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

[Xaruko_Nexume]

you CAN buy it, you just cannot transfer your characters.. simple as that.

lmao you know what I mean.

[Johners]

I dont want to defend Square here but do we know which Contracts are existing between Square and Valve? I mean Steam/Valve are well known fur abusing market share power be it Region Blocking, you are not allowed to sell your game cheaper on other platforms clauses in contracts etc. Maybe Square cant offer the Option to Buyout from Steam even if they wanted.

At least some recognition of this issue from the official side would be helpful. Where are the CMs when we need them.

Valve's contracts are no different to those you'll sign when publishing to Xbox, PlayStation or Switch (or previous Nintendo platforms). Region blocking is something publishers like, especially for regionally priced games. There's many games made available cheaper for poorer regions but those purchases are then tied to that region and often miss language packs etc that aren't spoken there. The internet age made it easier to find loopholes in regional pricing/distribution so due to this, the modern platforms had to adapt. Price level agreements are to also stop new platforms from finding ways of undercutting the existing players but Valve aren't unique in this regard.

More importantly, the nature of these contracts is usually under a non-disclosure agreement so it'll be highly unlikely they say anything. As for buying out this arrangement, given the nature of it, it's more likely Valve buyout the entire PC distribution of FFXIV than SE pay Valve so they can migrate the game.

[ForteNightshade]

Fixed or not, doesn't change what we want.

Sadly, it will never happen. Allowing Steam users to switch means Valve loses money. Which would likely go against whatever agreement Valve and SE have. So unless SE is willing to buy out that contract, we're trapped on Steam.

[Youkulm]

Sadly, it will never happen.

Doesn't mean we can't ask. Which is what I'm going to keep doing. Until it is officially addressed with a solid no from a dev team member, I'm going to keep asking. This is something I wanted since HW and they've never made a statement on it. It's also something that isn't out of left field like some requests I've seen.

Also Valve already got all their money from me. I bought the game. I don't even pay my sub through them, which I assume most users dont. Steam wallet on the mogstation is an absolute nightmare. I see no harm in having a PC License as well and giving SqE more money.

[JinM]

Sadly, it will never happen. Allowing Steam users to switch means Valve loses money. Which would likely go against whatever agreement Valve and SE have. So unless SE is willing to buy out that contract, we're trapped on Steam.

That's like saying that letting us own FFXIV on playstation causes Valve to lose money because they don't get a cut from us buying expansions from the PS store.
Other than buying future expansions Valve does not get a cut out of any other purchase you make on the mogstation unless you use steam wallet which is not mandatory.

And besides, SE doesnt have to make us switch account statuses but instead let us own 2 licenses for windows and steam at the same time like they do with PS and Mac. That would be the ideal outcome and what most of us want.
I'd love to keep using steam wallet to pay my sub but not be forced to use steam to launch my game or be locked behind their DRM. That's how it works for other games if you own them both on and off steam.

[Jojoya]

I dont want to defend Square here but do we know which Contracts are existing between Square and Valve? I mean Steam/Valve are well known fur abusing market share power be it Region Blocking, you are not allowed to sell your game cheaper on other platforms clauses in contracts etc. Maybe Square cant offer the Option to Buyout from Steam even if they wanted.

At least some recognition of this issue from the official side would be helpful. Where are the CMs when we need them.

SE can always force the issue with Steam when it comes time to renew their contract. If Steam doesn't want to relent, then SE can choose to not renew the contract and offer Steam users a standalone PC license at that point since Steam would no longer be supported.

It would be interesting to find out what percentage of active account licenses were purchased through Steam in the first place, and then what percentage of those owners only purchased their game because it was available through Steam and would not have purchased it otherwise.

Yeah sadly we know nothing. They've said nothing. The only news we've ever gotten is on the lodestone saying these things are coming not the why or how it will effect the players. AFIAK There is still some people that cannot login to their accounts via steam because of the change yesterday and I feel bad for them. Possibly years and years of playtime lost.

I just wish they'd tell us what is going on. Not everyone has a completely uncomplicated situation which was demonstrated yesterday when a lot of us couldn't get into our accounts.

They did tell us the why and how, though. That information was in the Feb. 9th announcement. The why was to address security and fraud issues being experienced on accounts with Steam licenses. The how was players who failed to properly link their accounts would no longer be able to play the game.

What they couldn't say is exactly which players would end up negatively affected. Now it's a matter of Support compiling information from those who are currently unable to play so they can pinpoint any remaining issues in the linking process - or determine that the lack of access is due to the same security and fraud issues the change is intended to address.

More importantly, the nature of these contracts is usually under a non-disclosure agreement so it'll be highly unlikely they say anything. As for buying out this arrangement, given the nature of it, it's more likely Valve buyout the entire PC distribution of FFXIV than SE pay Valve so they can migrate the game.

That would be a mistake on SE's part to let Valve buyout all rights to PC distribution. They'd lose all their PC customers who want nothing to do with Valve and Steam.

[Youkulm]

They did tell us the why and how, though. That information was in the Feb. 9th announcement.

I'm sorry, no they didn't. I'm glad it answered all your questions and your process was completely uncomplicated but it wasn't like that for everyone else. We had concerns that went unanswered for weeks about the process and those concerns were 100% founded by the issues people have been having.

Users had to resort to contacting support to get further information on their concerns. Concerns that should have been addressed in the announcement, not in an email to a user desperate for answers the dev team wont give them.

I digress: problems from the issues of the linking are irrelevant now. Not asking for a rollback, it is what it is. I'm asking to be able to buy a PC License. The purpose of this thread has not and will not change.

This is the "FF14 hill" that I'll die on and no one is going to convince me to stop bumping this thread until we get a response. Even if it means constantly repeating myself to people who can't be bothered to read the concerns in the thread.

[JinM]

They did tell us the why and how, though. That information was in the Feb. 9th announcement. The why was to address security and fraud issues being experienced on accounts with Steam licenses. The how was players who failed to properly link their accounts would no longer be able to play the game.

The funny part is that the new restriction doesn't even protect your account against phishing or theft, if someone gets your login info they might not be able to login into the game but they can still login to your mogstation and change your password, or even cancel your Square Enix account out of spite.
It's completely useless compared to the one time password SE already has that protects your account way better than this restriction claims to.

All SE did was create a problem for something that was already solved.

[Vulture]

I'm already extremely sick of losing access the rest of my Steam library when the game is running. How the hell is this supposed to "address security"? If you have 2FA this is like taping a note saying "pwease don't steal" on a vault door.

[Youkulm]

I'm already extremely sick of losing access the rest of my Steam library when the game is running. How the hell is this supposed to "address security"? If you have 2FA this is like taping a note saying "pwease don't steal" on a vault door.

It doesn't let you load other games in steam with FF14 open? D: That sounds like a whole other issue. I've not had that problem myself. That sucks.