Why am I required to have Stream in order to play the demo???

I'm not at all happy with the practices of Sports Interactive. Why am I required to have Stream installed on my computer in order to play the demo? I'm not buying the game for that reason. I installed Stream to download the demo, but I wasn't happy about having that thing installed on my computer. When the download was completed, I removed Stream and the demo was gone with it, without any warning. So, I can't play the demo and I will not buy the game. I don't trust this company after this!!!

I'm not at all happy with the practices of Sports Interactive. Why am I required to have Stream installed on my computer in order to play the demo? I'm not buying the game for that reason. I installed Stream to download the demo, but I wasn't happy about having that thing installed on my computer. When the download was completed, I removed Stream and the demo was gone with it, without any warning. So, I can't play the demo and I will not buy the game. I don't trust this company after this!!!

First of all its not 'Stream' its 'STEAM' ... and secondly read the other thousand Posts about this before posting.

I'm not at all happy with the practices of Sports Interactive. Why am I required to have Stream installed on my computer in order to play the demo? I'm not buying the game for that reason. I installed Stream to download the demo, but I wasn't happy about having that thing installed on my computer. When the download was completed, I removed Stream and the demo was gone with it, without any warning. So, I can't play the demo and I will not buy the game. I don't trust this company after this!!!

Why does it matter if you have to have Steam?

Why is it a problem having Steam on your computer?

Set it so it doesn't open when you start windows, so it doesn't bother you when you're on your computer. Then when you're playing FM it simply runs in the background, not doing any harm, not being intrusive, and then when you stop playing FM you quit it.

It isn't difficult or a big inconvenience. If anything it can make things easier for you. In 6 months time, when you've lost the disk for FM and want to play it again you just log on and redownload it. No pissing around trying to find a disk, no wasting time looking for the patches, you download it through steam and it sorts it out for you.

Embrace the future! Give it 5 years and 90% of all PC sales will be through digital distribution services.

*EDIT* Also, you calling it "stream" about a dozen times made me want to reach through my monitor and thump you.

Why is it a problem having Steam on your computer?

Set it so it doesn't open when you start windows, so it doesn't bother you when you're on your computer. Then when you're playing FM it simply runs in the background, not doing any harm, not being intrusive, and then when you stop playing FM you quit it.

It isn't difficult or a big inconvenience. If anything it can make things easier for you. In 6 months time, when you've lost the disk for FM and want to play it again you just log on and redownload it. No pissing around trying to find a disk, no wasting time looking for the patches, you download it through steam and it sorts it out for you.

Embrace the future! Give it 5 years and 90% of all PC sales will be through digital distribution services.

*EDIT* Also, you calling it "stream" about a dozen times made me want to reach through my monitor and thump you.

I really can't see why his spelling of Seam should bother you so much. It was probably a surprise when he found Seam needed to remain on his computer to play the demo, and as he appears to not want Seam installed, I'm not surprised he is unhappy. It's nice that you and the others have been so understanding and helpful to a first time poster though. Maybe he will now embrace Seam and join you in Seam land with all those great Seam benefits.

I'm not at all happy with the practices of Sports Interactive. Why am I required to have Stream installed on my computer in order to play the demo? I'm not buying the game for that reason. I installed Stream to download the demo, but I wasn't happy about having that thing installed on my computer. When the download was completed, I removed Stream and the demo was gone with it, without any warning. So, I can't play the demo and I will not buy the game. I don't trust this company after this!!!

The Short answer is because Steam "manages" the games installed through it on your computer and the Football manager demo is distributed using steam. Remove Steam and you basically remove the game(s).

I'm not quite sure why you shouldn't trust the company (and with exclamation marks) because they moved the distribution of their game off DVD and into the digital age. As a customer the choice is yours, if you don't want to install and purchase/manage games through Steam that's up to you but over the next couple of years I think you'll see fewer and fewer companies releasing games for the PC and Mac using old, scratchable, plastic disks. Personally I'm quite happy with that but if you have a slow internet connection I believe it is still possible to get the game on disk, but it still uses Steam to deliver patches and authenticate the license.

If you want to rage that in order to buy title X you need EA's service, title Y needs Steam and title Z need's what was Stardock's version of steam then I think you've got a far more valid case to make.

We already have a thread for this, thanks.