Hindsight is 20/20 and if I could go back in time and not purchase the game on steam I would. I just want to be able to re-purchase the game on my service account for a normal windows key. Period.

[Nora_of_Mira]

I really don't understand all the schadenfreude and hostility on here from other players that happen to not be in the same postion as us. Hindsight is 20/20 and if I could go back in time and not purchase the game on steam I would. I just want to be able to re-purchase the game on my service account for a normal windows key. Period.

I think it's coming from current FFxiv-Steam users (including myself) who knowingly and happily bought the game from Steam and are suddenly surprised so many people (relative to these Forums) have an issue with not wanting to have a Steam license. I'm a user that doesn't play on PS4, doesnt have a Windows key, and doesnt bring my FFxiv to a friends house. Almost ALL of the issues brought up in this thread are actually NEW to me as I've never tried to do most of these things. But after reading a lot of these posts, I'm beginning to understand peoples concerns.

the only thing I'm afraid of is having to rely on Steam fully functioning in order to play FFxiv, though I've never had an issue in 4 years while I've booted up Steam every single time I play FFxiv. unfortunately we can only wait and see.

[Maneesha]

From the Steam XIV app page: :

Had to quote you again about the 1st part. in german the text you marked red is completely missing. One could argue they forgot to add this part, and will be probably right, still its not there.
Checked a few other languages i can read but they all have the english text.

[LunaP]

I'd love to. But we can't since even if we did you can't add it to any current account with a copy of steam FFXIV ( Steam and Windows are considered the same platform by the Mogstation ). Most of us are just asking for the option to repurchase the game on our currect service accounts. You can't have a windows key and a steam key on the same account.

Yes a "transfer" option would be nice but I think most of us also know thats highly unlikely to happen. If you read the entire thread you can see most of the people on here have stated we would love to just be able to rebuy the game. Guess what though? Not possible. Not unless you want a new service account and want to start over with a brand new character. That option is incredibly daunting thanks especially to the loss of all the items purchased through the mogstation, extras from physical merchandise, event items, veteran items ( only obtainable through achievements now ) and also lets not forget legacy players in the same situation on steam.

We didn't know Steam was going to forced this on us five years ago. If we did know this I don't like a majority of us would have bought the game on Steam at all.

I really don't understand all the schadenfreude and hostility on here from other players that happen to not be in the same postion as us. Hindsight is 20/20 and if I could go back in time and not purchase the game on steam I would. I just want to be able to re-purchase the game on my service account for a normal windows key. Period.

From what I've seen most haven't read the underlying issues that are being presented of what we've recently learned in the past year or over time based on issues w/ previous steam services. I doubt ( hopefully ) that they just simply ignored the logical arguments/options that were discussed and were merely commenting on the OP's initial post, however even so many seem to just be bandwagoning on the " you knew the future when u were gifted, signed up , etc "


To reiterate, and as you said most of us are aware that there's a good chance nothing will come of this. This is the NA forums, so those not on steam don't have to worry as the chance of this thread even being seen by SE officials is very low. Given that we've cleared up the difference between the subscriptions and the official licensing itself along with proprietary character data ownership being exclusive to SE not steam, the option that was best discussed was the option to rebuy previous Keys via PC to swap to on the account, NOT to get them for free since SE wouldn't gain anything from that since again Companies are in business to make money foremost.

I'd gladly repurchase ARR,HW,SB, and Shadowbringers keys to be allowed that. Not saying it will happen, but again the possibility of a different outcome always exists. I do agree that some here are far more upset than others about this thread existing as a whole, however given the context of some of the responses on the first page I also understand they might feel like they're only responding to the entitled responses vs those making sincere actual reasoning and requests, however it would be nicer of them as well to Quote those individuals vs respond to the thread as a whole ultimately lumping everyone in with them, then wondering why they're getting feedback.

The argument " you knew what you were doing when you downloaded the game " is illogical in all sense for those starting so many years ago, as people do not have the knowledge of what/how everyone obtained the game or for what reasons, many for friends, etc back when issues like this were NOT apparent or known, it was just a means to connect to the same game, and back then PC or Steam u could connect, to which I will say again, This is a new form of disclosure, and one of very few games that enforce this now, which as others have pointed out has become increasingly warned over the past couple years. The first majority found out around HW due to the collectors editions. It sucked but given it was just items some wanted to move others just simply purchased them anyways.

Sure, had there been an explanation on the ToS / EULA about how the game worked as well as a warning to alert the user that going through steam could mean possibly down times to access games, then yes consider this our fault, However the only argument I see presented here by people is that " you knew it was Steam" which yes Steam was a place to keep a collective of all your games and CD keys.

Steam wasn't a "platform" until Heavensward was released in 2015. There was no distinction at all until that point and no way for anyone to know it was a completely separate licence.



Sorry, but with that statement you've demonstrated you don't understand the problem. It is not possible to put a Windows licence AND a Steam licence on the same service account. If it was then people would have a workaround and could go down that route, but right now they can't. Square Enix is the only one who can fix this.



If you want to quote the licence agreement you should probably should read it first: https://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/



Even right now it's not a requirement from Steam so as to why SE is forcing this remains unknown.

+1 People jumping in to bandwagon on the EULA are only commenting on the current with no prior knowledge of the past it seems. The worst part is that's the ONLY argument/context that's been thrown, vs hey what are some things we could do about these underlying issues we'll be up against going forward.

[PlanetGirl]

I personally would love to switch to the regular windows version. While for me it's only a matter of convenience, there's people who use family sharing or have lost their account information that won't be able to play the game at all anymore because of this. Even if Steam doesn't implement the same terrible thing they did with ESO, SE should still offer a way to switch our accounts because even launching the game through Steam is impossible for a significant number of people. As things are right now they are literally forcing people out of ever being able to use their accounts again unless they buy it again for a completely different platform that they might not own.

[Nabril]

I don't play large games off Steam. I refuse. If this is really happening, I will quit FFXIV. I don't want to, but I will. It's bad enough that I have to run my browser and stream movies and television off Amazon Prime or Netflix while waiting for queues (or doing Cutscene Roulette). Don't make me have to run Steam too! (okay, I'll admit that I don't have to stream movies, but I will have to run Steam)