Why buy from ED instead of Steam?

What's Steam?

it's a game platform. you can donwload its program and buy games.

Steam takes 30%. If you want to support devs, buy from here.

+1.

And I don't care if it's cheaper on Steam, this is my contribution to devs

it's a game platform. you can donwload its program and buy games.

That was partly rhetorical (you can't be here without hearing about it) and part an answer to the question. I have three games on my computer; DCS, and two others that cannot be named but have similar intent and varying degrees of fidelity (what do you mean the 109 didn't have a full-featured autopilot? In this other...).

Steam? Why on earth would I want the overhead? Apart from which these guys bust their butts to produce DCS and do a fantastic job of it; I don't buy every module because I fly them, I buy every module because the ecosystem is worth it...and once in a while I take a hangar queen out and realize it's a delightfully fun ride (*cough* ee-shestnadtsat *cough*).

Well...that and looking at a trackview rendering of your latest fight against AI in an F-5 and do the math...and realize they must have put GE 414s in that little guy... :joystick:

I surely hope, all you "30 % cut" people never buy anything on the ED store on sale or use any bonus points, since it would undermine the only somewhat sensible argument that tries to paint the standalone in a better light.

Also, buy your butter directly from the producer, don't support supermarkets, they take a cut! Or cars. Or anything you'll ever buy. And no sales, ever.

Furthermore, what to do with the 3rd party developers? ED certainly takes a cut from them to support the development of the DCS environment, which they all use. Buy directly from them? This certainly does not get rid of the cut ED takes. So, force them to build their own flight sim engine, every module as its stand alone simulator? No connected multiplayer? Hm, tricky...

It's all about supporting the producer, right?

On a more useful note to OP:

It is mainly up to you, there are only perceived (!) negative things to Steam, really.

If you have a lot of games on Steam and all you friends are there, stick with it. If you only play DCS and all your friends are there, stick with that. All these "later updates" and "later releases" are not really an issue anymore. The F-14 release proved that, if anything, the EA release delays are artificial to begin with.

If you look to get a module a few dollars cheaper on Steam and transfer to standalone, do this.

Well, if someone does wait for a sale and grabs a $80 module for 50% off on Steam, ED gets $28 instead of $40. It's still better to buy at ED's.

The main advantage of Steam is it's viral marketing bonus. Others might see you spending thousands of hours in DCS - so it must be good and maybe someone will buy a module and get caught by DCS because of that. So ED can get more customers and in the end it probably is good enough for them, otherwise they would not have started selling modules there anyway. But in the end, if someone asks which would be better, I'd still go and say "directly from ED".

And just a technical reason: I wouldn't want Steam to update my DCS automatically in the background before I removed my mod files to have a clean installation... Steam may be more convenient, but I prefer having control over my stuff.

I don't think steam does refunds on DLC, only full games.

and modules are DLC.

They do. I refunded one of the Maple Flag campaigns because it was not compatible with the stand alone version (before we had the current steam license transfers)

Sent a ticket and had the refund in minutes. No problem.

I prefer to support ED instead of Steam. 100% of my money to develop such fantastic modules.

I prefer to support ED instead of Steam. 100% of my money to develop such fantastic modules.

i agree at 100 % :)

+1

I love Steam...for everything but DCS. I agree with all the financial arguments, that is a hefty chunk, but really what did it for me is the release times. You want the new stuff, you gotta be on beta... If your on beta, then you aint on Steam, simple as that.

I first saw DCS on Steam years ago and I downloaded it and played the free modules, I then went to the ED website, deleted the Steam version, downloaded DCS from ED and bought my first modules in the good old days of 70% off. So Steam was good in that it brought DCS world to my attention, but I prefer to buy the Terrains and Modules straight from ED because as others have said, 100% of the money goes to ED.

I love Steam...for everything but DCS. I agree with all the financial arguments, that is a hefty chunk, but really what did it for me is the release times. You want the new stuff, you gotta be on beta... If your on beta, then you aint on Steam, simple as that.

You can also play OB on Steam, but maybe I misunderstood you.

You can also play OB on Steam, but maybe I misunderstood you.

You can?? The modules don't release to steam until after they have been on beta for awhile, sometimes even stable branch then steam....Things could have changed so I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that steam was stable only, and usually last to get modules.

You can?? The modules don't release to steam until after they have been on beta for awhile, sometimes even stable branch then steam....Things could have changed so I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that steam was stable only, and usually last to get modules.

