Just purchased Europa Universalis IV Gold Edition - Very Angry

[Susana]

Hi,

I'm sorry to hear that you are dissapointed. We've taken steps to make the Steam installation clearer on our boxes/our own product pages/the retail product pages but I am sure we can always do better and follow up more. If you can confirm where you purchased your copy we can look into this particular case.

Kind regards
Susana

:angry: Having just received the game after waiting weeks for it to be released, I find out that I have to have Steam installed to make the game work. WHY! Of course there is nothing in the PC system requirements which I read when I made the decision to buy the game in the first place. O course there should be as you cannot install the game without it. I cannot send the game back as I have unwrapped it and put the disc into the DVD drive, only then as I try to install it I find out it needs Steam. I then read the back of the box under NOTICE, which tells you about Steam - WHAT USE IS THAT! Of course there is nothing re steam on this site either re this if you want to buy the game which is totally misleading to your customers. I think I will pass this onto the Advertising Standards Agency and see what they have to say. I have had to use Steam in the past for Civilization V and Empire Total War. I have removed Steam rather than play these games as it downloads rubbish and needs updating every 5 minutes. I have lost saved games as I wanted to remain offline and it keeps wanting to update and refused to work unless I updated it. I cannot stand steam. It make me mad. Now I have the same problem, why cannot you be honest with your customers and tell them you need steam for the game to work? One very, very p*ssed off customer.

 

[BjornB]

Steam is, as stated by others, needed when installing and updating the game. The rest of the time it's fine to play without it. You will not be able to play Ironman, Multiplayer or save in the cloud however.

We are sorry if anyone feels cheated. As Susana said, we've made a conscious effort to make this dependency as clear as possible. But obviously there can still be improvements in some channels.

 

[BjornB]

Here's a related question, if you don't mind:

In a local shop in Germany, I just came across "Victoria II World Edition". The box said that it included the base game (of which I already have the steam-free version) as well as the two expansions. It also said that the game required an internet connection for multiplayer. The shop assistant agreed that this implies that the game can be installed and played alone without an internet connection, but felt unable to confirm it. With this thread in mind, I refrained from buying the game.

Still, Victoria II and its expansions predating EUIV quite a bit, I see a chance that the implication might actually be correct. Can anyone please confirm whether or not this particular version can be installed and played (single-player) without Steam? (I realise that the opening poster's point about the non-disclosure of the Steam requirement in some online shop has been widely accepted and that there's no point in beating a dead horse. However, my related inquiry does not seem to warrant its own thread.)

Sorry for the late reply. Victoria II purchased as a physical copy should not require Steam. It should be the same version that is sold at, for example, Gamersgate. Victoria is the last game where we have 2 different versions for non-steam and steam. Since Koch says it requires Steam I don't dare to say it doesn't. But it shouldn't and chances are good they are actually wrong this time.

(CK2 was also released in this way, but we discontinued support for the non-Steam version. Vic 2 non-steam is still as valid as the Steam version however)

And as conclusion I will point out, for about the hundredth time, that we don't use Steam as a DRM. It's simply the most effective distribution method at the moment. All our games can be started and played in SP without Steam. The current EU4 AI dependency was a mistake that is about to be patched away.

 

[BjornB]

Okay, I spoke to our Sales department and it seems that particular Vic 2 bundle may be made from the Steam version. So I might be wrong above.

 

[Darkrenown]

Alternatively, you can just run the game directly from the install folder. It works fine for me.

Really? Playing EU IV without Steam usually results in a non-working AI. Non-working meaning that the AI does not build troops.. I don't remember in which patch this 'feature' (some say it's a bug) was introduced though.

Even with EU4's bug, you can still play EU4 from the install folder without Steam running. It's only if you remove Steam from your PC that the bug kicks in.

 

[Darkrenown]

I have not personally checked it, but that's what I was told. Kinda moot now as 1.8 comes out today and should remove the problem anyway.

 

[BjornB]

I feel this discussion can be considered over.