this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2025
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If gaben decides tomorrow to shut it all down, everything is gone. They might have a lot of good will based on past behavior, but in the end it's still a company and you have zero control over what they do. You don't actually own any of those games.
Technically, uh no. Many of the games I haven't loaded onto my PC would no longer be accessible, correct. But I have a copy of Goldberg emulator, in case Valve doesn't hold up their end of the bargain.
Then technically I am correct? If Valve just shuts down, it's all gone. You might find a workaround for some of the stuff you happen to have downloaded right now, but in general, everything you "bought" is gone.
Technically it would be the same case for GOG too if that happened, since the average consimer doesn't back up all the games they pay for.
In the end when it comes to digital most consumers rely on convenience and trust than taking the extra step to back up stuff so they remove the dependency.
That's why the actual back up for lot of people is piracy as the final line of defense and archiving.
"Technically, if your computer breaks and you can't recover those games after Valve decides to close its doors, those games are gone forever." Yeah, and? Is there a storefront that doesn't apply to? Just how long do you think CDs and floppy disks (and the hardware to access them) last, if you haven't lost them already? Is it more or less than Valve's lifespan so far?
If steam shutdown it would probably mean PC gaming itself is dead and the industry is in really big trouble.