You can activate the OB version somewhere in the Steam options (at least you could, back when I was still on Steam)

Yes, and rollouts for updates are on the same time as on the SA.

Only some modules take longe to get to steam, but thats the responsibility of the developers themselves.

Yep, find DCS in steam library, right click, properties, betas tab.

You can activate the OB version somewhere in the Steam options (at least you could, back when I was still on Steam)

Yep, find DCS in steam library, right click, properties, betas tab.

Interesting, I've been aware of the beta opt-in option on steam for quite some time, just didn't think DCS was one to use it. I got into DCS on steam back when 2.0 and the NTTR were just coming out. After learning these things were only available in OB at the time, I quickly switched over and downloaded directly from ED. Guess it didn't occur to me to opt-in to the beta using steam.

Regardless, I'm still happy with going directly through ED

Steam for download speeds and auto updating. I have over 300 games...

I always support ED and buy from ED, but ED should improve the service, such as increasing the servers in order to solve many problem related the downloading and login

Steam takes 30%. If you want to support devs, buy from here.

If I had known this before, I wouldn't buy it from Steam.

If I were in ED's shoes I wouldn't make a deal with Steam, at least not for now. Only certain people who like flight sims will play DCS and it will never be sold like GTAV or Arma3 in its current context. And those certain people will play DCS no matter you sell it on Steam or not. 30% is really too much.

If I were in ED's shoes I wouldn't make a deal with Steam, at least not for now.

ED were reluctant at first, but I think they see the benefits. It opens the game up to a whole other player base who would never touch it if it wasn't on Steam.

I'm glad it's available on Steam and will happily keep buying things that way in the future.

Steam and standalone are good for different people.

I just wish all modules worked on steam and standalone.

I just wish all modules worked on steam and standalone.

They do

Of course; on the Eagle Dynamics's forum, the general consensus is:

Buy from here if you want to support the developers!

What does that mean... If I spend my money to buy the modules from Steam, am I not supporting the «ED» company too?

Let's see:

1) Steam gives you a bigger discount. The ED Store wants more money and you can't pay, in euros.

2) Steam gives you a key and the option to link your purchase, to the standalone version. Buying from ED; you are limited to the standalone version... everything is Steam incompatible.

3) Steam gives you a refund; you can test the module and if you come to the conclusion that it doesn't deserves the *60 euros, you can refund it. From the ED Store, all sales are final.

4) Steam delivers your the product and updates faster; not the «slow torrent crap» method and no massive SSD space, needed for the installation. If you choose the ED store, you should buy a bigger SSD 1st.

Steam also supports the Alpha / Beta branch; not the stable version only!

Meanwhile:

The A-10C module still uses the Starforce malware.

The Black Shark module still uses the Starforce malware.

The Flaming Cliffs module still uses the Starforce malware.

After all this time no «keyless» DRM option, for all modules... even if you you want to stick with the Starforce, you can't... now, everything is keyless / ONLINE; except the modules mentioned above.

Is up to you to think about it; regards to all,

Xanix

Of course; on the Eagle Dynamics's forum, the general consensus is:

 

Buy from here if you want to support the developers!

 

What does that mean... If I spend my money to buy the modules from Steam, am I not supporting the «ED» company too?

 

Let's see:

1) Steam gives you a bigger discount. The ED Store wants more money and you can't pay, in euros.

2) Steam gives you a key and the option to link your purchase, to the standalone version. Buying from ED; you are limited to the standalone version... everything is Steam incompatible.

3) Steam gives you a refund; you can test the module and if you come to the conclusion that it doesn't deserves the *60 euros, you can refund it. From the ED Store, all sales are final.

4) Steam delivers your the product and updates faster; not the «slow torrent crap» method and no massive SSD space, needed for the installation. If you choose the ED store, you should buy a bigger SSD 1st.

 

Steam also supports the Alpha / Beta branch; not the stable version only!

 

Meanwhile:

The A-10C module still uses the Starforce malware.

The Black Shark module still uses the Starforce malware.

The Flaming Cliffs module still uses the Starforce malware.

 

After all this time no «keyless» DRM option, for all modules... even if you you want to stick with the Starforce, you can't... now, everything is keyless / ONLINE; except the modules mentioned above.

 

Is up to you to think about it; regards to all,

Xanix

+1

One key aspect for me is the possibility to pay in local currency using Steam.