Steam release?

[Gimpymoo]

Yup. It's called Steamworks, and Steamworks isn't inside DCS: A-10C. Besides, if it was - you would NEED Steam to be able to play the game at all, no options.

 

Games DO NOT require use of the Steamworks API for you to arrange with Valve to distribute your own product keys for activation on Steam.

 

Why misinform people?

 

Sorry EtherealN is a moderator/admin and you are not allowed to ignore him or her.

 

Unlucky for me ;)

Edited April 23, 2011 by Gimpymoo

[picnic]

If my personal guess is actually true (and I don't have a clue if it is) and this is largely a currency issue, just slap your parliament for not joining the euro zone or something. (Though, I'm not in the euro zone, but my territory is under Valve's Euro category.)

 

Why not let us buy it in Euros then, we would take the risk of the currency conversion in this case. This whole region thing is a pile of crock, as part of the EU we're meant to be able to buy whatever product we like with in the EU. I've bought stuff from the German Amazon store before now but can I buy from a Steam euro store with a UK registered address and CC? I bet not.

[EtherealN]

Games DO NOT require use of the Steamworks API for you to arrange with Valve to distribute your own product keys for activation on Steam.

 

Why misinform people?

 

But that specifically is the arrangement that they failed to make. That's the point here. ;)

 

The point is: for a game to be saleable elsewhere than Steam and still be "activable" on steam, the game needs to either be a Valve game or needs to be a so-called Steamworks game where Steam itself is required (for example, Total War).

[Nate--IRL--]

Why not let us buy it in Euros then, we would take the risk of the currency conversion in this case. This whole region thing is a pile of crock, as part of the EU we're meant to be able to buy whatever product we like with in the EU. I've bought stuff from the German Amazon store before now but can I buy from a Steam euro store with a UK registered address and CC? I bet not.

 

I've always though that was odd and open to challenge. Would probably require taking Valve to the European court in Brussels though.

 

Nate

[Nate--IRL--]

But that specifically is the arrangement that they failed to make. That's the point here. ;)

 

The point is: for a game to be saleable elsewhere than Steam and still be "activable" on steam, the game needs to either be a Valve game or needs to be a so-called Steamworks game where Steam itself is required (for example, Total War).

 

Not quite true IIRC. X3 would be an example of a non-steam game having to ability to be activated on Steam from a CD key. However this was a year or two after release IIRC.

 

Nate

[EtherealN]

This whole region thing is a pile of crock, as part of the EU we're meant to be able to buy whatever product we like with in the EU.

 

I'm not 100% on the legals of that stuff, but do note that the UK is not part of the eurozone, nor part of the Schengen agreement. I suspect (but isn't 100% certain) that the latter is the culprit in this case.

 

Another possibility (but again: I'm not sure) is that Valve has separate legal entities for different territories, whereby a "Valve Europe" does not have the right to sell to the UK, since those rights are vested into "Valve UK". Things like that are a common reason for games being released at different times in different territories, so this might be the cause. Again though: I'm not 100% sure. (And AFAIK stuff like this was also the reason why the Lock On Platinum retail package was only sold in North America.)

 

But I am sure that they don't do this to be annoying. They obviously want to sell as much as possible, but sometimes it just doesn't work out. I suspect Jim and Co are hard at work trying to solve the issue and reach an agreement, but right now it stands as stated by Matt earlier. Unfortunate, but true, and not a conspiracy.

 

I've bought stuff from the German Amazon store before now but can I buy from a Steam euro store with a UK registered address and CC? I bet not.

 

As far as I know, Steam considers "spoofing" your location to be able to purchase in another currency or with another territory's availabilities is considered a breach of EULA and they have reserved the right to terminate your account should you do that. (It's something that frequently comes up when a game on Steam has a couple weeks disparity in release dates for different regions.)

[EtherealN]

Not quite true IIRC. X3 would be an example of a non-steam game having to ability to be activated on Steam from a CD key. However this was a year or two after release IIRC.

 

Nate

 

Looks like you might be right.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7480-WUSF-3601#which

 

That's all games that can be activated and the specific licence key versions that are accepted. They have added quite a few since last I checked that list, but there obviously appears to be something special going on with it. Like the below:

 

"Global Agenda CD Keys in this format: 1AB2C-D3FGH-456I7-JK8LM-NOP9Q

Note: Keys purchased directly from the Global Agenda website cannot be registered on Steam."

