Please allow Steam License holders to buy a standalone PC License.

[Johners]

Pretty much every other game with it's own launcher/account system on Steam just sits under that Steam account. If I buy a Ubisoft, EA or Rockstar Games title on Steam, all of which come with their own launchers, I have to launch the games through Steam. Effectively making it Steam > Origin (for example) > Game. If I go to Origin directly and try to star the game, it'll just load Steam to start the game which still checks for Origin to be running.

The fact FFXIV could just bypass that launcher/account requirement is quite bizarre and from my understanding, a violation of Valve's terms of service by Square Enix. I still take issue with the fact SE don't use Steam to distribute the entire game and instead it installs the latest launcher version before making me download the game through that. I'd like them to fully integrate the Steam version with Steam and bypass the FFXIV launcher entirely to get me straight into the game from Steam.

A launcher fix, at the very least, for Linux/SteamOS users would be great though. It's something they should be able to fix quite easily with a small patch before the Steam Deck officially releases at the end of the month.

[Imora]

Unfortunately no, not to my knowledge.



Yeah if we could transfer characters to other accounts, I'd just do that to escape steam, but I can see why SE doesn't offer this. It would make RMT even easier. Already so many people selling characters.

Blizzard allows transfer between accounts within a region with the following stipulations:

Minor turning adult separating from a parent's account
Accounts both have identical names and billing information.

[Aishikai]

I've read the announcement probably over 50 times now, and thinking logically:

"To link accounts, the Steam account must possess a FINAL FANTASY XIV license that matches that found on the target Square Enix account/FINAL FANTASY XIV service account (e.g., the Free Trial version or the full game version). You can verify the FINAL FANTASY XIV licenses on your Steam account by clicking on your Steam display name, selecting “Account details,” then “View licenses and product key activations” found under Store & Purchase History."

It specifies trial OR full game, meaning "Final Fantasy XIV Online Free Trial" or "Final Fantasy XIV Online" in your steam library. It doesn't make any mention of expansion licenses.
Then, where it tells you to verify the licenses, it brings you to a list of games registered to your steam account (NOT your product keys, which are located in another menu).

I'd really like to see a community rep address all of the concerns in this thread. The lack of transparency and communication over the steam/linux* problems is unacceptable.

This would be ideal. I don't know if they read the english forums at all but it'd put a LOT of people's mind at ease

[JinM]

Pretty much every other game with it's own launcher/account system on Steam just sits under that Steam account. If I buy a Ubisoft, EA or Rockstar Games title on Steam, all of which come with their own launchers, I have to launch the games through Steam. Effectively making it Steam > Origin (for example) > Game. If I go to Origin directly and try to star the game, it'll just load Steam to start the game which still checks for Origin to be running.

The fact FFXIV could just bypass that launcher/account requirement is quite bizarre and from my understanding, a violation of Valve's terms of service by Square Enix

That's not what this thread is about, in any of those games as far as i know you can always buy a non-steam license of that game in the original launcher without being locked out of your progress since your origin/ubisoft/rockstar account keep your progress, not steam.
For example if i own battlefield 4 both on steam and on origin, i won't have to launch BF4 through steam and launch it straight from origin if i choose to.

Unless SE clarifies otherwise there's no reason we can't have the same deal as those other games. I'd gladly pay extra to add a windows license to my account and keep my progress.

[technole]

The steam link is similar to how it works with the PSN version, there is one-time link and that is the only account you can use for the FFXIV license.

I always felt the Steam version was just an extra layer of nuttiness for this game. Like if there was a do-over they probably wouldn't even list it there cause Valve gets a cut of the client cost. ARR was a time period they needed every sub possible and making the game as accessible as they could. Sure they have promos and all, but the SE store has them just as often. So I tell everyone to buy the game directly and not Steam nowadays.

[Rufalus]

It can take a while for them to gather feedback, negotiate a solution and prepare an announcement. Customer service can't give out any new information yet but there's still hope if y'all continue to be vocal about this on the forum, the official response to this issue could be updated.

[Arkfrost]

I think the point where Square Enix would seriously start to listen would be if people would start sueing Square Enix in masses if this change is applied and people actually lose all access to their account due to regional issues or the game license on mogstation being from a different Steam account they have no more access to.

And I know that at least in Germany and France people would win such lawsuits:
- In France Valve lost a huge lawsuit regarding their no resale policy. Now they're forced to allow anyone in France to resell ANY games they buy on Steam
- In Germany Valve lost a gigantic lawsuit regarding their DRM. In case Valve shuts down their Steam servers for whatever reason, they MUST provide all German Steam users a tool to remove the DRM from ANY game they bought, and give them at least 6 or so months of waning time to download all games German users have in their Steam libraries
- And even Nintendo lost a lawsuit in Germany, when they attempted to narrow down their preorder and refund window to 7 days worldwide. German courts gave them a big, fat NO in the face, because German law demands any preorder to be cancellable until the day prior to release, and refunds are also a right customers MUST be provided. Terms and Conditions matter jack shit vs the laws of countries. The only thing companies can do against that is to not sell their games in those countries, but if they already did sell them there, they cannot back out anymore, when laws get uncomfortable.

[Belisaire]

What I think is the question that needs immediate answering is whether it's going to try to line up product keys or not. The announcement is very poorly worded in regards to this.

If its only checking to see if there is a copy of FFXIV (base game) on the steam account, but not checking keys or expansions, it really just means that anyone who no longer has access to the original steam account just needs to rebuy the base game on some other steam account, and link that one. That solution sucks, but its better than not having any option at all. And truly, no one should really be forced to do this.

There needs to be more information ASAP on this. It sounds like Steam support isn't being helpful, and why would they? They don't own the character data, there's little they can do to fix it themselves. SE needs to take responsibility for their customers.

[ZedxKayn]

Being able to have a windows license alongside a steam license would be good but it should be free. It would be really crass of them to allow it but ask money for it. Don't ask to pay for things that should be free.

[Belisaire]

Being able to have a windows license alongside a steam license would be good but it should be free. It would be really crass of them to allow it but ask money for it. Don't ask to pay for things that should be free.

I agree although this is pretty standard in the industry. If I buy something from a platform its usually tied to that platform, and Steam considers itself a platform separate from PC. Same with the Windows Store as well.