I imagine that the physical copies will require Steam, but it would be nice to know for sure.

This

Given how closely both Bethesda and Valve must have worked together to get the Workshop running as well as the recent flirtation with the paid mods system, I can't see them dropping Steam any time soon and certainly not for Fallout 4.

It's an internet game forum. Leaping (off cliffs) to conclusions is what they do here!

Pretty sure they will use steam, how else can they attempt paid mod shennanigans in the future?

I want to hear a "No" from Mr. Howard. Time to cut the cord off of Gaben's leeching.

Isn't that making it sound worse than it is?

They do offer a service, and cloud saves etc. etc. And Bethesda agreed to it so it can't be all bad for their business. (from what I've heard Valve takes like 30% of the money). You can argue that it might be a bit much, but they do offer a service, that the publisher wants (obviously). So I wouldn't call it leeching.

Just like retailers getting a small portion of the money made from new games they sell isn't leeching. Granted Valve takes a bigger piece than retailers from what I know. But with steam you also save the costs of making the physical copies, granted the physical copies use steam as well, which is just straight up DRM really.

But yeah, it's not leeching, unless we want to call out Microsoft and Sony while we're at it, cause as far as I know they take a portion of the money when someone buys a game for their console. And from what I know developers also need to pay in order to add patches for their games, or at least they used to. It seems like it might be changing though (paying for patching is one of the reasons why Paradox didn't publish games on consoles).

By Leeching, it's more of Valve integrating itself into Bethesda. It may have served a purpose at one time as just a server client and distributor, but it has appeared to become a lot more as of late, often integrating itself directly into the marketing of the titles.

The Paid Mods on Steam is just one example, but also the Forced integration of the Steam Service on to a Physical copy of a Game is a little too extreme just for the sake of DRM.

If anything, Valve is holding Bethesda back from taking over as the Publisher/Developer we know they're capable of being. I think Valve Needs Bethesda more than Bethesda needs Valve. As for Sony/Micro$oft, They aren't inching themselves further into Bethesda with each passing title.

Into the marketing? Besides the Skyrim hat for tf2 I can't really think of too much. Paid mods was something Bethesda agreed to, and that they were probably speculating about together, I wouldn't only point fingers at valve for that. And I'm pretty sure Bethesda or maybe ZeniMax, either way, pretty sure it's the publisher that wants DRM. And to be fair, Steam is one of the better ones, except their customer support, which needs some major improvements (refunds is a step in the right direction though)

How are they holding them back? Do they hold the children of the bethesda employees hostage and demanding stuff? Bethesda chose to be on steam. Valve didn't force bethesda to use steam. Who needs who isn't really an issue, but sure yeah. Yeah Sony and Microsoft haven't done anything, it's not like Microsoft have made sure that for the past few games all the DLC has been timed exclusives or anything... oh wait.

It's ok to not like steam, but you make it sound like Valve is some sort of slavemaster, that keeps the industry down. And that's taking it too far.

In any other circumstance, I would have preordered it from Steam because I'm sick of the shenanigans from retail storefronts. If there was no Pip-Boy and added stuff, I wouldn't even be here discussing this. However, if they don't want to have Steam on the physical edition, have at, and I'll take my money elsewhere. I'm with Emberoth on his statement, Steam isn't out there doing anything too crazy and people really need to tone the hate down a little. While I admit, I wasn't a fan of the paid mods thing, it's just one issue amongst a grand spectrum of things. I'm in no mood to pull the plug and suddenly go back to supporting Gamestop. (Their gutting practices make me cringe.) The whole reason I'm asking is for a straight answer from one of Bethesda's staff. This will make all of us more informed about our purchases.

An official word by Behtesda would be much, much appreciated, thanks. I need to know If I have to cancel my Pip-boy Edition Preorder. Honestly all the "intellectual" discussions on this topic don't interest me, so I'll leave them to you guys.My point is that Steam is a requirement only if the developers/publishers/Investors/whatever want it to be that, a game can use Steam as an option, or don't use Steam as an option depending on you point of view and still EVERYBODY can be happy.If mods are OK with it I'll Keep bumping up this thread every week until an official word is given.

I want all available copies of the game to be activated at Steam. This means that I could get a physical copy to pride my shelf and still enjoy the perks and ease of having it at Steam.

I'll wager a guess that removing Steam integration from physical copies would discourage more buyers than it would encourage unless Bethesda allowed us to still redeem the key on Steam if we wanted to. Most people actually like Steam and the features it offers.

The reality is that it's far too early for this discussion, but it is likely to be released on steam, as was the case with most of their previous games.

the question is: Am I going to be able to run the game OFFLINE?(except for activation)

You can run Steam in offline mode, so yes.

It麓s forced upon PC gamers. It should be optional. That麓s it, really

What other DRM-solution would you prefer? No point saying DRM-free because in the west that idea is always out of the question, moneymen won't allow it.

All other solutions are worse than Steam.

From what I get Bethesda.net seems to be a re-working of the forums and the website as well as a way for people on console to get mods from modders who upload to certain services like steam workshop and hopefully the Nexus.

Well, if I can麓t buy another game without it then I won麓t buy another game. I don麓t joke, btw. I can play the games I have forever. For example, I still play Chip麓s Challenge and Star Wars: Rebellion

I have only ever gotten new games when someone has given it to me or I麓ve seen my favourite LPer play it, as with Fallout 3. I have never actively gotten out to buy games just to have something new. I don麓t need that

Then you will be missing pretty much all games. With the exception of CD Project Red, all devs/publishers use some form of DRM, whether it's Steam or similar platform, SecuROM, etc. Even the old school disc check is a DRM.

All other options are worse than Steam.

To answer the OP - If you go to Green Man Gaming the Fallout 4 page reads

"Third party DRM: Steam"

"This game requires a free Steam account to play."

All the new ones, yes. I麓m ok with that. I rather play the games I already know and love

Plus, my piggy bank thanks me

Yeah, steam is probably the best one. Then again, I haven't tried Origin in a while, I recently got the ME trilogy there so I'll probably be trying it soon.

uPlay is junk... yeah as far as I know Steam is the better option.

Obviously a GoG version of the game would be [censored] awesome, but yeah as you say that option isn't even considered by most developers and publishers.

Origin in the end isn't that bad, it's almost decent as Steam.