Given the choice i'd take drm free every time. But i do have Victoria 2 on steam. I remember telling you how hard it was. Well now i've learnt quite a bit, and am fairly competent at it. It's a really cool game, and reminds me of Risk.

Sometimes, if something is steam only, it is worth getting a few games on.

Ah yes, in your eyes that was a Steam chant, not a pro developer chant. I guess that says more about you than me.

There's a fine line between thinking for yourself and about yourself. Maybe a distinction worth thinking about. The short of it however, is that for the developers, thinking about you wasn't worth it anymore. So i guess in that sense you're not alone. I prefer for developers to focus on how they can get us great games, the best way they can, not how they can best cater to the demands of minor part of their customers and hamper their game making/management because of it.

If that means that Steamworks is a better choice for them, then so be it. I'll be saying the same thing if another option is more beneficial to the developer. At the moment, I don't have to, which yes, suits me fine as I like my games on Steam. Those are separate things however, but then, that's the easiest way to dismiss what I was saying so I doubt me saying that will change anything.

Edit: Rah Rah

This time they're looking to utilize Steam network API and other Steamworks integration feature. They also has confirmed the game will be available on GamersGate but it's very likely it still require Steam to run.

Victoria 2 isn't steam only? I have it from retail and buy dlc on GG.

Paradox on GOG?

Yes please.

I was using my paradox steam game as an example of one game i have on steam, but not elsewhere. I was just saying that if it was steam only, it'd be worth getting on steam rather than not getting it at all, or waiting for it to become drm free.

I am not sure about this. Might be, might not be. I even guess there is a benefit but it might be too small for them or they underestimate it. That's why I think it is a wrong decision.

From my software coding experience: yes it is some effort to provide separate versions but the effort is not incredibly high. If however EU4 will use a considerate portion of Steam than the effort would be significant but then we wouldn't talk about it in this context. It would be just another Steam exclusive application then.

Ok thought it was something like that, just making sure :)

Well i didn't know Victoria 2 was available on Gamersgate to be honest, but to buy a second version would be a waste of money in my opinion. For others though, drm free would be what i'd recommend ;)

I technically bought retail and only found dlc on Gamersgate as the steam dlc wasn't compatible with the retail game.

95% of purchases of Crusader Kings 2 have been on Steam. Not exactly shocking that they don't see the point of splitting QA and patch development amongst multiple stores when they aren't even close to equal in terms of customer base. Especially since the only reason they even DID a non-Steam version of CK2 was because fans claimed 'Oh, we'll totally buy it somewhere else if you make it!'

Your opinion is invalid.

Question.

If a dude tells you to think for yourself, if you listen to him and think for yourself, are you REALLY thinking for yourself, or are you just listening to some dude at that point?

That depends on what you're thinking of, you might think for yourself on other subject matters, even though the idea of making up your own opinion on zed matters is not your own.

One interesting issue that appeared to me yesterday is that many of the big Kickstarter campaigns offered non-Steam, even DRM-free versions either from the beginning or usually after a few days. That includes Wasteland, DoubleFine, Broken Sword, ... I guess almost every game that collected over a million $ offers such an option. These games are well comparable to a EU 4 in how much money they'll cost. And Kickstarter project initiators are really close to the fans and potential buyers. Now it will be interesting to see later how much of the units they finally sell or give to the backers are via Steam and how many are through different channels. I believe it will be less than 50% through Steam finally.

But for now the issue is just that kind of similar projects (produce a game that is not a big blockbuster) are arriving to different conclusions about the necessity of going Steam exclusive. I guess this means that it is not really clear and Paradox might as well make a mistake here.

I would actually be completely satisfied if at some point they offer a GOTY bundled DLC version of EU 4 at a competitive price outside of Steam because I probably wouldn't buy the game in any other form anyway. This should greatly reduce the costs for them also.