Dear Bethesda,

will be Steam necessary to play Fallout 4? I mean, if I buy a box, will still need Steam to activate it or can I play completely without it?
Please, this is not a rant or in any way meant to be offensive to you, I just prefer the game without steam, I would like to know (any detail appreciated).

Thank you.

More than likely, considering the closer ties Bethesda has been making with Valve, Fallout 4 will require Steam.

But we don't know yet, we've had no official word, and you're unlikely to hear from anyone from Bethesda themselves here since this is primarily a community forum. Though you may get lucky and GStaff may drop in with an answer.

It will probably require Steam activation. I'm likely to get the game through Steam unless I hear about some irresistible bling that comes with a physical copy. I waited in line at Gamestop for the Skyrim midnight release because I wanted the map. But, buying it through Steam means I can have it pre-downloaded and actually start playing at midnight on the 10th, rather than having to get it at the store, drive home, install it and then start playing at two in the morning when I'm too tired to actually enjoy it.

Yeah, I am afraid you are right guys. I like digital distribution, but I had some problems with Steam DRM and overlay (not only Fallout games), so I would prefer my life without it. I would be ok, with some kind of activation, without running additional client beside the game itself. I guess we have to wait and see. I just thought that after the E3 announcement, they would give much more information.

Probably. Bethesda and Valve seem to have a pseudo partnership.

What kind issues have you had? Steam eats about zero of computer resources and generally is one of the least inconvenient platforms.

I take Steam over any other form of DRM.

And you can disable the overlay, I believe. I still keep it on if only for screenshots, but....

(Actually, given that I haven't been able to get regular screenshots working in a number of games, I've added them to Steam so I can use it's screenshot tool. Fallout 3, for instance, I run via FOSE.... but I'm running FOSE in Steam. )

I originally ordered Fallout 4 through Amazon to get a box, but when I saw their estimated 3 - 5 day delivery time.... even if they offered launch day delivery, I'd be skeptical (and it would cost almost as much as the game, in postage).... so I cancelled and went with a Steam purchase. My Fallout 3 runs without Steam but when I got the New Vegas GOTY edition through Steam, it requires me to run steam. A little irksome to have to launch Steam and THEN launch my Nexus Mod Manager which launches a 4GB Memory extender EXE which launches NVSE which then launches Fallout New Vegas....but, still, I notice no performance hit.

And I have to admit, being able to download all my STEAM games onto a new computer instead of finding the physical disks is preferable. I just shudder to think what would happen if STEAM / Valve for whatever reason ~stopped~. Then I have no physical backup.

I'm also not sure the game would run "through" Steam if I had no internet connection (for whatever reason). I know you can run games in Offline mode, but I never puzzled out whether the game would even START without at least handshaking with Steam. Having a single player game that I cannot play without going online is kind of irksome since, if I could not go online for whatever reason, it would be nice to be able to play a single player game that in and of itself, required no internet.

Random Q:.... why not just launch off the memory extender's alias? That's what I do with New Vegas...

(Kind of like, sure - I could run FOSE off a button in FOMM, but why? I don't need to run FOMM for any reason other than when I'm adjusting my mods. I haven't used NMM yet, though.... does it have some sort of functionality that requires it to be running parallel with FONV or Skyrim?)

edit: and running the NV memory extender version is basically the same as running FO3 with FOSE. Click it, there's a little empty window in the top corner of my screen for a couple seconds, then NV launches. Basically feels like "Run Steam. Run FNV4GB. Game happens!"

If you rename the memory extender's alias to match the original game executable (save a backup of the original exe of course), then everything works properly with Steam--tracking hours played, showing you as in-game, Steam overlay including fps counter, launching directly from Steam, etc.

Steam has been 100% required for beth games since the release of New Vegas in 2010.

Although getting a whole bunch of mods running with steam copies isnt really that hard. Ive had FOSE and memory extenders working with Fallout 3 on steam with no problems, it just took a bit of tweaking. New Vegas works even better with steam, I dont have to replace the launcher with anything NVSE-related, it's all steamworks.

This is kinda how I feel. I think Steam is the best thing to happen to PC gaming, its made gaming so much easier...Just what happens in the grim darkness of the distant future when Steam might be out of business? Will I lose access to all of my games?

I mean its a dark thought, but Steam is just such a good thing that I am able to push that in the back of my mind. If Steam was to turn sour and start bleeding money im sure i'd be figuring out some solution to get all of my most valued games off of it and on local storage. Hell, im sure if Steam knew it was going under that would be at the top of their list. Ive bought games years ago that have been removed for purchase from the Steam service, but I can still download them off their servers, and that fills me with hope for that doom scenario.

Anyone that had to deal with GfWL (Games for Windows Live) with the original Fallout 3 should be tickled pink to use Steam.....

Granted, functionally it boils down to starting steam and then starting the memory-extender and the game starts. I just always use NMM so I can see which mods I'm running at the moment (around 115 or so) and which ones I've turned off and might want to turn back on, etc etc.

The Steam achievements and time-tracking ARE handy, though. It shows Fallout 3 at like 13 hours (ha!) since I don't USE Steam to launch it any more, and the Skyrim counter is around 500 - 600 hours and I think New Vegas is around 200 or 300 hours. Really puts into perspective how long I've been playing, especially when I look at some FPS shooter game and see I finished it in 9 hours and have zero interest in playing again.

As for GFWL, seems like one of the things I installed was some work-around to DISABLE GFWL.... maybe it was for Fallout 3 or something. I know it was horrible, anyway.

Ah. I tend to leave a single mod install active for the life of a character (most I'd add is a new armor mod that I want to try), and I only play one character at a time, so I'm not changing mods very often.

I used to feel the same way about not wanting my games on steam, but then I realized how good steam is and I found the light. Steam is bae

I take absolutely no Digital Rights Management (DRM) copy protection client software on the physical boxed version of the PC version of Fallout 4.

If the PC version of Fallout 4 is 40GB, 50GB or even 50GB PC gamers with monthly bandwidth data caps can say goodby to Fallout 4. I know some people who have 100GB data caps a month, some have 200GB.

I have 300GB data caps and I have Comcast.

I prefer gog.com over Steam.

There won't be a gog.com version then?

ZeniMax Media Inc. and Bethesda Softworks have no deals with gog.com yet. At least from what we know.

Maybe they are working a deal with gog.com behind closed doors.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of large downloads. But that's why I buy the disc and install most of the data off that. The fact the disc install ties into Steam doesn't make a big difference after that.... any patches & DLC would be coming digitally regardless of online service used.

If Bethesda Game Studios is going to develop and sell expansion packs for Fallout 4, I really hope they sell physical boxed versions of the expansion packs.

CD Projekt RED is going to be doing this with the 2 expansion packs that they are developing for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, if I remember correctly they said they will not be selling the 2 expansion packs digital only, but also selling them in physical boxes to brick and mortar retailer stores world wide.

gog.com is nice for older games. Steam is better developed and a better community IMO

Gog.com is selling new video games including AAA video games as well, not just classic old video games.

It was like around 2013 they said to stop being called Good old Games, but just called GoG. Steam might have a lot of functions, but it's client and Steamworks are Digital Rights Management (DRM).

Right now gog.com is selling like 9 or 10 AAA video games and has a user base just about as big as Steam almos.

Judging by the way DLC were handled for New Vegas and Skyrim, I wouldn't hold out a lot of hope on that.