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Buy game through Steam or Microsoft Store

Posted By: malibu43

Buy game through Steam or Microsoft Store - 01/12/20 10:05 PM

I don't have Steam installed and don't typically play games that come out on steam. I also don't typically buy games directly from M$ (normally just have flight sims installed). However, I plan on buying Halo Master Chief Collection soon and am trying to figure out if I should buy through Steam or the M$ store. I don't really like the idea of having to have Steam running to play something, but millions of people seem to have been just fine with doing it that way, so maybe it's not that big of a deal. In the past I bought some stuff through M$ and then I had to go through Games for Windows Live, which wasn't great either (not sure if that is still around or not).

Any pros or cons for one option or the other?
Posted By: Mr_Blastman

Re: Buy game through Steam or Microsoft Store - 01/12/20 10:23 PM

Steam.

Never trust Micro$oft.
Posted By: Ssnake

Re: Buy game through Steam or Microsoft Store - 01/13/20 12:11 AM

It's pitching one faceless megacorporation against another faceless megacorporation. WHat kind of a recommendation can we give in such a case?

Maybe, that I wouldn't want to support the transition of the PC as an open platform to a walled garden completely under the operating system vendor's control, especially not if Microsoft's idea of the Windows of the future involves advertisement in the Start Menu, on the Login screen.
Posted By: PanzerMeyer

Re: Buy game through Steam or Microsoft Store - 01/13/20 12:14 AM

At least Valve is not a publicly traded company so there are no Wall Street analysts to answer to.
Posted By: Mr_Blastman

Re: Buy game through Steam or Microsoft Store - 01/13/20 12:25 AM

Well said Panzer.
Posted By: Raw Kryptonite

Re: Buy game through Steam or Microsoft Store - 01/13/20 12:57 AM

After Games for windows...steam.
Posted By: Coot

Re: Buy game through Steam or Microsoft Store - 01/13/20 02:34 AM

I've been happy with Steam for the most part for many years. They've been pretty reliable. Getting a Steam account is free so you might get it installed and mess around with the platform a bit.
Posted By: carrick58

Re: Buy game through Steam or Microsoft Store - 01/13/20 02:59 AM

I have had good and bad luck with Steam. Good service with games and customer support Til I hit a loop , catch 22, in passwords. Now I cant get into my games and they cant get me into the games. Hopefully, in time all will be fixed. The bad, I had my Debit Card Hacked. The bank stopped payment to Steam for 300.00 dollars from Steam.on X mas eve. I didnt order anything, Whos at fault ? Its a Debit card that I used on line to other places as well as steam. All I do know is I got Hacked. Thankfully, it was caught.
Posted By: Ssnake

Re: Buy game through Steam or Microsoft Store - 01/13/20 07:30 AM

That's actually the one thing that tilts my decision heavily in favor of Steam: You can buy Steam vouchers/gift cards in supermarkets to buy your games, rather than giving Steam your credit card data. I haven't seen similar vouchers for the Microsoft store. But then again, I have never visited the MS store, based on principle.
Posted By: Trooper117

Re: Buy game through Steam or Microsoft Store - 01/13/20 10:32 AM

I've had absolutely no problems whatsoever with any of my steam games.
Posted By: KRT_Bong

Re: Buy game through Steam or Microsoft Store - 01/13/20 11:38 AM

I use Paypal on Steam, no problems there but as I found out recently many games that are single player aren't accessible if your internet goes down for any length of time unless you sign in to go offline first which of course doesn't help much if you don't have it to begin with. Other than that it works fine.
Posted By: PanzerMeyer

Re: Buy game through Steam or Microsoft Store - 01/13/20 11:41 AM

Originally Posted by Ssnake
I have never visited the MS store, based on principle.


It's ok, hardly anyone does as far as my personal experience goes. The MS store in one of the major malls in Miami has had at most 4-5 customers in it whenever I have passed by while the Apple store at another major mall in Miami is always completely packed.
Posted By: F4UDash4

Re: Buy game through Steam or Microsoft Store - 01/13/20 01:19 PM

Originally Posted by KRT_Bong
I use Paypal on Steam, no problems there but as I found out recently many games that are single player aren't accessible if your internet goes down for any length of time unless you sign in to go offline first which of course doesn't help much if you don't have it to begin with. Other than that it works fine.




On the other hand I copy Kerbal Space Program to a different folder and run it completely independent of Steam.
Posted By: Master

Re: Buy game through Steam or Microsoft Store - 01/13/20 02:42 PM

Steam's overhead as far as CPU and ram requirements are extremely low (lower than the GFW framework required to play games from the microsoft store).

It also has a huge number of benefits. There is a friends list and you can send people messages / chats etc. Each game has it's own forum and community hub where you can upload videos and screenshots. The games auto update without having to mess with anything and there is built in version control where you can select previous versions of the games (where devs have made them available.) Each game also has a news page and patch list page so you can see what is being added changed without having to track down a dev blog etc. You can also refund games up to 2weeks/2 hours of game play and the process is automated and hassle-less.

