We already talked a bit about this in the Fallout 4 thread, but details were very limited so the conversation consisted mostly of assumptions. Now details are still scarce, however Bethesda have revealed some more info regarding this new project of theirs. For now and the next few months it looks like it is going to resemble Blizzard's Battle.net or Electronic Arts' Battlelog for their Battlefield game series. Nevertheless, they are not telling us the full story yet and judging by the they've worded their public plans and how vague it all is, it is probable (though not certain) that Bethesda.net may in the future turn into an "online platform" or "game client" such as Origin, Uplay or Steam. In any case, it's more than likely that they are considering this. Source: http://bethesda.net/#en/events/article/what-is-bethesdanet/2015/07/13/5 If that will be the case and if Bethesda.net is going to be mandatory, then I may stop buying their products altogether. Steam has me hooked simply due to the fact that most of my currently-installed games are connected to it and cannot be launched without it, GOG Galaxy has me intrigued since I want to (but don't have to) use it for W3 and I'm looking forward to it potentially becoming a more player-friendly alternative to Steam that may be better in every way, but I'm finding myself playing less and less EA and Ubisoft titles due to the need for launching Origin and Uplay respectively. Unlike Steam (which has the benefit of being the oldest client with most social options and the largest catalogue of titles) or GOG Galaxy (which offers the most extra features with each game at no additional cost and is the only one of the lot with enough courtesy to not force any DRM down my throat), Origin and Uplay are basically failed Steam-clones with fewer games, less features and a more intrusive character. To me it sounds as though Bethesda.net is on its way to becoming another such failure. What does everyone else think?
I wouldn't mind using Bethesda.net if it's a one-time product activation software, but if I have to be constantly connected to its servers, in order to play a game produced by the company itself, then I'm out. Though, I'm not even attracted to Bethesda products anymore. When Fallout 3 first came out, that was my first Bethesda title that I had played. I was a bit disapointed with it. Then New Vegas. Then Bethesda bought -or has at least teamed up with id software- and released Rage; which wasn't all that good either. The only titles left that I feel like trying, but wouldn't feel left out if I didn't, are Wolfenstein: The New Order, Fallout 4, and Doom. I've been a fan of Wolfenstein for a long time, and The New Order looks like a good game. And you even left a quite convincing review over the game, Bamul; so I look forward to playing it . Fallout 4....kind of ehhh but I'll probably still buy it. Doom....ehh. I just really hate Bethesda. I don't know if you guys are familiar with a super franchise, mercantile, superstore called Walmart (I know anyone in the U.S. should know what this is). If you don't know, it's this giant business that takes over all the little local stores and knocks them down to build its superstore. It sucks and I hate it. That's how I see Bethesda. They're taking over all the independent, hard-working game companies and turning their ideas and creations into something that results into a disposable product for the "new generation of gaming." I too have the feeling that Bethesda.net will crumble; but it'll probably continue to stick around, even though everyone will probably grow to hate it, just to pretend (as if the idea wasn't crappy enough) as if it was a good design to implement.
I'm not quite ready to pull out the pitchfork just yet. There are already plenty of other games that have had dedicated sites to things like content sharing and community hubs (Bungie.net used to host downloads and whatnot for Halo maps, forums, etc.), and while Bethesda clearly wants a bigger piece of a the pie what with their attempts at paid modding (which I just simply don't think they have the right attitude to reasonably profit off of, even if they've been decently transparent about it since it blew up), and Fallout 4 would be a good trump card to force everybody onto their new system, I don't think Bethesda is really dumb enough. I mean for one, while Bethesda is a publisher, they're not one anywhere near the size of Ubisoft or EA. Ubisoft published 15 games last year, EA 12, Bethesda 3. Zero the year before that. Not to mention that with Fallout 4 already up for preorder on Steam, and what with them clearly having a close relationship with Valve when they both rolled out the paid mods for Skyrim through Steam, Fallout 4 is clearly set to release on Steam. Even if it forced you to download another client to launch the game, Valve would be most likely still taking their cut regardless. While companies like Ubisoft at least get free advertising for their products by forcing Steam purchases to still launch through Uplay, in addition to the unified social services, Bethesda has neither the library of exclusive titles to peddle nor the social services to unify. While it's still possible for them to backpedal and suddenly make FO4 a B.net exclusive, they've shown more reasons to believe otherwise. There are just plenty of reasons for them to not want to do this. Maybe if Doom and ESO already made extensive use of such a unified client and had been out for longer, then maybe they could justify it; but it would just piss off a lot of people in the process in its current state, and Bethesda definitely seems like a company that generally likes to have maintain some kind of solid public image.
Steam has always been a loyal and faithful program to me, I've used it for so long, and never had any significant problems with it. Sure, there's the DRM, but that actually doesn't bother me in any possible way. Origin and Uplay on the other hand.... Like Potarto said, Bethesda is nowhere near Ubisoft or EA. They did well with Skyrim and other games, so I just have this feeling that if they launch their own platform, it's going to be decent. But never the less, just like Origin and Uplay, it's just gonna be yet another platform that I don't need and don't want because it can never beat Steam, so I really don't see the reason why.
