Why aren't Steam keys included for purchases after Nov 4?

[Ironvos]

It kind of does make sense why steam would want to limit distribution of steam keys.
I'm usually surprised when i see games being sold on 'indie' websites that offer a steam key.
This because as someone from Europe, steam is quite expensive, but on indie websites the price is much lower because there's no 1:1 euro:dollar ratio.
So it's pretty much a no-brainer for me, or other people in my situation, to buy on the website rather than on steam when the websites offer steam keys anyway. Steam would be losing quite a bit of profit for this, and i'm guessing that they anticipate for rimworld to grow significantly, otherwise they wouldn't really bother.

[TheVoidDragon]

It kind of does make sense why steam would want to limit distribution of steam keys.
I'm usually surprised when i see games being sold on 'indie' websites that offer a steam key.
This because as someone from Europe, steam is quite expensive, but on indie websites the price is much lower because there's no 1:1 euro:dollar ratio.
So it's pretty much a no-brainer for me, or other people in my situation, to buy on the website rather than on steam when the websites offer steam keys anyway. Steam would be losing quite a bit of profit for this, and i'm guessing that they anticipate for rimworld to grow significantly, otherwise they wouldn't really bother.

They don't really limit distribution of steam keys, though, they let the developer do whatever they like with the Steam keys. I don't think they have a problem with giving away keys for Rimworld, just promising them to people at this point as the game isn't available on Steam yet.

[Granath]

With a game such as Rimworld, that has no multiplayer, no Hack detection, and is coded in a very open language, steam and non-steam updates are largely in sync because steam doesn't drastically alter how the game runs. Its mainly those 3 above things that do that, which in turn cause a nightmare for the syncing of the two. Thus, getting it via steam or not effectively will be the same thing because even if  *shudder* Ludeon goes bust, I'm sure there will still be cough *alternative* download links that will last long after the twinkle in our eye is gone. Therefore, there really is no reason to NOT buy it now, even though you aren't getting the steam key, because you can always just manually add it into steam anyways, which is what I have done.

ccheuer, I think your response is reasonable, but glosses over some of the difficulties that non-Steam players may have.

It's unlikely that there will be problems with patches for different versions, but it is possible. If 90+% of the player base is on one platform, those who are not will not be given the same attention. It's a natural outcome.

While I appreciate Ty's excellent response regarding mods, Steam Workshop Integration is not ruled out. If you're stuck with a non-Steam version and he decides that Steam Workshop is the way to go - and it's a great tool - then those with non-Steam versions could be very well left out in the cold for mods.

The biggest risk is if Ty & Co. close up shop after release. Those with Steam versions will be able to download their game presumably forever. I have been on the unfortunate receiving end of smaller game developers going bust or outsourcing their licensing to other entities and not being able to reactivate a program on a new machine (Via-Tech, anyone?). There are certain games I like to play from a decade ago (Startopia, Baldur's Gate) and I don't want to have to repurchase them because I can no longer get a legal download. *Alternate* (ahem) download sites are not a good solution.

They're not major risks. Probably none of this will happen and everything will be fine. But having been burned on some of these types of issues before, I prefer to not proceed outside of the "normal" purchasing pattern that most customers will experience - i.e., Steam keys.

Of course, the question is "why are you interested now"? After all, I've been following this game for some time. You can thank Prison Architect. I played PA some months ago and it didn't particularly engage me. Recently I've been playing it again and found it quite enjoyable. I pretty much experienced everything it has to offer in about 30 hours though and was looking for something to continue that kind of experience - something with more depth. Hence my renewed interest.

[AngryGiant]

I realize that I'm probably pulling this from the graveyard, but felt it better than creating a new topic. At least it's only a week old.

I am very interested in buying the game. What I can gather from the discussion is that Valve asked the developer to stop talking about steam while buying on the site. From that the guarantee that someone who buys the game would get a steam key was then limited to the date of the correspondence. It seems some have taken this to mean that if it is bought after, a steam key will not be issued. Will it be something similar to Kerbal Space Program, or other Early Access games, where we would have the option of transferring to steam, not just given a steam key?

From there it becomes a waiting game. I don't have the ability to buy the game 3 times as suggested(I know there was jest), though if I did I would love to support an indie developer. I would prefer it be on steam as I'm sure many would, but I would also like to buy the game. I guess I'm left asking when the steam ETA is looking, and I feel shame for asking it.

[TheVoidDragon]

It was mentioned that a Steam key would be given in addition to the DRM-Free version, so transferring seems unlikely. There hasn't been any mention of putting the game on Steam soon that I've seen, so it is probably going to be quite some time.

There is still a chance you will get a Steam key as well, once the game is out it seems Tynan will be able to give them away if he wanted to. He has said he will see what he can do about it so hopefully if there isn't actually anything stopping him, he'll give keys to people who back even after the data it was stopped. Even if that doesn't happen i still think it's worth buying the game at the moment, it's great. For me it was a choice between support development by buying the game now with only a chance of getting a Steam key, or wait an undetermined amount of time for the game to be released on Steam and there being the possibility Steam keys would be included anyway, meaning  me waiting for it to be released on Steam would have been a bit pointless.I wanted both if possible as i prefer playing games on Steam and would like a DRM-Free version to play when i can't use that, but I bought the game anyway and don't regret it.

[AngryGiant]

I went ahead and just bought the game. WOOHOO. Hopefully it all works out.

[ishot2drop]

Don't we have limited downloads though? It says I only have 7 or so downloads left. Unless it refreshes everytime the game updates. ( I am pretty new started right when A8 came out)

[Haplo]

Normally it refreshes with every new alpha build.

[akiceabear]

Don't we have limited downloads though? It says I only have 7 or so downloads left. Unless it refreshes everytime the game updates. ( I am pretty new started right when A8 came out)

I also took the dive a few weeks ago, very glad I did - this game is amazing, even in alpha.

[GlassDeviant]

The more good games that are not on Steam the better, anyway. Steam is evil.