Hello I can not seem to find any information on where I can buy or pre order the non Steam PC game.

I asked my local stores (fry's and Best Buy even Gamestop) and no one seems to have any PC requirements listed yet.

Bethesda would not be so stupid as to only release the game on Steam so any info?

Thanks.

While there will be physical copies you can purchase, Steam activation is pretty much a sure thing.

Even the disc versions of their games are Steam only now.

It will be on Steam. It's not stupid but makes sense when you already have enough things to deal with without needing to add extra places for patches and DLC. Steam does simplify that for them.

no if Bethesda was smart they would turn there new Bethesda thing into another closed shop like origins, then sell the creation kit, put a restrictive tos that compelled all mods be posted on the new Bethesda storefront for them to sell....oh don't worry the mod creators will get a cut.....and Beth will even cut you a check every now and then.....once you verify that you are a legal advlt and will not sue them for minimum wage because you are not an employee of Bethesda....

I'm 100% sure Steam is required.

Steam is the least inconvenient DRM solution out there and I take it over any other solution. Even old school disc check is far worse than Steam. Sure, DRM free would the best solution but we are not living in a utopia where companies can give the finger to the suits in order to please the customers, like CD Project Red does.

You may think that, but just go look at gog.com lately they released a lot of AAA video games for sale this year and got 4 AAA video game publishing companies to release their video games for sale on gog.com since last year and 2 PC exclusive in one way or another AAA video game publishing companies to release their video games for sale on gog.com this year.

Konami and Microsoft are also going to be coming to gog.com soon to sell their video games.

Someone got a screenshot grab of a bug in the filter just last week of it.

After about 3 years of not releasing video games, Ubisoft released 3 video games that they developed in the 1990's on gog.com this week.

Like they did with Skyrim and New Vegas? Yes, clearly, they'd never do that.

Judging by how quickly they jumped into bed with Valve on the whole Skyrim paid mods fiasco, it's a fair bet that Steam will be required again.

I don't dislike Steam as much as some people do, but I'm not altogether crazy about it either. All in all, as far as DRM is concerned, it could be alot worse. Count your blessings that Beth hasn't gone the way of other gaming companies with their DRM.

I never said the PC version of Fallout 4 will not require Steam did I? I was responding to Kirrotu that gog.com last year and this year got a lot of AAA video game publishing companies.

It's not a fight, don't turn it into one, okay?

It's gotten pretty hard to avoid Steam . Many games come bundled with the software; if you want the game, you have to accept Steam, too. It's like having a smokin' hot girlfriend with webbed toes.

To ask this question in another way, if you buy a physical disk can you bypass the drm? No. Not legally.

Heck, when half life first released as steam only I was fairly pissed. I didn't like having to login* to play my games, or downloading bloatware onto my pc. However, steam is fairly unobtrusive, and they do offer some ease of use. CD gets scratched? No problem, game has a new patch? No problem, steam can find and install the latest** one for you!

*Yes, I know of the offline feature, I also know it turns itself off at the damnedest of times, to the point I don't bother anymore.

**The latest patch thing really does annoy the hell out of me in games like fallout. If you have played any previous installments, you know that sometimes the most current patch is a bug ridden piece of garbage.

Exactly.

Would I prefer DRM free? Absolutely. But like I said, we're not living in a utopia. We need to be realists here. Vast majority of developers&publisher will be using some DRM solution and in that regard Steam is definitely the least inconvenient one.

Also digital distribution platforms like Steam also bring loads of benefits, some mentioned by Mavkiel above.

Most SP games you don't even need steam to be running to play like fo3 & nv.

What would you say if ZeniMax Media Inc. and Bethesda Softworks joined gog.com before 2015 ends or before 2016 ends? And released The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind for sale on gog.com to test and see how many sales they get?

After all ZeniMax Media Inc., Bethesda Softworks, and Arkane Studios are still selling Arx Fatalis on gog.com to this day today still. Arx Fatalis was never removed from sale from gog.com like the 3 old Fallout video games were.

New Vegas is a Steamworks game and does require Steam running to work.

Would be nice. But like I said, we have to be realists here.

Origin is awful, I get even EA games on Steam if I can. Bethesda would hurt themselves for no good reason if they did something stupid like that.

Hah...Bethesda doing it's own closed shop, for a fraction of the games. Well worth the venture.

...

That was sarcasm.

I'm assuming that's some sort of attempt at sarcasm, but if it isn't then I'm not sure 'smart' means what you seem to think it does.

Those could be useful to some people.

NV requires Steam always has. Similar to FO3 at one time needing GFWL

99.9% sure it'll require Steam activation. Valve and Bethesda have a history of being pretty friendly.

I use Steam all the time anyway so it doesn't effect me, but I do think it's dumb that you need Steam for a physical copy.

True, but at least with GFWL, you could always disable it if you so chose, the same can't be said for Steam. That said, I'd still rather have Steam, even if I'm not altogether crazy about it.

Yes, remember the FO3 DLC GFWL rollouts funny now not so much back then, but I can live with Steam as it does seem to be the best available option.

Edit - thanks for the NIN linky haven't heard that in a long time