 

"R.U.S.E. CD Keys in this format: 1AB2C-D3FGH-456I7-JK8LM-NOP9Q

Note: R.U.S.E. keys from Ubisoft's Digital River service are not accepted on Steam "

 

"Torchlight CD Keys in this format: 1ABC-D3FG-4567-JK8L

Note: Only keys purchased directly from Runic Games or Perfect World prior to May 19th, 2010 can be registered on Steam. "

 

I'm going to have to ask my mate at Avalanche to see if he knows exactly how that works from a developer/publisher viewpoint. (Theirs is one of the games where it works.)

[EtherealN]

I've always though that was odd and open to challenge. Would probably require taking Valve to the European court in Brussels though.

 

Nate

 

If I have understood it right, the digital delivery thing is treated legally as if the sale happens where you are - not where the server box is.

 

So, if I have understood it right (though: IANAL), it would be perfectly legal for you to bring your computer with you on the train across the channel to france, sit down in some nice café there and connect to the local hotspot and then set your location to France and thus purchase as much as you like. Then hop back across the channel and play. Legally it would be treated identically to going across the channel and picking it up in a store in France.

 

But just like a brick and mortar store isn't legally required to make post deliveries of physical DVD boxes to the entire EU, neither is the digital distribution services. Like, Amazon.de will ship to the UK - but they do this to sell, not because the law requires them to. Now, this does of course mean that Amazon.de competes with Amazon.co.uk, but apparently Amazon decided not to worry about it. It seems Valve has made a differente judgement regarding that.

 

That's my understanding of it, at least.

[Gimpymoo]

OEM's distribute Steam keys all the time for none Steamworks games, Lost Planet 2 and Dirt 2 being ones I have activated specifically.

 

IT CAN BE DONE, despite you "correcting" me otherwise in your previous posts.

[Nate--IRL--]

With respect Gimpy he said just that 2 posts above.

 

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1181146&postcount=132

 

I wonder who pays who in such a situation though.

 

Nate

[Gimpymoo]

Fair enough Nate.

 

I am probably getting to carried away this so will chill my jets.

 

My point is, I am not expecting Valve to do this for free, the publisher will need to pony up at some point.

 

However, if ED are selling the keys directly, they can sell them to whatever markets they wish.

[winz]

IT CAN BE DONE, despite you "correcting" me otherwise in your previous posts.

But you have to pay for the ability, no sane company will give you the ability to download yours products from their servers for free. They are not charity.

 

My guess is that comming into agreement in "we will sell only some stuff through steam (read, valve will get money only from fraction of sales), but all will be able to download from steam (read, also those who didn't payed to valve will be able to use their services)"

is harder then

"only those who will buy through steam (paying valve), will be able to use steam servers for download)"

If ED didn't come to agreement in the later, then its naivne to think, that they would come into agreement in the former.

[b101uk]

Well I was looking forward to getting this on steam but I am in the UK :(

 

With respect to the arguments of steam vs. the rest of the EU vs. the UK vs. A10 availability.

 

Its worth noting that steam payments for sales in the entire EU are processed in the UK by Valve, the tax element (VAT) is processed in the UK and paid to the HMRC (Her Majesties Revenue & Customs) which in turn disseminates each counters applicable paid VAT to the relevant counters tax revenue agency. :smilewink:

 

Under both UK & EU law we have rights afforded citizens that allow us to purchase goods and services from any other EU member state and to pay ALL relevant taxes applicable in that country without further tax being levied in our own country, any practice that prevents that is anti competitive practice and as such can lead to large fine, you only have to ask VAG (now Volkswagen AG) or Microsoft and quite a few other smaller business that have fallen foul of the same anti competitive practices.:smilewink:

 

e.g. the UK Microsoft on-line store is part of the Microsoft store Germany, I can browse and purchase from any store I can understand and take advantage of any regional price fluctuation be it £, € or other available EU currency, which given UK VAT is now at 20% means little savings can be made. :thumbup:

 

There is also another problem, if I e.g. buy something from ED via there online shop am I paying TAX like VAT? because if ED don’t have an EU subsidiary to distribute tax then it would be unlawful to charge tax/VAT on an export and instead I would be liable for the tax myself on import to the UK/EU assuming ED reside in Russia and a goods or service is permanently exported, likewise if they based there on-line shop in the US in order to charge e.g. $ US agene they could not charge VAT on an export! :music_whistling:

[EtherealN]

b101uk, on the Steam thing - it's not ED or TFC selling it. It's Steam, under license from TFC. (Steam is the brick and mortar, so to speak.)

 

Sales through digitalcombatsimulator.com are not in the EU.

