By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
Last week, I offered to give away a code for a free copy of Dead Space 2. It’s a game I already have on EA’s Origin, through Steam, and on two different consoles. I didn’t need the code that unlocked the game on the Origin platform again. I’m not even sure if I’d have been allowed to redeem it and add a second copy to my digital library. But it’s a fun game and I thought someone might enjoy it. When I offered it up, though, I had one person complain. Not about the game, but about the delivery platform. If they had to install Origin, instead of just using their existing Steam account, they weren’t really interested.
The objections seemed to be more about EA as a company, and their business practices, rather than any technical shortcomings of the Origin loader and storefront. (And there aren’t any. As a system for downloading games and content, Origin works just fine as a digital version of what we used to do with physical discs.) But even when presented as a way to get something from the “evil” company without contributing to their bottom line, the lament continued.
“Why couldn’t it just be a Steam code?”
Though it grew a bit tedious after a while – sort of like arguing with a toddler about why they can’t have a tub of frosting for breakfast – I have to admit that the complainer did raise some valid points.
Yes, EA – and every other major publisher – did decide to jump on the direct distribution band wagon shortly after Steam showed a digital-only storefront could be viable.
Yes, it is more convenient to have all your games in one digital library, rather than having to open Ubisoft Connect to play Assassin’s Creed, Origin for Battlefield, and Bethesda.net for The Elder Scrolls.
Yes, these publishers did this as a way to maximize their profits – selling the games at the same prices while cutting out the Valve middleman. (Valve is the name of the parent company and game studio that runs the Steam storefront.)
Yes, the established Steam community, with trophies and friends list, made it easier to connect with existing friends, either to compare trophy progress or play online together.
Steam’s a fantastic platform, and it doesn’t look to be going anywhere. It’s exactly what all the other studio specific storefronts and launchers want to be, and it continues to be itself better than they ever have been. But I’m no platform purist. I’ll launch a game through whichever storefront wants to sell it to me cheapest. I’ll play on PC, on PlayStation, and sometimes even Xbox just for good measure.
It’s the game that matters to me. Not how it’s delivered.
So, I’m not particularly bummed by news that Bethesda is closing down their storefront, and migrating all existing permissions to Steam.
If you had a copy of Skyrim you bought directly from the publisher, or you played Fallout ’76 regularly, you probably had the Bethesda.net Launcher installed on your PC. Even if you bought your game code from a third-party, the Bethesda.net Launcher let you activate codes, purchase games, and access your Bethesda game library from a single location. But, after a little over five years – the platform launched in 2016 – Bethesda is closing up shop and migrating all their games over to Steam.
If you’d already linked you Bethesda and Steam accounts, the transition was smooth and fairly painless. All you had to do was click a link and the games were automatically migrated to your Steam account. If you didn’t already have a Steam account, or hadn’t linked them, it’s a little more complicated. You’ll be prompted to either link to an existing Steam account, or to create a new Steam account, after which the game library would be moved over.
Then, you just open the Steam launcher, find your games, and reinstall them.
And you will likely have to reinstall. Though the Bethesda.net Launcher is being sunset, Bethesda.net – as a service for connecting to game servers – is sticking around. But even if you have the games installed locally to your hard drive, you aren’t going to be able to access those games now that the launcher has been shut down. You will have to reinstall them, and some local progress might be lost. There are ways to transfer save files, but that’s beyond the scope of this column. If you do want to make sure you have access to your existing progress, just know you can do an internet search for moving save game files and you should be fine.
Of course with some games, like the MMOs Fallout ’76 or Elder Scrolls Online, that progress is saved online. For those, the transition should be even easier. But you will have to reinstall all games, even those installed locally that you accessed directly without going through the Bethesda.net Launcher. They won’t work any longer if you click on their icon to launch them locally. So, be prepared to uninstall and reinstall any games you’re currently playing from them. But otherwise, the transition is pretty easy. And, it points to Steam’s strengths, and the expenses and difficulties associated with running a digital storefront of your own.
Maybe, someday, the other publishers will follow suit. Maybe Steam will become the de facto host of all digital PC games.
For now, though, we’re just happy that Bethesda helped make this transition as easy as possible for their customers.
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com
