So apparently Steam was selling a game that was clearly dead.

[Infernal Lawyer]

Fray: Reloaded Edition was being sold for up to a year and a half, despite the fact that it was clearly unplayable due to the servers supporting the multiplayer-only game being non-existant.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/210490/

While I'm not a victim of this myself, I've heard word from a lot of users who have bought this game and have been refused refunds by Steam Support, despite the issue clearly being on the developers side (who have AFAIK long since been shut down).

As a company who has a reputation for caring for it's customers, this is a pretty shocking case, not least of all because continuing to sell an unplayable, unsupported product is clearly illegal.

The game was apparently JUST (i.e. whithin the last few hours) made unavailable for purchase even though the store page exists, however I'd like to hear thoughts about this topic.

Edit: I'm not sure if this is the best place for this topic, so feel free to move this to "off-topic" if you need to, mods.

 

[Salsajoe]

Is it actually steam's job to see if all the servers are up for all the games they are selling?
This is not a rhetorical question, I'm actually curious. I don't think it is. I mean, you can still do LAN, right?

They are also still selling Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, even though the devs have pulled the plugs on the servers for it, it's also been on humble not long ago. It's not a multiplayer only, I know, but still.

 

[NortherWolf]

El-Giganten, a major Swedish Electronics retail chain sold Tabula Rasa years after it went out of function. Game and Gameshop regularly carry Warhammer Age of Reckoning. It's a shitty practice, and I am not sure why it's even legal.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

I think it's been removed, the Steam page isn't showing a price/buy button anymore.

That being said, it would be nice to offer refunds considering the circumstances.

Why do they put unfinished games up at full price? Why are day one releases almost as expensive as physical copies if not more so?

Contrary to popular belief Valve doesn't dictate the prices, the publishers do.

 

[J.McMillen]

If someone is buying an older game on Steam (or anywhere really), it is that customers job to see if there is still an active multi-player audience if that's what you are interested in. I've seen the question come up on Steam forum threads many times. The same thing happens with old console multi-player games as well. So do your research before buying a game for its multi-player.

 

[Splitzi]

I would like to say that a consumer should do some research on the things they purchase. Are you telling me that they couldn't have found out the servers were dead through a cursory Google search? There are even threads on that game's community page ON STEAM saying that they game is dead. SO instead of blasting Steam so much, who are still culpable btw, let's not forget that consumers are responsible for the purchases they make. The refund thing is shitty but honestly, people don't deserve a refund for being stupid.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Well, Valve's not exactly a shining beacon of quality control when it comes to Steam so things like this aren't really that shocking. Still feel bad for anyone that may have purchased it though.

 

[lacktheknack]

Contrary to popular belief Valve doesn't dictate the prices, the publishers do.

So waitjustasecond. Who's responsible for the page still being up: Steam doing it on purpose, or the publisher "forgetting" to tell Steam that the game is dead? Remember, Steam isn't getting the majority of the money from each purchase.

My guess: Valve is going to launch out of their seats, send multiple flaming emails to the publisher and send refunds to all who ask.

EDIT: Who on Earth was buying a game that had an average critic score of 27% in bold letters on the front page?

 

[shintakie10]

Contrary to popular belief Valve doesn't dictate the prices, the publishers do.

Explain to me how, using that logic, I can buy launch games cheaper on Amazon and GMG than I can on Steam. The entire publishers set the price schtick is a load of garbage and we all know it. Publishers set the base price, but anyone can put that price at whatever the hell they want with few, if any, repercussions.

 

[Rayne360]

Steam will give you a refund if you keep asking. I got a refund for X-Rebirth (ABORTION) and that wasn't as bad as this.

 

[softclocks]

Contrary to popular belief Valve doesn't dictate the prices, the publishers do.

Explain to me how, using that logic, I can buy launch games cheaper on Amazon and GMG than I can on Steam. The entire publishers set the price schtick is a load of garbage and we all know it. Publishers set the base price, but anyone can put that price at whatever the hell they want with few, if any, repercussions.

Publishers even decide when they want to do sales now.

Steam's not in charge of the pricing, nor is that a relevant topic here. They could very well be in charge of pricing and be innocent in this matter and vice versa. Whether you feel that Steam's responsible for for checking if a game has servers to support its multiplayer or not, has little to do with whether or not Steam decides the price of games.

 

[Racecarlock]

You know once I said that I don't have steam. One person equated it to not having a car. If the car only every takes me to construction sites, exactly what am I missing?

 

[Phrozenflame500]

Explain to me how, using that logic, I can buy launch games cheaper on Amazon and GMG than I can on Steam. The entire publishers set the price schtick is a load of garbage and we all know it. Publishers set the base price, but anyone can put that price at whatever the hell they want with few, if any, repercussions.

Which games exactly? I'm interested, it doesn't make a ton of sense for Valve to mark-up games since they generally don't get the lions share of the revenue.

I've looked into it, but admittedly I can't find a source for the "publishers solely set game prices" claim although that seems to be the prevailing opinion. However the <a href=https://www.steampowered.com/steamworks/FAQ.php>Steamworks FAQ implies that Valve and the dev discuss the price before it's set. Different games also seem to have different pricing depending on the publisher (i.e. Activision games tend to be higher priced then Ubisoft/EA games).

 

[Canadamus Prime]

This is why Steam needs quality control and needs to keep a tighter leash on those who sell games on their platform.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

EDIT: Who on Earth was buying a game that had an average critic score of 27% in bold letters on the front page?

Those who can't read? o:

This is why Steam needs quality control and needs to keep a tighter leash on those who sell games on their platform.

I agree. I get the feeling that they have stopped checking each individual title since their marketplace exploded with games.

 

[Vivi22]

EDIT: Who on Earth was buying a game that had an average critic score of 27% in bold letters on the front page?

Clearly not enough for anyone at Valve to notice that the game was defunct for a year and a half.

 

[Vivi22]

Explain to me how, using that logic, I can buy launch games cheaper on Amazon and GMG than I can on Steam. The entire publishers set the price schtick is a load of garbage and we all know it.

Considering publishers have the power to set sale prices to whatever they want, whenever they want on Steam, it really isn't garbage.

Pre-order and launch deals show up on Steam all of the time. As they do with other services. It's all at the whim of the publisher.

And you can't compare deals on physical copies of games through sites like Amazon because the markets don't work the same way. At all. Amazon is paying the publisher for the physical copies they receive, so they can choose to sell at whatever price they want after the fact. Valve never actually buys something from the publisher though. They simply provide hosting services. Since they don't own the product actually being sold, they have no legal authority to dictate the price without the publisher agreeing to it.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well Steam isn't responsible for the mishap but a store selling broken products is still the one who needs to do the refunds to it's customers, again a case where digital distributors blatantly disregard consumer rights but any legit store would be clobbered by the legal system for such things.

And no this isn't a game with multiplayer missing, this is a game that does not start without logging in... no servers means the game will never run, this is equal to Amazon sending you a console/PC that won't work.