Hmmm, seemed to happen for decades before Steam.

Not happening unless Steam goes full evil, in which case Stardock has said they'll make good.

The reason Stardock went to Steam is simply man-hours, they couldn't spare the people to make two versions of games anymore with their expanded output.   (at least that's the impression I'm getting overall- that Stardock right now has a lack of people to do everything they want to do)

Once upon a time, I was adamantly against Steam, basically for 2 reasons.  The first one was I was tired of everyone having their own download manager that had to run in order to turn the game.  GameSpy, Games for Windows, EA had their own manager, Origin, etc...  I got tired of having a separate download manager (which also doubled as a client) for every game I wanted.  Secondly, I was opposed to Steam just to be contrary because everyone was drinking the kool-aid and was claiming it was the future.  

Now most of those other systems are gone, and I have only a single one now, and that is Steam.  I like having access to all my games from any computer I'm using at the time, and I can easily re-download and install so very easily.  I can't imagine not getting a game through Steam anymore.

I think it's mostly the hipsters that are bucking against Steam, because it's cool to be contrary to everyone else.  I don;t care what anyone says, there is no real legitimate reason to not use Steam other than to be contrary.  People will come up with all sorts of reasons and excuses, but they're nothing more than justifications to be contrary.  I know this, because I was one of them.

Yup, that's exactly what I'm saying because there just are no legitimate reasons.  Again, you can come up with any reason you want, but in the end, they're all B.S.

+ non steam version

Bottom line is that I don't trust virtual anything. Further, Steam wont save you much money anyway. Steam takes a good size chunk of profit albeit not as much as retail. The most profitable path is to sell hard copies yourself. I would love to order a hard copy directly from you knowing that the money goes straight to the dev rather than a bunch of middle men. That is 100% profit save for the few pennies it cost you to print a disk and make a box.

The highest profit per sale comes with selling downloads direct, which have been doing for many years and will continue to do, but ultimately there are only so many users who will buy direct. Unless you are just looking for a bare disc, boxed copies (even if they don't wind up on store shelves) are an extra cost and have scheduling requirements on top of that; we used to do this too and stopped.

There are a very large number of users these days who will only buy things on Steam. The fact that Steam takes a cut from sales on their storefront (they don't take a direct cut on external sales of Steam keys) isn't so important when you consider that you will be selling a lot more copies there than you would direct. GC2 for instance has had a second life since it was put up on Steam. Even though one might think everybody who would have wanted it would have bought it long ago elsewhere, it continues to sell well there.

GC III will use Steamworks so you will have to activate it on Steam no matter where you buy it from. In order to make a non-Steam version they would have to spend a lot of resources recreating things that are handled by Steam.

Here's what Frogboy has stated:

Again I reiterate, you can come up with whatever reason you want, and in the end it's B.S.  Trust?  It has nothing to do with trust.  What is not to trust?  They don't track my credit card (I use paypal), the know next to nothing about me as an individual, I don;t even get email from them.  Why shouldn't I trust them.  How exactly are they biling us?  They're not.

For the record, I'm 50 years old and I've seen more companies come and go than most people here.  As a software developer myself, I know the ins and outs of cloud storage, and I also know your "hard copy" backup is probably already obsolete.  I own the original game disks from games when games first came out, these so called hard copies are completely and utterly useless.  The 5 1/4 inch disk I have of Leather Goddess of Phobos and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is unusable anywhere.  Even the 3 1/4 disks I have with Zork on it is unusable.  You can go ahead and not trust anyone, and all those investments you're making and keeping "hard copies" of?  Good luck using them 10 years from now.

People can sit and moan all they want about how they don't want Steam, how they don't trust Steam (which is the most laughable thing said thus far) but in the end, you're being contrary for no other reason than to be contrary.  You think it's way cooler to be different from anyone else, regardless if it's a sound and practical decision or not.  It's all B.S.  Hey but keep teling yourself how untrustworthy they are, if it helps you sleep at night.

Same here.  Plus, after the sale to GameStop I bought a couple of games from them and noticed that instead of downloading via Impulse (now GameStop App) I was given a Steam code and had to download it from Steam anyway.  My preferred vendor is now Steam, unless GameStop has a lower price, which happens vary rarely.

