Product Update - Planet Coaster is coming to Steam

[Vampiro]

I don't want to use steam because I've lost my game collection once when something similar like steam pulled the plug. Ever since I only buy discs but I decided to buy PC anyways. I'm really not happy with this. Come on, first they aren't even sure if steam will be a thing and now you MUST have it? That doesn't even make sense. How were they planning to put the share function in without steam? Or did they know this was happening all along? I don't know if I would've bought it if I had known this earlier. Please don't do this

It's sad what happened to you in the past but im pretty sure Steam won't be gone anytime soon. There is too much depending on it and they probably have contracts with certain games. I can't say you "have to like" Steam, because thats just an opinion. But don't be affraid you will lose your games, actually it's pretty safe. In the old days a scratch on a CD was a gamekiller.

(And with the Frontier installer it was the same problem, if Frontier would close down, you would not be able to download PC any longer.. so actually this is -safer- then the Frontier way probably)

 

[UniverseCoaster]

They are putting Steam workshop in the game, so everyone can share their parks and blueprints

 

[Tricky1]

It's sad what happened to you in the past but im pretty sure Steam won't be gone anytime soon. There is too much depending on it and they probably have contracts with certain games. I can't say you "have to like" Steam, because thats just an opinion. But don't be affraid you will lose your games, actually it's pretty safe. In the old days a scratch on a CD was a gamekiller.

(And with the Frontier installer it was the same problem, if Frontier would close down, you would not be able to download PC any longer.. so actually this is -safer- then the Frontier way probably)

They could've told us earlier that it was all or nothing with steam. They must have known this from the moment they started working on the sharing options for the game. That's something I'm most disappointed about.

 

[Zerobyte]

Can I continue to play without using Steam?

No, Planet Coaster Alpha 3 will build on Steam Workshop features and so requires access to Steam to play. You will not be able to use the Frontier Launchpad to play Planet Coaster from Alpha 3 onwards.


Can I get a refund, as I don't want to use Steam?
If you do not want to play Planet Coaster through Steam and have already bought Planet Coaster, please contact our customer support team by hitting 'Contact Us' at the top of this page to assist you further.

https://support.frontier.co.uk/kb/faq.php?id=333

 

[Tricky1]

They are putting Steam workshop in the game, so everyone can share their parks and blueprints

Without steam they would've made their own way to share.

 

[Periocus]

They are putting Steam workshop in the game, so everyone can share their parks and blueprints

RCT3 Players are sharing things without Steam for years now. Parkitect and RCT3 still do without Steam.
I am bookmarking this thread when we start discussing DLC again.

 

[Preston1]

Without steam they would've made their own way to share.

So let me get this straight? You are worried to use steam because you are afraid a company with thousands of games being hosted and millions of users will somehow randomly shut down and not let you play the game.... yet you think an inde game company like Frontier hosting all this content would be more stable 10-15 years down the line hosting the game's content online?

It sucks that you bought a game from an online distributer in the past that shut down, but i've had steam for many many years and it's only grown and their income is from a percentage of game purchases and licensing for their workshop... so I don't think there is a fear of it ever shutting down anytime in the foreseeable future since they don't really take the risk of investing in games...just distributing them on a platform that cost them very little to set up for each game.

Obviously it's your choice to use steam (for free) or not, but let's not pretend the risk of the game disappearing is somehow greater on one of the largest game distribution services around, then it would be standalone with Frontier. The main reason they are probably doing this is the lack of servers and infrastructure needed to host this content which Steam currently has and is reliable.

I swear... people will find any reason to complain, even if it's pretty awesome news like this.

 

[EmSay]

This is Great news in fact... See the wonderful job Cities Skylines did with the steamworkshop. I've never seen a game with so much extented content in it. I bought it because of this in fact. [haha] wonderful

 

[AH_ImADot]

The best solution would be to require Steam only for sharing content. There should be no reason to require Steam if you just want to play.

 

[Mixer114]

So let me get this straight? You are worried to use steam because you are afraid a company with thousands of games being hosted and millions of users will somehow randomly shut down and not let you play the game.... yet you think an inde game company like Frontier hosting all this content would be more stable 10-15 years down the line hosting the game's content online?