 

EDiT: Also, you are misrepresenting "right" there. You do not have the "right" to buy product X from anywhere in the EU. Not in the sense that a given business needs to make it available to you in the entire EU. The company where I purchase my computer parts only ships to sweden. They have other subsidiaries (and other warehouses) for other countries, and in some countries they don't operate at all. You cannot drag them into court for not selling to you from here. (It would be absurd: I don't have the right to demand that Pizza Hut in London sell me a pizza, and I invite you to try to make Pizza Hut in Stockholm sell you a pizza for delivery to London...)

 

What you are talking about is the tax side. That's a deal between governments, not merchants. It restricts the right of governments to impose tariffs and taxes on goods sold from other countries in the EU, but does not force merchants in those other countries to sell to your country.

Edited April 23, 2011 by EtherealN

[mtuckner]

Okay, sort of semi related Steam question. I am going to buy the Steam version for myself. I want to transfer my current copy to a friend. How do I exactly go about doing that? Also, due to a lot of hardware issues, I am down to one activation remaining (uninstalling didn't seem to preserve the activations). In what way can I get back activations if I gave it to my friend (if possible at all)?

[Bolt-1]

those of you who care to purchase and download DCS A10-C from them more power to you. Just do us all a favor and let us all know how the DL, installation, activation, SP & MP work's out for you.

[EtherealN]

mtuckner, regarding transfer of a license to a friend you would need to open a support ticket to inquire about that possibility.

 

http://support.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/

[Ozz13]

those of you who care to purchase and download DCS A10-C from them more power to you. Just do us all a favor and let us all know how the DL, installation, activation, SP & MP work's out for you.

 

The installation is a breeze, patches automatically. SP works find. MP isn't working with DCS's server in some form, some type of activation issue.

Edited April 24, 2011 by Ozz13

[Forsaken Outlaw]

I got it on Steam and I can say that it is fine. I had to activate it but Steam gave me the key and I haven't tried MP yet but it was 1.1.0.7 at the download.

[Distiler]

No Glowing Amraam video on Steam? That video is a real money maker and it can create a whole lot of new sim enthusiasts. The D2D version uses another music (I guess legal issues with original one), can't this be done in Steam too?

[bluepilot76]

Hi sorry if this is a bit of stupid question; Can someone explain briefly what the benefits of Steam are? Why wouldnt you just buy straight off the ED website (which I did). I also dont understand the excitement surrounding the Steam release, is it just that a wider audience will suddenly see the Sim and think, I quite fancy a go at that! so that we are expecting a vast influx of rookie Warthog pilots blasting around?

I would assume that enyone who has the remotest interest in flight simulation would already be aware of DCS A10C?

[Distiler]

Hi sorry if this is a bit of stupid question; Can someone explain briefly what the benefits of Steam are? Why wouldnt you just buy straight off the ED website (which I did). I also dont understand the excitement surrounding the Steam release, is it just that a wider audience will suddenly see the Sim and think, I quite fancy a go at that! so that we are expecting a vast influx of rookie Warthog pilots blasting around?

I would assume that enyone who has the remotest interest in flight simulation would already be aware of DCS A10C?

 

Basically, Steam gets to a VERY wide audiency (30 million total users last year, 6 million unique users every day) and there are many ppl that don't know more than FSX in the simulation genre and can get into ED easily. If you already know ED, buying through website gives them more money tho (I guess).

Also, Steam is a good platform for downloading software at your will, whenever you want and wherever you are.

Edited April 24, 2011 by Distiler

[bluepilot76]

Oh I see thats kind of what I thought, hope it works well for ED. Thanks for settig me straight!

 

I have to disagree about the downloading the software wherever you are bit though; I got IL2 COD through Steam, and with my current limited internet connection I cannot download an update for Steam, so I cannot get this patch that everyones raving on about to work. (Whereas, although it took about 8hours, with a download manager I was able to successfully download and install the 1.1.0.7 patch off the ED website).

 

Anyway Welcome New Steam Pilots! Come and see what you have been missing! Please dont vulch your fellow Warthog pilots on the Ramp though....We take this SIMULATION seriously!

[eurofor]

Steam just makes it really simple to organise and store your games/simulations. Never had any problems with it. It's really brilliant if you format your system drive every now and then. It's all there in one place. Just log in and download/play what you have in your library. Considering it's all digital content in the end, having a box laying around doesn't make any sense. What you buy is still just a license (immaterial).

Edited May 25, 2011 by eurofor

[Goshawk]

So I've had A-10 since BETA.

 

Am I able to activate it on steam? Or do I need to buy another copy to have the steam version?

 

I've looked through the announcements, FAQ, etc but can't seem to find out.

 

Thanks.