New Slitherine Policy (no more game ownership)?

[MarkShot]

No installer for just released Battle Plan; only Steam key?

Is the age of own your own games over as far as Slitherine is concerned?

I think this would be a mistake. The trend these days is leasing everything ... the games ... software ... display panel ... compute, and storage. There are still many of us out there with our own PCs staying on WIN10 or going to LINUX, not using cloud services which claim your property whenever they want. I know I have spent hundreds of dollars on Matrix games to own the games, and not be in the position that geopolitics leaves me with nothing to play one day.

So, what is Slitherine up to?

If true, what do you think about it?

Do you think this will help (the Steam option was always there anyway) or hurt (installers and serials had been there) Slitherine sales?

[budd]

Wow, didn't see that coming. If you read under the Battle plan info it says all sales will be Steam , no independent installers. Was there an announcement I missed? A lot of questions if this is true.

[ernieschwitz]

There is a thread on the Slitherine forum where they wrote that the initial information had not contained that it was steam only. That has now changed.

https://forum.slitherine.com/viewtopic.php?t=122062

If it will be the norm from now on, is not something that has been answered at this time.

[altipueri]

I'm glad I've got boxes and CDs for about half my games.

It seemed eccentric paying an extra 5 or 10 £ but I'm glad I did it.

I'm a dinosaur now and will soon be extinct.

Anyway, thanks to those games designers over the years.

[stormbringer3]

Any game that is Steam only is a no buy for me.

[arjanm]

I will not buy Steam games either.
At least Battleplan is available on GOG, where all games are 'owned' because they're DRM free and offline installers can be downloaded.

https://www.gog.com/en/game/battleplan

[ernieschwitz]

At the link I provided, it seems the question about if this is the new norm is answered.

Basically it says:

We have done this before with Slitherine titles. We will do it again, at times.

We have not done this with Matrix titles, and they will have standalone downloads.

[pzgndr]

No installer for just released Battle Plan; only Steam key?

I'm used to seeing Steam games installed and run from C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\ if I want to install it on my hard drive. This is no longer an option?

If we cannot install a game, then it is unlikely that we can edit the game files for graphics or data changes. Wargamers like to tinker. It's like buying a new car and not allowed to change the oil yourself? It is not a good trend, this recent transition away from buying and owning music, movies, software, etc. "They" want subscriptions and monthly/yearly user fees, forever.

Back in the day, when I bought a wargame from Avalon Hill for $5 or $10, it was mine to play however I liked, forever. So, now Matrix is saying "Play this game this way, or no way?" Maybe they should explain themselves, or lose some (many?) future sales via Steam.