Yep, I mean that! I think they should offer at least online multiplayer and cloud saving free of charge in exchange for buying their expensive games and hardware, as how it has been for years,

Ms did try that and had to drop it later
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=19521


You dont have to worry about steam / gog charging for mp but greedy publishers and developers doing it.

Already many of the MMO require you to pay up to play online , soon games can have multiplayer / co-op access locked away in the form of DLC

Doesn't matter if either of them ever do since it will fail. The unceasingly enlarging backlash from YouTube alone would be enough to destroy the reputations of these services. Piracy would enter a new golden age.

You are an optimist.

If piracy has been mostly ineffective in anything it's multiplayer so that's not really a great argument

I see what you mean. I don't think everything that works for consoles does so for PC. All the consoles PS, XBox and Switch, etc, all have joint hardware / software companies (Sony, MS & Nintendo) that act as "platform gatekeepers". For years their whole model is based around games devs paying a fee to be on the platform / design because they control the console's hardware and OS. PC is different in that the hardware is open, the OS is separate from games and there's no single hardware/software company that owns the whole platform.

As for subscription fees for online MP in general, I think it's far more likely they'll start to do stuff like this:-
https://www.pcgamesn.com/ea-matchmaking-microtransactions-eomm-engagement-patent

^ Basically, make their money by every form of coercion possible to push more and more gamers towards micro-transactions and pay2win style mechanics. I hate to be negative, but honestly with all the MT's, lootboxes and half the "shaped match-making" patents like the above planned for future +2020 games, I think the golden-era is already over for online MP even without subscription fees.

I see what they mean now.

No, it is not very likely either Steam or gOg will adopt such a service, as they are mainly sellers for other people's. Each game participating in such a service would need a contract each, and it is doubtful that all the games on the services would want to have their games as part of a subscription with XXX amount of other games - where is the income? It would lead to a small logistic nightmare, that does not benefit either service.

However, EA Origin, as they for the most part sell own and partners games, are currently experimenting with just such a service. I do not think this is a bad ting at all, and it gives people more options.

Microsoft tried doing that at one point with Games for Windows Live. But it failed spectacularly, taking the whole service down with it.

I don't think the PC market is to attached to that kind of service being free of charge and introducing some kind of subscription for multiplayer access would not end well.

Prediction the future is always very difficult and error prone, but I'd: "Yes they might charge users, why not.".

The idea doesn't sound too absurd not to have a certain probability to become true. I have definitely heard stranger things in my life.

Probably on Netflix

GOG won't be much different there. Galaxy matchmaking is a service GOG offers, they have every right not to do so or put limitations on it.

It would be incredibly stupid to do so but that's another matter xD

If you mean, would Lan or Co-op be permanently stripped away, completely replaced by an online system with perhaps a lot more bells and whistles, where they will charge you a steady fee just to come on and play.. I can see the big companies gearing up just to do that, rather sadly. For individual developers who have full control over their rights and distribution of their games, that will depend on what systems they choose to adopt. A good developer will always create the option for Lan/Co-Op.

You understand that users would ditch Steam in droves if they introduced a multiplayer pay wall, right?
Every PC gamer knows what a torrent is and if you think a massive chunk of those leaving wouldn't turn to torrents through sheer consumer outrage then you are sorely mistaken.

turning to torrents would have ISP's warning them about downloading stuff. Anyway, there would be legal trouble as if I am right, them charging us for something results in a contract that means they have to make sure everything we have works on our devices (basically what would happen to MS if they charged consumers for the OS but on a smaller scale). A MP paywall for a game I subscribe to monthly is a double paywall and I would be asking the company for a client that does NOT rely on Steam and explain I am paying twice for your service-once to Steam and once to you.