Hi everyone!

For my gaming needs, I have a Steam Deck and a Playstation 5 for now. They’ll probably be joined by a Steam Machine in the next year if the price is under 1000$ with 2 controllers.

For my admin needs, I have a few Linux computers running Fedora.

For my movie needs, I have an HTPC running LibreELEC.

Whenever possible, I’ll get my games on GOG from now on.

A lot of games aren’t on GOG though, so I have to choose between getting physical discs for my PS5 or through Steam.

For now, I can’t get demanding games on Steam since the Deck isn’t powerful enough, but with the arrival of the Machine, I’ll almost have power parity with the PS5.

I don’t plan on selling the PS5 as my son plays some Roblox, the NBA app works better on it than on my TV and I could want some games that Sony won’t release (anymore) on PC.

One day, once my switch to Linux gaming is over I might even give it to my son when hés gonna be old enough to game in his room.

So my question is should I buy physical games on Playstation, with the ability to resell them and get them on GOG one day for cheap, or should I get the games on Steam where they could just be taken away if Steam becomes evil?

  • brucethemoose@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    2 hours ago

    Many games are sold on 1st party storefronts. Sometimes even indie ones, like Rimworld. I’d say they are less likely to yoink the game since they own all the rights, and they’re often downloaded as DRM-free executables.

    So I’d check, in order:

    • GoG

    • The game dev/publisher storefront.

    • Some storefront with a DRM-free download. I noticed EGS (for example) does this for many of their giveaways.

    • Steam, as a last resort.

    I wouldn’t trust PS5 discs though.

    …But you should consider practicality, too.

    In practice, your PS5 is going to be your most powerful machine until you get a bigger PC with a GPU. And FYI, the Steam Machine will not be $1000, not even close.

    That, and launching less intense games on your Deck is way more convenient if bought through Steam. Otherwise you have to deal with some intricacies of Proton and controller remapping to get them running.

    So the PS5 discs aren’t impractical. Steam isn’t impractical. They should launch for a reasonably long time.

    • Dariusmiles2123@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
      1·
      2 hours ago

      Well no one really knows the price of the Steam Machine, maybe not even Valve😅

      What I know is that I’m not willing to put more than 1000$ to buy it.

      Even if Valve said they won’t bleed to make it cheap, I don’t think they can afford to make it so expensive.

      We’ll see because everyone is just guessing for now😇

      • brucethemoose@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        2 hours ago

        It’s not a guess. Look at the price of any PC now. Or wholesale prices of individual components like CPU trays or RAM ICs.

        $1000 is basically impossible for the specs it has. Even if they sell at break-even cost, it’s not even close.

        No one knows the actual price tag will be, of course, but there are practical minimum bounds.

        Hence, if that’s your limit… you should definitely plan on the Steam Machine being too expensive. Maybe consider a used AMD 6000 series GPU in one of your servers.