It sucks that you bought a game from an online distributer in the past that shut down, but i've had steam for many many years and it's only grown and their income is from a percentage of game purchases and licensing for their workshop... so I don't think there is a fear of it ever shutting down anytime in the foreseeable future since they don't really take the risk of investing in games...just distributing them on a platform that cost them very little to set up for each game.

Obviously it's your choice to use steam (for free) or not, but let's not pretend the risk of the game disappearing is somehow greater on one of the largest game distribution services around, then it would be standalone with Frontier. The main reason they are probably doing this is the lack of servers and infrastructure needed to host this content which Steam currently has and is reliable.

I swear... people will find any reason to complain, even if it's pretty awesome news like this.

Thumbs Up To That [up][up]

The Good thing about my steam games is all my games are backed up and also if there is a update it is automatic with out having to go serching for updates

 

[Preston1]

I pointed out my reasons many times now. Steam and Frontier are seperate companies for me. So your points are not valid for me.

As for your second part. I hope you will always stay on the sunny side of life. Maybe if you had to wish PC as a present or work hard to preorder it you might have another view on things.

Why are my points not valid, i've read all your previous replies and I don't see where you concerns haven't been addressed with my reply. You act as if you can't play the game fully without a full account with Steam, but you can. You can literally pay the full game and even download custom content. The ONLY thing you can't do it seems as of yet, will be uploading your custom stuff to the store. This will involve $5 worth of steam purchases and possibly not if frontier works out a deal (but that $5 will likely get added onto the cost of the game somewhere since it's about licensing and use of Steam).

People getting this a present or working hard for it can still play the full game and even download new content... so your argument is extremely petty since we are apparently talking about people who can't make $5 within a week to access the full account, so having a computer and a full game will likely blow their minds... those people won't be caring as much about the ability to upload random stuff to random people.

As for you sunny side of life comment... I have $5 so i was granted access to the sunny side. The people creating shade are the ones complaining about trivial things that don't really matter such as one small feature that 95% of users won't even care to try, but most will have access to since most people have a steam game already, or are willing to invest in another small game to reach that $5.

Honestly this is only going to be an issue for pre-sale customers since most people will be buying the game when it's on steam, which will instantly put them into full user mode. So this argument is about people who could afford a $60 alpha... and now how 4 months to plan on how they will get $5... i'm anxious to see how they will accomplish this.

 

[Casiquire]

I pointed out my reasons many times now.

Really, the only reasons I've seen are these:

Only three things which worries me a bit about Steam:
1. Too much power in one hand.
2. Seems, when i look at RCTW, if a blueprint/ UGC is pulled from the workshop it is gone.
Correct me please if i am wrong there.
3. I cannot review there, because i haven't bought something at Steam yet. All my keys come from outside. (Either game was bought in store with DVD or i got it because it was implemented into Steam)

And all of them aren't really that valid. What can Steam do with all their power? And you don't lose your blueprints if they get pulled, they're downloaded to your computer. The third reason to dislike the Steam move is that you won't be able to review the game on Steam...

...which you already can't do anyway.


Then there's the complaint of Steam going belly-up and leaving everybody stuck without their games. Well that's not really how it works. All the games I have on Steam are downloaded as "desktop" apps. Also there's the great point that Steam is much bigger than Frontier...if you're that convinced that Frontier is the more stable company though, then surely they'll have a backup plan for their customers if something happens with Steam.

The only valid complaint is that you won't be able to upload custom content, but most people who create custom content are avid PC gamers, and most avid PC gamers have a full account with Steam. I haven't really seen a good reason to be against the move.

 

[Periocus]

Why are my points not valid, i've read all your previous replies and I don't see where you concerns haven't been addressed with my reply. You act as if you can't play the game fully without a full account with Steam, but you can. You can literally pay the full game and even download custom content. The ONLY thing you can't do it seems as of yet, will be uploading your custom stuff to the store. This will involve $5 worth of steam purchases and possibly not if frontier works out a deal (but that $5 will likely get added onto the cost of the game somewhere since it's about licensing and use of Steam).

