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Praise Be to Bethesda: Skyrim Will Use Steamworks

The next Elder Scrolls epic will deeply integrate with Steam.

If you close your eyes, you can pretend you're playing Skyrim right now. Don't open them.
If you close your eyes, you can pretend you're playing Skyrim right now. Don't open them.

There's much more to Steam than a digital distribution platform. Some developers chose to engage with Steam on a deeper level by incorporating Valve's Steamworks development platform, which allows for Steam to fully integrate with the game.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will be the latest game to take advantage of Steamworks, Bethesda Game Studios revealed today over Twitter. And lo, there was much rejoicing amongst PC gamers.

There are several advantages to leveraging Steamworks, whether it's integrated voice communication and Steam Cloud support to accessing anti-cheating mechanisms and player authentication tools. That might sound like a bunch of gobbledygook if you've never played a game with Steamworks, but in short, it makes the user experience a hell of a lot better.

Now, if only I had a PC capable of running Skyrim. I should add that to my wedding registry...

Patrick Klepek on Google+

162 Comments

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Storms

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Edited By Storms
@Ravenlight said:
Barring people who live in places where they have bad internet because everybody is too afraid of being eaten by bears, how many people don't have access to a reliable internet connection? 
 This Many
 This Many
But, no, that's not the main issue. The issue is needing permission to play your game after you buy it. And even the most reliable internet connection goes down. And the fact that some people are on older computers that are barely playing certain games without having an extra program open. And just the overall hassle of having to sign up for yet another damned thing.
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bioblood22

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Edited By bioblood22

This topic should just say, "Praise be to Bethesda for just making Skyrim in the first place!" Idgaf about Steam, or Steamworks.

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vigorousjammer

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Edited By vigorousjammer

@Storms said:

@Ravenlight said:
Barring people who live in places where they have bad internet because everybody is too afraid of being eaten by bears, how many people don't have access to a reliable internet connection?
This Many
This Many
But, no, that's not the main issue. The issue is needing permission to play your game after you buy it. And even the most reliable internet connection goes down. And the fact that some people are on older computers that are barely playing certain games without having an extra program open. And just the overall hassle of having to sign up for yet another damned thing.

How come the stats for computers cut off in 2003? did they just stop collecting that info?

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Ravenlight

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Edited By Ravenlight

@Vigorousjammer said:

How come the stats for computers cut off in 2003? did they just stop collecting that info?

ZOMG thread necro!

But yeah, I was wondering that too. I have an inherent mistrust of all charts and graphs for that very reason: the information is generally not entirely accurate or still applicable.

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Wuddel

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Edited By Wuddel

Ok. Stupid question: So can I buy this on Amazon and then punch in a code in Steam to download it on multiple computers? No disc required?

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vigorousjammer

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Edited By vigorousjammer

@Ravenlight: Getting back on topic... in all honesty, my internet may go down occasionally. Or there may be the off chance that somebody might want to play on a laptop and they don't have any connection. But, really, when you get right down to it, all Steamworks is doing for DRM is that initial check when you enter your serial... it's REALLY easy to go into offline mode after that.

As for cloud saving, as far as I know, it'll save a COPY of your save in the cloud, and if you're offline and it can't retrieve your save file, you can still use your local save.

SO, quit bitching, everyone! This isn't UBISOFT DRM people.

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Ravenlight

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Edited By Ravenlight

@Wuddel said:

Ok. Stupid question: So can I buy this on Amazon and then punch in a code in Steam to download it on multiple computers? No disc required?

I'm not 100% on this but I'm going to say "probably."

Can anyone confirm?

@Vigorousjammer:

Yeah, I never really understood the Steam haters.

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twigger89

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Edited By twigger89

@Wuddel said:

Ok. Stupid question: So can I buy this on Amazon and then punch in a code in Steam to download it on multiple computers? No disc required?

Yes you can, that is exactly how a steamworks game works.

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citizenkane

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Edited By citizenkane

I, for one, accept my new Bethesda overlords.
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Istas

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Edited By Istas

User authentication doesn't make my gaming experience better. It makes me resent needing to log into a third-party server just to install the game I already bought, and to wait for steam to start up before I play the game I should be able to play without steam, and to wait for steam to update before playing the game I already bought.

There are plenty of advantages to Steam, I recognize this. But any system where I can lose access to my games that I've validly purchased, for any reason -- and Steam enables this scenario, no matter how infrequent or unlikely, and it has happened to more than a few people -- is not a system I want to subject myself to.

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lando1

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Edited By lando1

@Istas: Can't you play Skyrim through Steam offline? I see no problem here.

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Zelyre

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Edited By Zelyre

@Wuddel said:

Ok. Stupid question: So can I buy this on Amazon and then punch in a code in Steam to download it on multiple computers? No disc required?

Doubly confirming. Any title that is Steamworks works this way. Dead Island and Saints Row 3 are games I bought cheap on Amazon that are Steamworks. Grab the product key, plug it in to Steam, and it is now in your Steam library.