First of all, your games will be gone.

However, some publishers might choose to give you keys for a different service. Don't rely on that, though, and CERTAINLY don't expect publishers to do this for every game on Steam.

Lets hope it doesn't, not anytime soon anyway.
I've invested a lot of money into Steam (just like many others have).

This is why direct-download DRM-free games are the best.

Anyway, Valve has said something about how they plan to make games playable without Steam's authentication servers, I hear. How, I'm not sure -- probably just modifying the Steam client to start up without authentication I guess; that seems to be the simplest way.

You will, of course, have to download all your games to play them, and after Steam's download servers go down, you may have to find other sources, or downloaded your games before that happens.

Originally posted by Quintelligent Calcium:

Anyway, Valve has said something about how they plan to make games playable without Steam's authentication servers, I hear. How, I'm not sure -- probably just modifying the Steam client to start up without authentication I guess; that seems to be the simplest way.

That's rubbish.

First of all, do you REALLY think they can just do that? Steam does not have any rights on the games, which means they can't just give them away for free. In addition, when a company goes bankrupt (as opposed to just "we feel bored about this now, so we'll shut it down"), they tend to loose control over their business as an independent manager is installed whose one and only job is to squeeze as much money as possible from the remains to pay the debts (details may vary between countries, but I'm guessing the basic idea is always there).

Second, how do you intend to use that without download servers? Do you think they will start updating Steam a few years in advance to deliver proper installation files and disk images, so people can start burning disks before they turn off Steam for good?

Originally posted by Kargor:

First of all, do you REALLY think they can just do that? Steam does not have any rights on the games, which means they can't just give them away for free.

I said nothing about giving away games for free.

Originally posted by Kargor:

In addition, when a company goes bankrupt (as opposed to just "we feel bored about this now, so we'll shut it down"), they tend to loose control over their business as an independent manager is installed whose one and only job is to squeeze as much money as possible from the remains to pay the debts (details may vary between countries, but I'm guessing the basic idea is always there).

This is true, and I've seen no promises regarding what Valve will do when it does go bankrupt.

I would not trust Valve to provide this authentication bypass solution if Valve does fail as a business. That's why I support DRM-free games.

Note that some games on Steam are natively DRM-free. Not all, though.

Also, there's no word on what happens to our virtual inventories full of Steam and game items.

Originally posted by Kargor:

Second, how do you intend to use that without download servers? Do you think they will start updating Steam a few years in advance to deliver proper installation files and disk images, so people can start burning disks before they turn off Steam for good?

I specifically highlighted that problem in my next paragraph:

You will, of course, have to download all your games to play them, and after Steam's download servers go down, you may have to find other sources, or downloaded your games before that happens.

One thing i like is GoG that allow you to download and backup those .exe files if you really want to keep those games you like handy. Now i am not sure if GoG no longer exist, and the .exe is looking for trade partner that update them will succeed during installation.

Originally posted by Kargor:

First of all, your games will be gone.

However, some publishers might choose to give you keys for a different service. Don't rely on that, though, and CERTAINLY don't expect publishers to do this for every game on Steam.

Your games will not be gone. VALVe once tested steam with no authservers to see what would happen if steam went down for good.

Steam really cant just shut down!

thats whould be true nightmare lol

Valve wouldn't shutter Steam unless it became non-profitable. On the off-chance of that happening, however, I suppose they would offer an offline client and allow us a chance to download the installation media for all of our software so we can continue using it.

All would be lost #

Originally posted by eram:

Originally posted by Kargor:

First of all, your games will be gone.

However, some publishers might choose to give you keys for a different service. Don't rely on that, though, and CERTAINLY don't expect publishers to do this for every game on Steam.

Your games will not be gone. VALVe once tested steam with no authservers to see what would happen if steam went down for good.

You'd be able to run those games you had downloaded, but not download those you hadn't downloaded, though.

Originally posted by Kargor:

First of all, your games will be gone.

However, some publishers might choose to give you keys for a different service. Don't rely on that, though, and CERTAINLY don't expect publishers to do this for every game on Steam.

Why when my internet goes down i get low P in dota 2 ?!?! Isn't there a robot or something that will see that i am not in F steam or i am trying to connect ?>!?! AGAIN I am in low P cuz of my internet ,.... STOP IT PLEASE !!!!! I rejoin and i have low P :@:@:@:@

As long as there are computers,steam will not shut down,so in other words never.Consoles don't have a bright future though so dont invest in a console service.

Well that good to hear, just curious that all before i waste ton of money on these games lol