I’m not the kind of person who fears change. I’ll switch cell phone providers any time I can get a better deal, I’ll stop going to my favorite restaurant if a better one opens up, and I’ll even switch careers if this one doesn’t work out (don’t get excited, it’s going pretty well). I’ll drink Coke a﷽nd Pepsi. Change has never bothered me - in fact, I often welcome it.
That being said, I’ve never once considered ditching Steam for another platform. I&rsq🍬uo;ve been using Steam since I was 13 and I appreciate having all 477 of my games in one library. I haven’t always loved every decision Valve has made, and the sales have really lost their luster, but I’ve stuck with Steam all these years because of the fantastic selection of games, the cool features, and most importantly, because all my friends use it.
But I’ve been stuck in a dilemma for a while now, wondering if Steam should really be my default store. Between the growing library of free games on Epic Game Store and the incomparable selection on 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Game Pass, I’ve started to spend less and less ti🐷me on Steam. At this point, when a new game comes out, I’m not as sure as I used to be that I should buy it on Valve’s storefront.
This all came to a head with the release of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Back 4 Blood, a Game Pass game that offered early access to anyone who pre-ordered the Deluxe Edition. Eager to play, my friends and I debated where to buy it for a long time. At first it seemed like a simple choice: if we want to play it early, we should buy the deluxe version on Steam, but if we’re willing to wait until launch, we can just play it for &ld💖quo;free” on Game Pass. The more I thought about it, the more it became clear that there’s just no good reason to buy Back 4 Blood on Steam either way.
Suppose I wait and play Back 4 Blood on Game Pass and save myself $60. The risk is that someday Back 4 Blood gets removed from Game Pass or, God forbid, Game Pass shuts down, then I’ꦡll no longer have access. In that event, I could just buy Back 4 Blood on Steam or through the Xbox App and I’ll have lost nothing. In fact, the price will likely have come down by then.
Bu🌠t even if Back 4 Blood wasn’t on Game Pass at all, does it really make sense to buy it on Steam? Back 4 Blood has cross-play, so it doesn’t matter where my friends play it. It’s also a Play Anywhere title, so when I buy it on the Xbox App I can play it on my PC or my Xbox. I likely won’t play B4B on an Xbox because I’m a KB+M player, but at least the option is there. If I buy it on Steam, I can only play it on PC. With Steam, it feels like I’m paying the same price for fewer features. Whether I get the De🐼luxe Edition to play early or wait for Game Pass, it’s obvious that I’m playing it on the Xbox App either way.
The problem is, not every game on Game Pass or the Xbox App is in parity with the Steam version. I reviewed 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Lemnis Gate r💛ecently, and found that the cross-play options were extraordinarily limited. In those cases, it would be better to buy games on the same platform your friends play on, which is most likely Steam.
It may be too soon to turn my back on Steam entirely. The Xbox App has only a small fra𒁃ction of the games on Steam and cross-play isn&rsqജuo;t always an option. What’s more, the Steam Deck might completely change my tune next year and make me want to buy every game on Steam for the handheld option. That said, I’m open to buying games like Back 4 Blood on Xbox when it can offer me a better deal, and that’s something I never expected to happen after so many years dedicated to Steam. It’s nice to have all my games in one place, but it’s even nicer to Play Anywhere or play for free.