And then there are the steam sales...
Posted By: PanzerMeyer

Re: Buy game through Steam or Microsoft Store - 01/13/20 03:02 PM

+1 Master

I've had Steam ever since I bought Half Life 2 on release and I've been very happy with the service.
Posted By: Chucky

Re: Buy game through Steam or Microsoft Store - 01/13/20 03:30 PM

It's hard to find a downside to Steam for me. They recently gave me a refund on Red Dead 2 with 4 hours of gameplay under my belt,well outside of the hours played limits.

I keep all my Steam games spread across 2 dedicated 'gaming' drives,one an SSD for games that need it,one mechanical for less demanding stuff. If I ever have to re-install my O/S I just need to install Steam,tell it where the Steam libraries are and it's all back to working again straight away.

You can also opt in/out of betas with a simple click and then there's the workshop if you want to add mods etc without much hassle.

I've never used GFWL and it doesn't sound as if I ever will.
Posted By: Alicatt

Re: Buy game through Steam or Microsoft Store - 01/13/20 03:39 PM

Trying to get rid of all that xbox c-rap that win10 installs, I had got rid of it but then I find that iCloud needs some of it and won't install without it, and all because the wife wanted some pictures downloaded from her iCloud for one of the granddaughters frown

I've moved my steam folder around a few times and after building this PC it is now on a M.2 nvme drive, how much smoother some of the games run now when streaming content from the drive to memory, for TrainSim it has eliminated all the stutters as you drive from one tile set to the next.
Posted By: PanzerMeyer

Re: Buy game through Steam or Microsoft Store - 01/13/20 03:40 PM

Originally Posted by Chucky


I've never used GFWL and it doesn't sound as if I ever will.



I used it many years ago and that was only because the game I wanted to play required it. I believe it was "Dirt 3" which was released in 2011. Once I finished the game I dumped GFWL.
Posted By: Mark Aisthorpe

Re: Buy game through Steam or Microsoft Store - 01/13/20 05:37 PM

The only game I have on the Microsoft store is Minecraft Bedrock edition and I got that free because I've owned the Java edition for years.
I'm damned if I know where the MS Store installed it though.

At least Steam lets you install stuff where you want to.
Posted By: carrick58

Re: Buy game through Steam or Microsoft Store - 01/13/20 11:39 PM

Ssnake: Gift Cards for Steam, now that I didnt know. Good News.
Posted By: Ssnake

Re: Buy game through Steam or Microsoft Store - 01/14/20 10:33 AM

Availability may be different from country to country. Here in Germany they are very popular (also for all other kinds of digital subscriptions - iTunes, Netflix, Amazon, ...) and you'd find them in more or less every supermarket. This probably because a. credit cards are still relatively rare in Germany, and b. they want the kids' money, and as long as they don't have their own bank accounts this seems to be the only way to possibly bypass parental control, I suppose.
OTOH, it's a good way to decouple your digital subscriber accounts from your credit card information.
Posted By: PanzerMeyer

Re: Buy game through Steam or Microsoft Store - 01/14/20 12:06 PM

Originally Posted by Ssnake
This probably because a. credit cards are still relatively rare in Germany, .



What about debit cards? I can at least understand the resistance against using credit cards since spending beyond your means and racking up debt is anathema to most Germans.
Posted By: Ssnake

Re: Buy game through Steam or Microsoft Store - 01/14/20 01:24 PM

I wouldn't go so far to say that debt is anathema to most Germans ... although statistically speaking Germany, China, and Japan are among the countries with the highest savings rate. But up until maybe 25 years ago or so it wasn't even possible as a private citizen to declare bankruptcy to allow you to start over, so you simply had to be careful with all decisions that would incur a big financial risk. Add to that two hyperinflations in the 20th century with associated money reforms that wiped out 90% of all savings (and of all debt), and you can see that while Germany is among the richest countries as far as earnings are concerned, the amount of assets for the median household however is well below average in Europe.

Anyway, the main reason for credit cards being less popular is that debit cards were introduced in the early to mid 1970s and simply took the place that credit cards have in the US as the universal cashless payment system - until the internet and web shops came along. Also, in Germany cash is still king. Most credit cards are more expensive than an EC debit card (these are usually free if you open a bank account; credit cards usually cost you a 30...40.- EUR annual fee or so), and they only fill a niche purpose (like, if you're travelling outside of Europe a lot). Which probably explains their low popularity well enough without having to dive into the elusive attempt to discover a collective psychological or cultural disposition.
Posted By: PanzerMeyer

Re: Buy game through Steam or Microsoft Store - 01/14/20 01:40 PM

Originally Posted by Ssnake
credit cards usually cost you a 30...40.- EUR annual fee or so), .



This part I was not aware of and naturally it would discourage many consumers from wanting to get one in Germany. As far as I know, only a small minority of credit card brands in the US have an annual fee. American Express is the best known of course.
Posted By: malibu43

Re: Buy game through Steam or Microsoft Store - 01/14/20 05:35 PM

Thanks all for the feedback. I'll probably go with Steam.
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