But it's not a sale. It's a game, and it's provided for free, and as of right now there is no end date where your access to the game will expire. No money leaves your wallet.

I still don't understand.

Is this some sort of coping mechanism by people who paid for the game 10 years ago?

... because unless you bought it from GOG over Steam (which is my preferred place to buy digital games, not Epic), you're in the same boat: Haven't bought a game, you've bought a license. Except with Epic, it's $0.00 today.

[–] bridge_too_close@kbin.social 10 points 10 months ago

Ultimately, if you want a free game and have no issues with Epic, then hurray, you get a free game. Some of us don't like Epic and prefer to give them nothing (including our data), even if it means passing up on free games. I have no shortage of games to play, so I won't be missing a free copy of FO3 or whatever else they decide to offer up.

[–] Mojojojo1993@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Mate I got it. I have all the free games from epic.

My point was that it's not a "game" in the traditional sense. Anything online that requires a launcher is a licence.

Similar to me "purchasing" a film on prime. I don't actually purchase the film, I purchase a license to access the file solely through their system.

They can revoke or lose that license and I lose access. Different to me buying a DVD and I can use it whenever I want as long as I have a DVD player.

I agree. I was just following on the point from above. It is shit that we can't buy from company. I bought the game 10 years ago. Bit of double dipping. I've rebought a bunch of older games.

[–] otp@sh.itjust.works 3 points 10 months ago (2 children)

It's definitely a game in the modern sense. If you want games in the traditional sense, your choices are pretty much GOG and physical copies. And even those aren't a guarantee, with things like...

"Physical copies" that are really just download codes or a DRM key on a disc
Day one patches
Patches that make the game drastically different than it was on launch, particularly when the game was drastically different (aka. shittier) on its unpatched launch
Games that require proprietary servers to run the game properly, and won't be kept alive after a certain date because they won't release the required code for fans to run their own servers

For a lot of gamers, "licenses to games" or any of the above cases make up the majority of the games they play. Yet we still call them gamers, we still call them games, and we still call it gaming.

[–] Mojojojo1993@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Again I don't disagree. I think untill gamers or consumers lobby the industry, we will keep getting shafted. None of those things listed help the consumer. Maybe patches and new updates but not if it doesn't ship with a completely unbroken game

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Tell me you don't understand business terms like "license" without telling me you don't understand business terms like "license."

Also:

Valve has made clear that if they ever go out of business, they will transfer a copy of each game you have a license for to you (providing they still have distribution rights).
This isn't even a problem with GOG because they still distribute games in the old way where you can download a standalone installer and keep that copy of the game in perpetuity.
Epic has no such plans or guarantees.

Make of that what you will.

[–] Squid@leminal.space 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Found an interesting post from steam steam support stating contingency plan for users ive also seen another post that was in a discussion outlining the same contingency plan

[–] otp@sh.itjust.works 0 points 10 months ago

That doesn't seem to be a contingency plan; just a claim that there will be one.