I just have fears that benevolence will stop.  If Steam was a public corporation I'm sure it would have by now- given the nature of publics to be all about the short-term profit.  (being private is a huge advantage for companies like Valve- and well, Stardock)

I also have natural fears about putting all your eggs in one basket- it's why I got AOW3 on GOG- best to have a failsafe.  I generally don't trust big business in general, even when Valve has given me little reason to distrust them, outside of mandatory binding arbitration (and I understand why companies like that, I'd be ok with it if arbitration wasn't so rigged- but that's a political debate)

I've always wondered why Steam tolerates the 3rd party sellers like GMG who make their living on undercutting Steam, or the Bundle sites where I've gotten some crazy deals (like 87% off the latest EU expansion a couple days ago)

Interesting to hear about the mistaken data on Demigod for Atari- that explains why Stardock kept that 2nd activation screen, right?

Because that's looking at the short term and not long term goals. The goal is to get more people on Steam. They do this via one thing. Steamworks. If you get people, you get revenue. Most people are not super ultra hyper price senstive. Most people are not ultra-coupon-clippers. Most people walk int the store that is 'most convenient' or 'the one we always go to' and buy milk or wahtever. If you'r eon steam, then you're by far much more likely to buy stuff on steam itself. The ultra sale concious user is the minority. Most people dont behave that way. Steam's own data  shows that people still pre-order game or buy them at full price, despite the fact that Steam has sales going on constantly and prices for games drop all the time.

I dont think it was the primary reason, but it did allow them to give empircal data as to # of units moved in each region since keys/logins could be uniquley mapped.

I would prefer a non-steam version as well.  

But before the Steam fan-boys get started-it is a necessity not a preference for me. Despite assurances of "offline" mode...if you happen to work at a job that has you on travel over 50% of the time and almost all of your work is in remote locations (pretty much anywhere outside the US or a major city anywhere in the world.) Most of the time I work in a DIL (Disconnected, Intermittent, Limited) communications environment. Hell, 70% of the globe still does not have access or has very limited connectivity. Steam is great for those who live in  a urban area, their parent's basement, never leave town, don't go anywhere that is not covered by connectivity, or have plenty of money to pay for satellite time.  For those who do not have internet or travel remotely...Steam is not an option.  Offline mode still requires a heartbeat message.  If you are offline and completely disconnected for more than a few weeks and there are updates for the game/steam or you mod your computer in any way (replacing a motherboard taught me this one) you run the risk of corrupting your game and/or library.  Steam's policy is to have you repurchase the game(s) that ceased to function as it is your fault for not keeping a consistent internet connection per their requirements.  (I am not joking- that is the policy.)

You really don't need Steam.  I downloaded Pillars of Eternity from GOG while sitting in the airport in Dubai and played it on my outbound flight(s) and continued to play while in the middle of freaking nowhere until I returned to the states last weekend. Not a single problem. My steam games...well multiple issues. The use of Steam is really just a "First World Problem" (to quote Weird Al.) But, that is where the money is for STEAMDOCK.

Please note I am not a Steam basher and Stardock has already made the decision to go with Steam (despite their gamer bill of rights and personal assurances from Brad back in the day) so any discussion on that point is mute.  (I have been around a long time with both Stardock and Valve. I have been around before Stardock (when Frogboy was a tadpole) and was an original test subject and beta tester for Valve/Steam...if that gives you any idea. If only the non-disclosure agreements were not binding I could tell stories.) The great thing about Stardock used to be that if you had any issues they sent you a new game or helped you resolve the problems.  Now as STEAMDOCK they don't do that so much. 

@econundrum1:  I have had to repurchase games on Steam.  Well over $500 worth of games that have been corrupted while I was off the internet. If you count some of the dark days back in 2007-2010 - I probably have repurchased over 30 titles from Steam as a result of "technical" issues. 

Hey! Frogboy, can I get credit for the name STEAMDOCK when Stardock sells out to Steam? LOL

-Bob.

Galactic Civilizations III is available to play while offline, you just need to be online to download the game initially and any additional content (patches, DLC's, and expansions)...

First off, Stardock is not going against their bill of rights, they are making smart business choices.  Digital distribution is the way to go, and with that said they do still offer direct sale off their website (with a Steam key, which Stardock get's a lot more profit off of.)  With 100's thousands or millions of copies of the game sold on Steam alone versus far less direct why not allow your games to uses the benefits of Steam versus taking the extra time and spending the extra money not to.  Again it's all business and if you were running a business and trying to maintain good products and profit to stay afloat and competitive in an ever changing market you would do the same.

Now is their copyright protection using Steam, sure, does this mean your consumer rights are affected, no.  Long story short is if you as a consumer purchased the game either through Stardock itself or Steam, you will be able to play the game after you have it either with or with-out Internet access.  Can you allow your friend to play the game on his computer...  Well I'm not going to tell you how to work the system, which you could do before and you still can do now if you wanted to.