As a general rule I will always buy from GOG first and Steam second. I do my best to avoid buying directly from Origin, Uplay etc.

I have noticed that EA games generally go on sale on Steam and I can currently buy Crysis 3 and Titanfall 2 on offer. I do already own these games on Origin though. Has anyone here bought games they already own on Origin, Uplay etc purely for the benefit of having everything in their steam library?

Part of me thinks its a total waste of money but the other part of me is thinking, sod it, its only a couple of £

Anyone in the same boat as me?

Not me, but then I don't use any of those DRM crapfests at all.

Buying a game a second time just to own it on another website seems entirely ridiculous to me, unless you're buying a somehow superior version. Even if it's just a few punds, you can do something better with them. Buy a used book or even a few (I don't know if it's like that still, but I remember buying great books for literally something like 50p in Oxfam stores and the like). Give it to charity. Save it up - a couple quid here, a couple there and before you know it it's enough to buy a whole new game. Anything, really.

But, of course, it's your money. You don't always have to spend it in a sensible way ;)

No. I have zero interest in owning items on Steam unless they've been given to me for free, or it's a humble bundle where I give no money to the developers, no money to humble and ALL the money to charity.

If I wanted to have everything in one programme/download manager, I'd just install GoG Galaxy.

However, I also have zero interest in running a client unless I am forced to, so won't be installing Galaxy either.

Even if you buy EA games on Steam they still need Origin so that is two layers of DRM right there, on top of that EA games on Steam are more expensive than on Origin so it is just a waste of money.

I used to buy games on Steam but then the service became a shit and their treatment to customers too, so I came to GOG and I'm very happy so far, I really like GOG Galaxy. Never bought anything on Origin or Uplay, nither on Epic, but I got several free games on there.

Buy something you are going to play. Really isn’t any point buying anything for any amount otherwise. Virtually everything is rental nowadays, so you effectively pay to play, therefore buying something you are not going to play, or already have access to is pointless and a waste of money.

I haven't bought anything that I owned elsewhere purely for the sake of acquiring an additional "subscription" to it on Steam. The only stuff I'll rebuy is the other way around (the GOG version for DRM'd games owned elsewhere purely for the offline installer / old game pre-tweaks). As for the "all my games in one place" thing, for me that's been the Windows Start Menu for 26 years. Simple, reliable and works with games that "digital" stores don't even sell. :-)

I personally don't see the point. You'll still need to use the other storefronts' launchers even if you start their games from Steam -- so you can't divorce yourself entirely from those platforms. And then you run into the mess of a launcher launching a launcher to launch your game -- which adds a stupid amount of extra overhead to your system.

If you just want to see all your games under one launcher, GOG Galaxy and Steam both let you link external games. Or there are several really good light-weight and highly-customizable third-party launchers like Playnite (https://playnite.link).

The only times I repurchase games on a different store are when an old favorite appears on GOG, so that I can get a DRM-free installer. And even then, it's not every game. Just the ones where I'm surprised how much I enjoyed them and want to make sure I can keep playing them in the future.

I think "All my games in one place on Steam" is a pretty common attitude since it's so convenient and convenience is probably what most people want.

Some people will re-buy their Steam games here on GOG (if the GOG game goes on sale, like a deep release discount) for the installers.

Steam, Origin, uPlay and any other DRM platforms are on the same level to me. Was really confused why EA listing their games on Steam was talked about like it was a big deal, because basically nothing changed.

As for me, I still won't spend a penny to buy a game directly through any DRM platform.

Portal and portal 2 are on steam and drm free.

Portal 1 and Half Life 1-2 are DRM-Free, but Portal 2 unfortunately still uses Steam's CEG DRM.

We'll never get every game we want on one service. So much exclusive-ness, games launch later on other services, or whatever - and it's a losing battle. Especially for someone like myself who just...can't stop buying games from...wherever.

I've bought games I've owned elsewhere for various reasons, sure - namely if I get it cheap; the other version's better or more moddable; I don't really like a certain services and want to get a game away from it; DRM-FREE version is on GOG; etc etc.

For EA games on Steam - depends on if anything is changed in the new Steam version; and/or if Origin's a requirement on Steam-version.

If I own these on Origin already and say I want a Steam-version - I don't want Origin required there. I really do not want to deal w/ a double-DRM whammy of Origin-client and Steam-client, so...I likely won't but these on Steam.

For example, I have DAO Ultimate on Steam b/c I was missing a lot of DLC's - so, I did take the key and add it eventually to Origin. But, I was fine w/ DAO Ultimate on Steam b/c Origin is NOT a required app there.

Basically, I do install games very specifically.

I have a folder called C:\GameServices\[Insert game service name].

So, I have folders that kind of look similar to something like this:
C:\GameServices\GOG
C:\GameServices\Steam
C:\GameServices\Retail
C:\GameServices\UPlay
C:\GameServices\EA Origin
C:\GameServices\BattleNet
C:\GameServices\EpicGameStore.
C:\GameServices\Humble
C:\GameServices\IndieGala
C:\GameServices\ItchIo
C:\GameServices\RockStarSocialClub
C:\GameServices\BethesdaNet

I'm sure there's more for services and all since PC has like 4000 of them, but...you get the drift.

For multiple drives - same set-up for other drives too. Just change the drive letter.

Well, you get the drift. So all the services and their games go in those appropriate folders, according to what service they belong with. I've always thrown lots of shortcuts to the desktop for games and stuck folder-shortcuts on the desktop, which have most games split-up via their service.

Portal and many others are classed as a kind of DRM-Free, but it ain't the normal easy DRM-Free, they require work etc, and you miss out on some things.

First off, you need to install a game like Portal using the Steam Client.
Then you may have to make a little tweak to execute the game without a Client check.
Then you need to backup the folder to make it truly DRM-Free, and save that some place for later re-use.
If you don't also compress the folder, then it will take up a lot more storage space, than a proper installer version would.
Without being compressed, the files take longer to copy to, though of course, compressing costs time too ... and your AV program can hold up the show, especially with some file types ... unless you create a folder exception in AV settings.
Then there is the re-use issue, where if you didn't compress and add an installer routine (i.e. zip extractor), then you are copying or extracting to a folder on some computer.
Without an installer, you don't get validation checks, so if an error occurred with backup, you won't know about it until too late maybe.

I'm also not sure, if Steam will do a slightly different install for Windows 7 compared to Windows 10, so it may be possible you won't have all files.

Then there is updates.
You'd have to keep the game installed and update via Steam, then go through the whole backup process for that folder again.
And I have heard reports of a previously DRM-Free game being changed to DRM with an update.

So overall, a DRM-Free game from the likes of a DRM store like Steam, ain't no great option, though still light-years better than DRM.