People getting this a present or working hard for it can still play the full game and even download new content... so your argument is extremely petty since we are apparently talking about people who can't make $5 within a week to access the full account, so having a computer and a full game will likely blow their minds... those people won't be caring as much about the ability to upload random stuff to random people.

As for you sunny side of life comment... I have $5 so i was granted access to the sunny side. The people creating shade are the ones complaining about trivial things that don't really matter such as one small feature that 95% of users won't even care to try, but most will have access to since most people have a steam game already, or are willing to invest in another small game to reach that $5.

Honestly this only matter for pre-sale customers since most people will be buying the game when it's on steam, which will instantly put them into full user mode. So this is for people who could afford a $60 alpha.

Well. I just decided that i get bored to write it again, again and again.
I will just shut up.

Most in this thread are happy with it and i have not sense of mission. I made my point and thats it.

 

[Kenneth1]

Without steam they would've made their own way to share.

Yep, and what happens when Frontier eventually pulls the plug to their own workshop and launcher? Steam is way more reliable

 

[SplashMountain]

This is great news, and I think the best way forward for this game. As with everything in life, some will love it, some will hate it, you cannot please everyone. We have yet to see what happens with this, and the issues outlined might not ever be issues if Frontier can work something out.

I honestly don't get all the worry or panic, but I think people will eventually realise that this is a good thing once they get used to it. I would imagine the vast majority of us are pleased with this, and it was certainly a nice surprise to get the email. Exciting times ahead!

 

[Vampiro]

Exciting times ahead!

thats for sure!!

I can't wait for the livestreams to see all the new stuff that is added in Alpha3?

 

[JMR]

Im pretty sure UGC was already a confirmed feature for after release

"Jonny Watts :
So, as we've already said; on the Q&A that John Laws did. Is that, we are interested in doing UGC the way you've said it; but it's not for release.

What I can tell you is that the game has been designed from the ground up to be ready for when we're ready to do that; or the way we load things into the game has all been designed to do that.
But for release, we really wanted to concentrate on doing what we call 'UGC in the box'
Which is slightly different. It's to give people ultimate creativity to a very fine level of granularity in the game.

So it's two stages. So to start off with, we want to give you the tools and all the things that our imagineers have made; which I think are incredibly beautiful.
And then once people have got tired of that, then we will start allowing people to model it in Maya or Max or whatever 3D Package they want.

But that's just a little bit later on after release."

Thanks for this Vampiro.

I'm curious if this move to Steam will mean that we will get custom scenery support prior to release.

 

[SplashMountain]

thats for sure!!

I can't wait for the livestreams to see all the new stuff that is added in Alpha3?

Same here. I really hope it starts next week as my head is nearly exploding with the excitement [happy]

 

[Wessy]

The best solution would be to require Steam only for sharing content. There should be no reason to require Steam if you just want to play.

I don't understand, what problem you have with steam. Is it just, that you don't want to create an account?
In today's "internet world" you have to create accounts for various things almost on a daily basis, so one more shouldn't be a huge problem...

This really is a Win Win situation:
We are now able to use a more centralized platform with all its advantages (Cloud saves, easy updates, easy sharing of content, integrated community functionality, etc...)
Frontier does not have to reinvent the wheel with an all new content sharing platform and can redirect the otherwise lost resources to improve the actual game. They don't have to buy and operate their own servers which also saves money and provides stability to the players.
And most importantly, Frontier gets immediate access to a huge player base with literally millions of players. This will result in a great increase in sales and will make it more likely for Frontier to support the game for a long time after the initial Release.

Sure, for you it may be a new platform and an unwelcome change, but in the end, the pros will greatly outweigh the cons.
And if you really want to pass on this great game, just because of Steam, you can still contact Frontier support and ask for a refund. (Which would be a huge waste IMO)

 

[robertwallace]

Yes early bird members will be able to play the game all the way until released.

That is what I originally believed, but the FD post (and email) has confused me a little.

Finally, we wanted to let you know that we are going to be closing Alpha to new players on 25 August. Current Alpha players or those who upgrade or order before that date will continue to be able to play the Alpha until just before Beta (dates to be announced in due course), and we will continue to support the Alpha until that time.

[Bolding is mine.]

In fact, it made me think that the beta would be closed or and additional cost - silly me, right?

Robert