Recently their refund 'policies' with FS2020 and Cyberpunk for example. The standard 2 hour limit makes no sense. (For example it takes more than 2 hours to install FS2020 which counts as time played) The automated bot denies every request and trying to contact anyone is problematic.

I know it's not much better in other digital stores (except MS is pretty good) yet I don't want my games tied to the whims of Valve any more. They are too big to care and the community is downright toxic with moderators not doing much at all. Any problem you have is immediately shut down with 'fix your pc', 'you're running it on a potato'.

Steam is just not a place I enjoy anymore.

Well, no matter how problematic it can be, it is not like there are some places that handle such things better than Steam I believe. So if you care that much about being able to refund the game, your only choice is not buying digital at all I guess.

That's funny.

Microsoft created that Flight Simulator problem by only offering the launcher on Steam, running the launcher as a game and downloading the rest of the data from their own (and slower) servers.

Yep, I much rather do that. However the only physical option for FS2020 was a 10 DVD version only sold in Europe, which is pointless anyway since all the map data is online. However GoG has better policies and won't lock you out of your own games when your internet is down. It still happens with Steam on my old PC.

I don't care about sales anymore (just adds clutter I never get to playing anyway) nor mods (time consuming and often end up breaking/glitching) so I don't really see any point in keeping Steam. And there's always Humble Bundle for cheap digital games.

The only convenience left with Steam is having all your games in one place. However my library is a mess polluted by sales fodder, free to play, old versions, beta versions, director's cuts, single/multi player versions. Physical is so much easier to keep track off and organize. It's the same on PSN, can't keep track of the digital stuff anymore.

- As for the online map data, it really shouldn't be that much of a problem if you have good internet connection and as long as this physical copy is not getting tied to some online DRM. You still have the full ownership of the game and can return it if you have some issues.

- As for GOG, it is the best PC marketplace for sure, but the issue is that many big publishers avoid it for obvious reasons, so you have no other choice than to go to Steam if you want to play games on PC. 

It's tied to your MS account no matter where you play, also login with XBox Live Account. A physical edition becomes pointless if it doesn't work without online connection. Anyway I have no issues with MS or Asobo, and FS2020, although still in early access imo, is working fine.

PC still has physical options, but harder to find. Ironically, walled garden consoles are the best place for physical games that don't require online and will always work as long as your hardware still works. Unless it's Cyberpunk har har.

There are plenty options to play games on PC without Steam. I'm going back to my old system, simple folder called games with links and sub folders inside instead of dealing with multiple launchers.

JEMC said: JEMC said: I've gone from 116 games in Sept. 2016, to 180 games last July and the 198 that I have now after the Winter Sales when I added another 6 (3 from my generous Secret Santa). It looks like I'm slowing down, and focus more on playing games rather than buying them . In the last year I've gone from 198 to 214 games on Steam. 16 new games... more than I thought. Plus another 52 at GOG, 28 at the Epic Store (all free), and a bunch more at UPlay and Origin.

Another year has passed since that post and I've gone from 214 games to... 251!? How the fu..

I guess I got a lot of the free games they offered during the lockdown. WHo am I kidding, I also bought a lot of them . Just this Winter Sale I've added another 14 games to my backlog, three thanks to the keys that Conina and Rhonin shared over at böffer's thread, and eleven that I bought. I think this is the time I bought more games from Steam.

After the winter sale I'm up to 175.

12 months later:

Steam: 263 Games (+118); also 5 movies

GOG: 589 (+56); also 8 Movies

Uplay: 21 (+8, with the exception of the very first Settlers, which ain't available on GOG, all freebies)

Itch.io: 49 (+43; plus at least 100 from 2 bundles that I haven't linked with my account just yet)

GamersGate: Still only 8

Impulse: 42

Desura:2

Welp, that's a lot of new games, more than I expected

Edit: Uplay wasn't linked with GOG anymore, so the number was outdated and 3 games went missing. And I just bought Graveyard Keeper + 1st DLC on GOG (second one is still full price)

Think I have 14