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

[cynical_baby]

Did we get any word on this of any sort? It's been a while, and it still sucks to be a second class customer for SE.

[Kes13a]

Did we get any word on this of any sort? It's been a while, and it still sucks to be a second class customer for SE.

what word were you expecting? they have answered in their FAQ's about moving information between accounts previously, so I would not hold your breath on them re-answering this.

you can buy a "pc" license, and play at the same time with a "steam" license. You can have both icons on your desktop and use both. the actual issue is they do not transfer accounts. period. They state "All character data is tied to the service account on which it was created. As such, we are unable to move character data to another service account or SQUARE ENIX Account."

for example, a couple plays FFxiv. one of them owns the account, the other decides they want their own account. they cannot transfer a character from one account to the new one.

they will not stop you from buying a pc cd key, nor will they stop you from creating a SE account with that cd key. but you will have to relevel everything. you are unable to transfer characters as it is a distinct account from the steam cd key.

[dspguy]

Years ago, I played FFXI. You used to have to install the game, expansion by expansion, from each disk. It was a very long process to install that game. I think it was the Wings of the Goddess expansion where I misplaced the disk and I couldn't find a physical copy. I bought it on Steam and since the latest expansion comes with all the previous expansions (just like FFXIV), I wound up essentially playing the entire game through Steam. I really hated it. I wound up getting a physical copy through a friend. Uninstalled the steam copy and reinstalled the physical copies.

Needless to say, I do appreciate that your game library can never be lost. However, I really didn't like the steam platform. And it essentially locked me into that platform going forward for anything FFXI. Never again.

[Kes13a]

Years ago, I played FFXI. You used to have to install the game, expansion by expansion, from each disk. It was a very long process to install that game. I think it was the Wings of the Goddess expansion where I misplaced the disk and I couldn't find a physical copy. I bought it on Steam and since the latest expansion comes with all the previous expansions (just like FFXIV), I wound up essentially playing the entire game through Steam. I really hated it. I wound up getting a physical copy through a friend. Uninstalled the steam copy and reinstalled the physical copies.

Needless to say, I do appreciate that your game library can never be lost. However, I really didn't like the steam platform. And it essentially locked me into that platform going forward for anything FFXI. Never again.

this I dont disagree with. personally, if I knew then what I know now, never would have gone through steam. I have been relatively "lucky" only the occasional billing issue, but overall, I would never recommend steam for any long term game. convenient, yes, but thats about it really.

[JinM]

what word were you expecting? they have answered in their FAQ's about moving information between accounts previously, so I would not hold your breath on them re-answering this.

you can buy a "pc" license, and play at the same time with a "steam" license. You can have both icons on your desktop and use both. the actual issue is they do not transfer accounts. period. They state "All character data is tied to the service account on which it was created. As such, we are unable to move character data to another service account or SQUARE ENIX Account."

for example, a couple plays FFxiv. one of them owns the account, the other decides they want their own account. they cannot transfer a character from one account to the new one.

they will not stop you from buying a pc cd key, nor will they stop you from creating a SE account with that cd key. but you will have to relevel everything. you are unable to transfer characters as it is a distinct account from the steam cd key.

Everything you typed here is completely irrelevant to what this post is about.
We want SE to let us add a normal PC license to our account like we can add a playstation and mac licenses, there's absolutely no reason why that should not be possible considering you can own other games both on steam and their native store without losing your progress as long as you own both licenses.

The fact SE has been criticized for this for years yet never even addressed why this limitation exists in the first place just shows how incompetent they are when it comes to steam, what's worse is that people make excuses for them without knowing the real reason.
We're tired of people spreading misinformation and baseless speculation, that's why we want SE to come forward and address this issue.

[Jojoya]

The fact SE has been criticized for this for years yet never even addressed why this limitation exists in the first place just shows how incompetent they are when it comes to steam, what's worse is that people make excuses for them without knowing the real reason.
We're tired of people spreading misinformation and baseless speculation, that's why we want SE to come forward and address this issue.

It's probably got nothing to do with incompetence.

Think about it logically. SE has no reason not to want to sell a player both types of licenses. PS4/5 users are allowed a second license type. Allowing Steam users to also have a Windows license would be more money in their pocket.

If it's a technical issue, they would have no reason to withhold that it's a technical issue (obviously they still would not go into detail in case it's something that can be exploited).

What does that leave? That there's some condition in their contract with Valve that prevents them from offering the Windows license to Steam license holders. Business rarely provide public disclosure of contract details, and SE may even be prevented from sharing that information by a contract clause.

What I would love to do is see SE kill their contract with Valve. That would allow them to offer all the current Steam license holders a PC license so they can continue to play the game. .

[JinM]

What does that leave?.

More baseless speculation, that's what it leaves. Think about it logically, merely saying that they are bound by contract is not the same as disclosing contract details.
The fact they remained silent about this issue for years instead of addressing it just shows that they are, in fact, incompetent when it comes to steam.

[DixieBellOCE]

I mean it is nice that people are willing to re buy the game but it is still doing nothing to the fact that SE can't offer that option.

"Both versions of FINAL FANTASY XIV are identical. However, due to some additional features associated with the Steam platform, a standard Windows PC version of FINAL FANTASY XIV is incompatible with a Steam version of the same title. Expansions also must be registered on the same platform as their base game."

Steam policy, SE can't do anything against it. And if they would offer you to re buy the game and transfer your account to that this would be a breach of said steam policy which would lead to the possible termination of the game from steam entirely. Which would result in a giant mess with people not having access to their accounts, SE figuring out how to give people their access back and obviously a huge loss in players since many find the game over steam obviously. Which would lead to a loss of money for both SE and steam and as you know...they really don't like to lose money.

They can actually offer a WINDOWS version of the game as a separate license, because it would not affect the steam license in any way other than players no longer buying new products through steam.

They already do this with PS4, where you can own both a console and a steam license at the same time.

What they SHOULD do, is allow you to REMOVE a license from your account if you have multiple (Allowing you to remove the STEAM license and leave your account as CONSOLE only and then buying the WINDOWS version of the game as a new license.)

[Youkulm]

they SHOULD do, is allow you to REMOVE a license from your account if you have multiple (Allowing you to remove the STEAM license and leave your account as CONSOLE only and then buying the WINDOWS version of the game as a new license.)

This is also a perfectly reasonable fix for what people in this thread are asking for.

[redheadturk]

I use steam since forever and it always works. Never had any problems with it so maybe that's why I don't understand. Also, I think that most of you are in a minority as most of the players that own FFXIV on Steam, own many other games there. I had no idea that some of you may play FFXIV with Steam license when you lost access to it, how in the world are you buying expansions?

OK, I'm not gonna argue with anyone as I'm biased towards Steam. I own most of my games there, use Steam wallet for subbing (best currency exchange), never had any problems.

I 100% agree tho, that we should be able to buy all licenses as we want, be it Steam, Windows Standalone, PS or Mac. More money for SE. Someone at Square Enix is not seeing easy money.

I will never purchase through Steam again, and if a single player game is available exclusively through Steam I will pirate it. My steam account got hacked last year and I lost approximately 500 bucks worth of games because they refuse to migrate them to my new account. So screw 'em.